Smiling Victorians

These are some great pictures from Victorian times.

Smiling Victorians

Back to the birds! A Crow

Another pair of bird pictures, this time a grumpy crow. He was not being cooperative at all, but I still got a couple of nice shots (and a couple of empty grass or pavement.)

Oh yes, this one I definitely cropped. But it's a neat shot of him mid-snack. 1/400 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

So with a branch blocking his head, this one won't win any awards. But I love the look of his wings, fully stretched out and so crisp and clear. No cropping. 1/800 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 80, 100mm focal length

Day 2: Challenge Brick

I got in close! Actually the problem here was that I was so close, I was blocking the light. So I had to tilt the camera a bit in order to shoot above the shadow. It makes for a bit of an odd picture. Perhaps at another time of day the problem would have been less - or maybe I should have used a zoom to get close, instead.

1/250 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on

Graffiti in the city

I saw this and with the lighting at that moment, I really wanted a picture! And all I had with me was my phone. So it's not of stellar quality, but I still like it.

Last time I posted a picture of graffiti, I also tagged it with art. This time, I don't think that's the case.

Random Saturday: house

There is no major photographic aim here. It's just a very random house that caught my eye as I was walking around. In fact, I like this idea so much I'm going to begin doing Random Saturdays. These are just strange or interesting things I've seen.

There's at least 3 different major artistic elements going on here, 2 on the front of the house and the glass brick wall to the right side.

Yes, it would be better without the large branch, but otherwise I was shooting straight in to the sun.

Another rabbit

This is NOT the same rabbit as last Sunday. If you look at the ear length in particular, this one has much longer ears. It was also much calmer and let me walk around it taking many pictures.

I moved forward very slowly, and he just kept letting me get closer and closer. I love the little patch of sunlight on his back. 1/200 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

MY FAVOURITE PICTURE! I adore this image. I actually think he's yawning, because there was nothing to startle him and he didn't take off. You might notice this is from the other side of him than in the first picture. There was a small patch of bushes to the left of the image, and I was able to go in behind them to get to his other side for several pictures. 1/320 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

Stretching, listening. Details same as the last pic.

Sick of the paparazzi. Or he realized there was a dog coming. 1/500 sec exposure, 5.0 aperture, ISO 200, 70.6mm focal length

Challenge: Brick

The last time I undertook a challenge, I called it Challenge Blue. Here, here, here, here, and here. Bonus here. This time I took up Challenge Brick. I work at the edge of downtown, and there are some beautiful older buildings around. I've been admiring the variety of bricks for a while, and now I will share some of them with you!

I took this picture. An old, broken wall. Very cool, in my humble opinion. But the picture doesn't really do anything for me. And then I thought, all the stuff I've been reading, they keep saying GET CLOSER! 1/160 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length

So I did. What do you think? I love it. I think it's a much better picture. Way more interesting, less cluttered. 1/160 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length You can see the settings are identical to the previous photo. I moved me to improve the picture. I didn't even use macro setting.

I'm taking tomorrow off and then posting some other images. Challenge Brick will continue next week!

Friendly cat

This has got to be one of the friendliest cats I've ever seen. I stopped to take her picture, and she just kept getting closer and closer, meowing at me. I'm not usually a cat person (allergies) but this one has just gorgeous colouring.

Of all the shots I took of her, this is my favourite. She just looks so regal here, with her paws delicately and precisely positioned, her tail held high. (And then I chased her out of the road so she wouldn't get flattened by a car.)

1/200 sec exposure, 4.5 aperture, ISO 125, 28.4mm focal length

Blue Jay series

I hope I didn't scare the people who live in this house. I spent quite a bit of time with a long zoom on my camera stalking the birds in their yard. The result was this trio of images of a blue jay.

This picture I did crop to get in closer to the bird. He was in the shade, so 1/40 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 200, auto white balance

A slightly different view and uncropped this time. He'd turned his head away from me, but it gave a great, full profile. Same details as the last, 100 mm focal length.

This one I also cropped just slightly to remove a distracting element on the left. I love how clear and crisp his silhouette is in this picture. 1/1000 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO 80

Long time no see!

I have no excuses for ignoring my blog. I find winter uninspiring, and by February I was out of indoor ideas, so I just stopped. However, the weather is warming up again and I'm feeling inspired again, so here we go!

Here's a small series of images of one little guy I saw yesterday. He's seems fairly young and was rather skittish. Maybe he knows he's still quite white against a very brown and yellow ground. (It's snowing again today, so he'll blend in better for a little while.)

He says, "I'm watching you."

"What's that sound?"

"If I pretend I'm eating, maybe I can trick you in to making your move." See the eye? He's not paying attention to the grass.

"What's over there??" (Note that it's not me he's looking at, I didn't do anything to alarm him.)

Just after this image was taken, he retreated slightly in to the bushes.

About the images! 1/640 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, ISO (100, 125, 80, 80), auto white balance