Monday, January 27, 2014

American Goldfinch: Winter Photo Group #4

It was another beautiful day yesterday...nearly perfect, in fact.  Skies were cloudy in the morning, but the sun made an appearance in the afternoon.  I've done much of nothing all weekend and really enjoyed it ;)))  I spent more time on the front porch than indoors, taking plenty of photos using a variation of camera settings. I'm experimenting...attempting to learn more about lighting and exposure.  I recovered an older camera lens from my bag and tried close up shots with it.  It's actually been years since I've used it because my previous experience with it has resulted in blurry photos.  I didn't take the time to examine the reasons for blurry photos, so the lens remained in my camera bag, neglected until now.  

While taking practice shots with it, I found that the lens worked better with action shots and close ups.  With a zoom up to 300 mm, it has the ability to get really close to most objects within the confines of our front yard.  The photos I shot with it still have some blur, but I didn't use a tripod with these.  The lens are standard rather than image stabilizers so the results would have been better if I had used a tripod.  I just didn't want to...I used the "lazy method" yesterday- sat in my lawn chair, sipped on coffee, and took random shots of birds that came within about 10 to 20 feet of where I positioned.  The photos aren't bad considering what little effort I put into them ;)))  I enjoyed just sitting and watching the birds, using the close up on my lens to focus in on their movements.  They are really cute, and funny too.  At the same time, they were observing me closely.  Their little heads bobbing around and giving me curious looks.  I knew why they questioned me...they wondered why I was trespassing on their feeding territory and staying so long. 


I did take enough time to prepare french toast at everyone's wish.  Tyler asked me specifically if I would make him some french toast.  Of course, Tyler...I'll be glad to.  It was delicious- I could hurt myself eating some french toast, oh goodness!  I also did some light housework...mostly washing the stacks of dishes that seem to accumulate when the boys are here.  Cherie does her share of dishes too...seems to take both of us to keep up.  

All in all, it was a relaxing weekend for me and it was long overdue.  It felt great to not have anything planned and just hang out at home for a couple of days.  I'll be on my long week of work starting tonight.  

According to weather reports, south Mississippi will get snow and icy rain beginning Tuesday morning and lasting into Wednesday morning.  Some say there could be up to 6 inches of snow accumulation in some places...imagine that!!!  It's been many years since we've seen snow like that.  It will be interesting to see just how much snow we actually get.

More later....


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