Jake's Backdoor Hippie-palooza, 2014 Edition

[BackdoorArts]

2014-043:

Went in search of photos today and went down a road that I knew led to an old concrete quarry dug by folks working for Tom Edison. Found it, but had no way of getting to it in the snow (12' fences didn't help), so it may be a summer project. But a piece of "Private Property - No Trespassing!!" allowed me some public access from the sidewalk to a view of Canadian Geese enjoying an unfrozen pond thanks to the fountainhead in the center. The color of the boat told me this might be a selective color shot, and then when I added the color of the geese I was torn. Then, on a whim, I invoked Analog Efex Pro and fell madly in like with the first thing that popped out. So, you be the judge. Old style, or selective color(s)?

 

[pictaker64]

Thats a wonderful shot!! Love the black and White

edit-Good luck with the snow,I think we will be getting rain down here on the shore,or at least I hope so....

Thankfully my office is one door from my bedroom and I don't have to go out in this stuff except to clear it. We're supposed to get anywhere from 8-14" tonight, on top of the 8" of powder and ice we've got, but at least we know how to handle ourselves in it.

I've actually enjoyed going out and shooting in it. It makes for pretty pictures. Here's another from yesterday.

View attachment 72401

 

[BackdoorArts]

Here's the odd thing about the photos above. The bottom photo is pure B&W except for the boat and browns in the geese added in. When I invoked Analog Efex Pro, it added just the right amount of brown everywhere to make it look at least semi-realistic. Love when this stuff happens.

 

[Mike D90]

I kind of like the old style look. Has a sepia tone to it.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I kind of like the old style look. Has a sepia tone to it.

And that's what got me. I know I could have tweaked a much better image than this out of what I thought was a throw-away, but while I love the 2 tones of color, a little bit of sepia and filtering made it a very believable image for me - and I was there!! LOL

 

[Mike D90]

For me I like what sepia toning does for warm browns and wood, such as the bits of wood showing inside the boat hull. The second photo doesn't even look like a black and white! Just that little bit of color fools me into seeing the whole image as a color image.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I did a little more tweaking on the selective color(s) image before I stuck it on Flickr and came up with something I actually like more (thanks, wife, for running late). It just goes to show you, you're never "done". What I love is that, outside of browns and blues, this is really a black and white image.

 

[hark]

I did a little more tweaking on the selective color(s) image before I stuck it on Flickr and came up with something I actually like more (thanks, wife, for running late). It just goes to show you, you're never "done". What I love is that, outside of browns and blues, this is really a black and white image.

This last one is my favorite!

 

[BackdoorArts]

2014-044:

13 inches of snow, on top of the snow we already had, brought snow levels on our deck up to just below window sill level. This made for some interesting bird watching. So, I squatted down next to the window, grabbed the 70-200mm and tossed some seed out.

 

[Marcel]

Great shots Jake.

 

[weebee]

Excellent! The birds I mean. Not the snow. I've gone past hate on the white stuff.

 

[Mike D90]

2014-044:


View attachment 72775

Haha! Mexican Standoff!

 

[Whiskeyman]

I'm beginning to think that large amounts of snow really help in getting birds corralled for a photo shoot.

I like these bird shots, and the selective color shot of the boat and geese.

WM

 

[BackdoorArts]

I'm beginning to think that large amounts of snow really help in getting birds corralled for a photo shoot.

I like these bird shots, and the selective color shot of the boat and geese.

WM

Large amounts of bird seed helps too.

 

[Whiskeyman]

Large amounts of bird seed helps too.

What? They aren't there just for the snow? I thought they might be "snowbirds".

WM

 

[BackdoorArts]

2014-045:

After 4 more inches of ice and snow last night the squirrels finally emerged to join the birds. Outside of some backbreaking shoveling and ice breaking I was too tired to do much more than shoot through the windows (hence some reflection). Thankfully I had a bunch of posers.

(all edits LR only)

BTW, the first photo will give you an idea of how much snow we have - it's almost as high as the table on our deck (that's the back of one of the chairs behind the squirrel).

 

[RockyNH_RIP]

Excellent squirrel shots Jake!

Pat in NH

 

[hark]

Beautiful photos of the birds and the squirrels, Jake! I haven't seen the bird with the yellow around its eyes before--nothing that we get here. And I like how you are at their level when shooting. Just keep telling yourself it's a benefit of having so much snow. After cleaning off the driveway, sidewalks, cars, digging a path through the compressed snow/ice on our corner courtesy of the plows, and shoveling the grass for our little yorkie/doxie, I am pooped. Even with a snow blower (which I also use to help several neighbors), I don't want anymore snow! More expected today and Tuesday though. Grrr....

BTW, what brand of birdseed do you use? Our birds prefer birdseed that I can only get at WalMart (I think it's named 'Economy'). When I haven't been able to get it, I've substituted birdseed from Home Depot, Ace, and PetSmart, but the birds can definitely tell a difference. It takes them at least twice as long to eat the other stuff, and quite often they just stop coming to the feeder. At least WalMart's birdseed is cheap...or should I say cheep?

 

[BackdoorArts]

We use Royal Wing from Tractor Supply. There are birds we just never got before that. I forget what we used before that, probably from Lowes or HD. We sort of avoid WalMart for a variety of reasons, but I'm not judging, and don't mean to go there.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I should just add a high pitched chuckle to this to finish it, but I can't be bothered this morning.

I had a 2 image sequence of a squirrel yesterday, and you can swear it smiles.