Now, first I need to unveil last night's mystery (I'll try to keep this short). I started off experimenting a bit with light and a bouquet of flowers. I made some photos but wasn't entirely pleased with the results. The flashlight I had to use had about 1 million candle power (!) and I needed to diffuse it. I had it on a chair under a glass table. I tried putting a whiskey glass (yes, empty!) on the table above it and shine the light through it - still not happy. I put a piece of paper over the glass - lost too much light. Looked for something thinner and happened on a paper coffee filter. Aha! Light was better but now I noticed a cool pattern of light caused by the diffraction from the bottom of the (still empty) whiskey glass, and the coffee filter. Abandoned the flowers and the result is what you saw in last night's post. Sometimes good things happen from experiments, scientific or not ;-) I didn't really expect anyone to come up with that!
Ok - today's story. We were sitting on the lanai enjoying that morning brew, listening to birds chirping. Suddenly around the corner of the pool enclosure a bird came screaming at full speed - obviously he'd missed his wake-up call. Unfortunately he didn't pull up in time to go over top of the enclosure and slammed head first |(well, beak first) into the screen. I thought he was a goner! I ran over to where he crash landed and found him lying on his back, feet up in the air, dazed and confused. No, I didn't apply mouth-to-mouth, but I did prop him upright on his feet. I wasn't sure if he was going to live to see another day, so I took the opportunity to 'shoot' him while he was still alive. The story has a happy ending - after about 5 minutes he hopped under the hedge, under his own steam, and took off a few minutes later. I suspect he needed a couple of aspirin and would be on restricted worm hunting duty till he recovered from a severe concussion.
My 2nd shot was taken at the side of the highway just before crossing this bridge. My wife gallantly held the fort in the car (I think I may have been parked a little illegally - "but officer, I'm from out of state; that bridge looked so lovely, I wanted to share it on the internet") while I slipped down to the edge of the bay for a few shots. I hope you think it was worth it 'cause I almost went in. Oh, and no officer appeared.
(60mm f8 1/50 sec ISO200)
(18-55mm f8 1/320 sec ISO200)
26 comments:
That was one lucky bird,and I hope you had a great trip.
Ooh! At first I thought you REALLY Shot him! I'm so glad you mean "took his portrait!" :)
And, what a beautiful bridge and scene surrounding it...I would have jumped out of the car for that one too!
Poor bird, dazed and confused and no doubt a tad bit ashamed! :-) Awesome of you to help a bird in distress.
I appreciate your gallant efforts in getting the bridge shot, it's magnificent! And look at that crystal blue water... beautiful!
You're so right, I never would have guessed last nights photo EVER! That is creative to say the least!
Definitely worth it ... I like the way it recedes in the background.
Great shots Rick. Mooie brug.
You did a great job saving that little fella.
I love the diagonal shot and the shadow of the bird ending diagonally at the top left.
Well captured.
Very nice perspective of the bridge in the background. Very well chosen :-)
greetz,
Joseph
Yes, poor bird! The water shot is peaceful and the water is so blue!
Great shots Rick, glad the birdie survived too!!
What us wives do for you guys eh !!! Haha!!
You are my hero! I've had birds smash into windows and it breaks my heart. I'm glad this was a screen. Your photo is amazing. It's as if the sweet bird choose YOU to take his/her photo!
@Chad - yes, he sure was; I'm sure he got his radar tuned after that! Thanks - coming to an end tomorrow.
@Carolyn Ford - LOL; I thought someone might think that so I put it in quotes.
Yes, I saw that bridge when we were here in Feb. - just couldn't figure out where to get a good shot of it - figured it out though ;-)
@darlin - it was the least I could do for my fine feathered friend!
I think my wife was the gallant one! Just waiting to explain to an officer what I was doing down there behind the bushes! :-)
Ah, creativity, born out of experimentation. Thank you.
Sounds like you are having a wonderful time!
@S. Etole - thank you Susan. Not sure if I would have felt the same way had I slipped on the rocks and come out covered in algae! (the things we do to get the shot ;-)
@Riet - dank u wel Riet.
@M. Hassan - thanks M. He cocked his head towards me after I got him upright on his feet - you can still see the dirt on his beak.
@CarreraCaballo - thank you Joseph.
@The Lucy and Dick Show - poor, but hopefully a little smarter! Yes it was peaceful there - no one else around, probably because it was illegal to stop there ;-)
@bonifer - thank you. I give my wife kudos for what she has to endure sometimes due to my 'obsession' (as she calls it).
@Jeanne Klaver - LOL, I did detect a bit of gratitude in the look on his face - of course, that could just be due to his concussion!
@Karen - very much so. Alas, there comes an end to all good things, and an end to this comes tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.
Great shots, Rick! The bridge is gorgeous and the birdie is too cute! He rang his bell!
@Krista - thanks Krista! ding dong
Gosh your story made me smile big time. Gladd to hear the birds is fine. And ohh wouldn't that have been fun you slip sliding into the water...oh no your camara. Gladd you didn't went in after all...;-)Hugs D.
@Barefoot from Heaven - glad it made you smile Dag :-) It would have been costly to have my camera get soaked and would have put a real 'damper' on the evening! And my wife probably wouldn't have let me back in the car till I dried out ;-)
Fijne dag Dag!
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