outdoor photography

Golden-crowned Kinglet (after) Today I finally got a copy of Photoshop CC.  There's a new feature in this software that I'd been excited about trying out--shake reduction.  I wish I could use a tripod for all my shots, but the reality is that I'd miss a lot of shots if I used a tripod.  And since my lens does not have image stabilization, I run the risk of motion blur due to camera shake.  This tool is designed to help that.  The above image is after applying the filter, and the below image is before. The tool generates noise, so I chose the minimum amount of sharpening, and then I added smoothing to control the noise. Fully zoomed in, this photo is a bit noisier than the original, but otherwise, I think the effect works pretty well. Golden-crowned Kinglet (before) We don't get Golden-crowned Kinglets in Florida very often; in fact, this photo was taken in Washington State.  I liked the photo, but I was always a little troubled by the softness of ...

Ruby-crowned Kinglet This past week I went to Seattle to attend my sister's wedding.  It was a pretty good time to hang out with my sister, her husband and my parents.  We had time in the morning for my dad and I to do some birding.  We couldn't go very far or stay very long, but in just the little time we had, I found about 25 life birds (including about 5 birds I'd saw when I was a child living in California but before I was a birder).  We visited a few places in King and Snohomish Counties, including Picnic Point Park, Wallace Swamp Creek Park, Lake Washington and my sister's back yard.  I thought it would be best to share what I saw in two posts. In post, perching birds, and in the next, ducks and gulls. One of the first birds I saw was a Golden-crowned Kinglet (a life for me). We also saw many Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and I was was surprised to find my first Hutton's Vireo, which do a pretty good job of looking like kinglets. It must be irritating for bi...