Wednesday, January 10, 2021 (39 days until the First Day of Spring)
It’ll happen, that on Thursday this area will be walloped by a major snowstorm. Today, I’ll practice starting my big snow-blower to be ready for battling harsh elements. I also have new snowshoes in the correct size and poles for navigating. I’ve dreamed of taking pictures while out walking on snowshoes, a great fantasy but unlikely, as snowshoeing itself is very hard work. Especially for one as out of shape as me.
In yesterday’s late afternoon, while going to retrieve the horses from pasture, I carried my camera. The day before, as I was leading horses out from the pasture, an owl surprised me by swooping down and landing about 50 feet away. Maybe it was watching for a rodent, sat a couple of minutes before flying away.
I so wanted a camera! Not that it would have done much good as my hands were full of lead ropes. The horses and I were leaving the pasture when again that owl landed, not far away, and paused momentarily before taking off. With me completely helpless to capture that owl.
I timed the next day’s trip to the pasture to be in late afternoon and with a camera. That time of day birds are active, hunting late or settling in with an eye on their territories. I took pictures and most turned out colorless in that late light. There’s a camera setting to offset drab lighting, but it’s yet to be explored.
Of course no owl appeared, but a nanosecond before lowering my camera and attending to waiting horses, another area resident flew overhead–the Red Tailed Hawk!, a bird I’ve looked for as well as its mate. Swooping high and landing atop a tall tree, the hawk stayed put, but distant enough to require the camera’s entire zoom capacity. The image is an interesting profile, and powerful, but lacking enough definition to suit me.
I’d been toying with Adobe Photoshop to understand its capabilities and wondered if that program’s assets might strengthen the original capture. Here’s the thing, I like the original but for the blog wanted feathers and sky.
This has pushed me into Photoshop World. Not easy, for one ought to understand how to work with nearly colorless photos. In the end though, my efforts did better define the image’s key elements.
Dear Friends: Anything that interests us enough can push us on forward. Diana
Diana's Morning Blog 