It's not noisy, just ethereal. 
Wldlife of Edmonds, WA. 2014
- Thread starter Bill Anderson
- Start date
PNWPhotos.com a friendly and growing community of photographers with an interest in the Pacific Northwest region.
We feature a Photography Discussion Forum and Pacific Northwest Photo Gallery. It's a fun and friendly place to talk with other photographers, ask questions, share you knowledge, view and post photos and more!
Did you get photos of one heron biting the other's rear end?
I really like the effect on your last 4 photos. I've never used Picasa before. Picasa is apparently free, overall is it a good editing tool?
I'm also wondering if the auto contrast tweeks the brightness, sharpness and saturation.
Chad
Chad: I got your PM asking about Picasa. I tried to reply, but your mailbox is full and won't accept any more messages. Here is my response:
I shoot in jpeg and download/process my photos in Picasa. It is free, just download it from their website. I do very little tweaking of my photos other than cropping and downsizing to put on the internet. Sometimes I use lightening + auto contrast if the photo is to dark, especially if it is back lit.
I don't know what all is involved in auto-contrast. There are separate functions available for adjusting the brightness, sharpness, and saturation. Try Picasa for awhile and see how you like it.
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)
An assortment from a rainy Wednesday (9/24) in Edmonds.
A lone greater white-fronted goose was among a flock of Canada geese at the Civic Playfield. My Washington state bird book says this is common.
A few American wigeons were in a flock of ducks at the south side of the marsh. The ducks were enjoying the high water level caused by rain and high tide.
My son and I startled the heron hunting for fish and rodents at the retention pond at the west end of the Pt. Edwards walkway. It flew to the top of a nearby tree.
A lone greater white-fronted goose was among a flock of Canada geese at the Civic Playfield. My Washington state bird book says this is common.
A few American wigeons were in a flock of ducks at the south side of the marsh. The ducks were enjoying the high water level caused by rain and high tide.
My son and I startled the heron hunting for fish and rodents at the retention pond at the west end of the Pt. Edwards walkway. It flew to the top of a nearby tree.
Last edited:
Terry and I were at the marsh Friday afternoon (9/26) with our long lens setups (4.0/500L telephoto + 1.4x teleconverters) mounted on tripods. Some of the birds gave us opportunities to practice our birds in flight techniques.
A greater white-fronted goose flew in by itself. it may have been the as the one I saw two days earlier at the Civic Playfield.
The goose walked around eating the grass.
Two American wigeons were present.
A greater white-fronted goose flew in by itself. it may have been the as the one I saw two days earlier at the Civic Playfield.
The goose walked around eating the grass.
Two American wigeons were present.
Two herons continually chased each other. Trying to follow them with the long lenses takes practice. I was shooting in M mode with a shutter speed of 1/1000 to freeze the action and aperature settings of f/8-9 to provide enough depth of field to keep both birds in focus. The 5DIII does a good job of handling "noise", so I kept the ISO on auto and let it float.
These photos were tweaked using Picasa's "auto contrast" feature.
These photos were tweaked using Picasa's "auto contrast" feature.
Did you get photos of one heron biting the other's rear end?
photographmemories
New Member
I really like the effect on your last 4 photos. I've never used Picasa before. Picasa is apparently free, overall is it a good editing tool?
I'm also wondering if the auto contrast tweeks the brightness, sharpness and saturation.
Chad
Last edited:
Terry O
Well-Known Member
Last edited:
Some shots from Sunday (9/28).
Wesley was at the #1 viewing platform of the marsh.
The invasion of greater white-fronted geese continues. It brings about the perennial bird watchers question: are there more of them in town this fall or am I just seeing them for a change?
Wesley was at the #1 viewing platform of the marsh.
The invasion of greater white-fronted geese continues. It brings about the perennial bird watchers question: are there more of them in town this fall or am I just seeing them for a change?
Last edited:
An overcast Monday (9/29) morning started out with a trip to the fishing pier. it was so dark that I did not add the teleconverter to the 100-400L so I could shoot at f/5.6 for more light.
Two kingfishers flew north from the marina towards the ferry dock.
The female perched on a piling near the beach, then returned to the shelter of the marina.
Two kingfishers flew north from the marina towards the ferry dock.
The female perched on a piling near the beach, then returned to the shelter of the marina.
Last edited:
From the waterfront we went to the marsh. Some bushtits served as stand-ins for the crossbills in the pine trees by the #2 viewing platform.
A flock of cedar waxwings flew over the #3 viewing platform.
An osprey flew south over the marsh. We are in the last days of the 2014 osprey season. This could be a local that is staying late or a migrant passing through on its way to Central America.
The resident great blue herons are a regional subspecies which does not migrate.
A flock of cedar waxwings flew over the #3 viewing platform.
An osprey flew south over the marsh. We are in the last days of the 2014 osprey season. This could be a local that is staying late or a migrant passing through on its way to Central America.
The resident great blue herons are a regional subspecies which does not migrate.
Chad: I got your PM asking about Picasa. I tried to reply, but your mailbox is full and won't accept any more messages. Here is my response:
I shoot in jpeg and download/process my photos in Picasa. It is free, just download it from their website. I do very little tweaking of my photos other than cropping and downsizing to put on the internet. Sometimes I use lightening + auto contrast if the photo is to dark, especially if it is back lit.
I don't know what all is involved in auto-contrast. There are separate functions available for adjusting the brightness, sharpness, and saturation. Try Picasa for awhile and see how you like it.
Tuesday (9/30) Wesley and another Anna's hummingbird were engaged in a hummer standoff at the #1 viewing platform of the marsh.
One was strafing the other with hummer "J" dives. Look closely and you can see one hummer in mid-air at the top of the photo and one hummer perched in the tree and the bottom of the photo. I shot at 1/2000 and f/8.0 with my 5DIII + 100-400L zoom + 1.4x teleconverter to freeze the action.
Both hummers sitting in adjacent trees. I had to shoot at 1/500 and f/25 to try to get both of them in focus.
One was strafing the other with hummer "J" dives. Look closely and you can see one hummer in mid-air at the top of the photo and one hummer perched in the tree and the bottom of the photo. I shot at 1/2000 and f/8.0 with my 5DIII + 100-400L zoom + 1.4x teleconverter to freeze the action.
Both hummers sitting in adjacent trees. I had to shoot at 1/500 and f/25 to try to get both of them in focus.
Wednesday (10/1) afternoon my son and I went to Scriber Lake in nearby Lynnwood, where we found two pied-billed grebes.
From there we drove up Pine St. in Edmonds to check out Pt. Edwards. I found one of my nemesis birds, the golden-crowned kinglet, in the fir tree at the top of the hill where the Pt. Edwards eagles usually perch. The bird was just a moving dot in my viewfinder and I did not know what I had photographed until I got home and put the photos on the computer.
The reason I had stopped at the fir tree was because a flock of cedar waxwings were perched in it. Some of the waxwings were eating berries on a nearby tree.
From there we drove up Pine St. in Edmonds to check out Pt. Edwards. I found one of my nemesis birds, the golden-crowned kinglet, in the fir tree at the top of the hill where the Pt. Edwards eagles usually perch. The bird was just a moving dot in my viewfinder and I did not know what I had photographed until I got home and put the photos on the computer.
The reason I had stopped at the fir tree was because a flock of cedar waxwings were perched in it. Some of the waxwings were eating berries on a nearby tree.
PNWPhotos.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com