Concept



This year I will be mostly... taking a photo every day, and posting it up here for you all to see and comment on if you feel inclined (please do). It's not an original idea, I stole it off a friend and many other people are doing the same as I speak, but I thought it seemed like a great idea to get used to my new toy, my Canon Eos 500D with Tamron 18-250mm Macro lens - my first digital SLR.

A lot of sites online talk about 'project 365' where people are encouraged to take a photo every day, but while their take on it is to create a personal history of the photographer, I wanted to make it a bit more abstract, more about the world around me. So this isn't meant to be a photo diary of my life, I am striving for each photo to be 'good' because of its artistic and technical merit, not because it's personal to me. Having said that personal subject matter will inevitably creep in as inspiration, but that's allowed, the book I'm reading claim that "every picture we take is merely a self-portrait of our inner psyche"!

I had a think of a couple of ideas for themes and settled on 'moods'. Then I was hit by indecision as to what to do if I take a photo I like and want to upload as my daily snap, but it doesn't fit the theme. So I have decided that the theme is just for inspiration rather than as a criteria, the photos can be of anything. That way I get the most flexibility of what to upload, and still have a muse.

While I'll be taking photos every day, I'll only upload them every few days, so keep checking back. I'm not anticipating the photos to be groundbreaking (at least not to start with!), the whole point is to improve so I won't be great initially. But I'll still try my best which will hopefully keep it interesting. Please feel free to add whatever comments you like (hopefully constructive!) as that will help me as much as the process of actually taking a photo a day, I will endeavour to reply to them all.

For my trip reports blog see http://fidgetsadventures.blogspot.com


Saturday 12 February 2011

Friday 11th February 2011

Today I managed to get the shot I promised you on Wednesday. I got that one - this cute little nuthatch, and more - bullfinch, dunnock, jay, and a few others, hence the dead heat for today's post of the day. The trouble with getting a new camera, taking photos non stop, spending an inordinate of time in front of the computer post-processing them, and doing all manner of periphal research, is that you can no longer judge the quality of your shots. However even though I can't *see* how good or bad these photos are, I *know* that they're the kind of shots I dreamed of taking with my new camera, and you've got to be happy with that. I'm sure the ability to see the quality of what I'm taking will return after I've gone away and come back to them - and in the meantime at least I know I'm in seventh heaven while I'm actually taking them, excited about what I may end up with and enjoying getting out and doing it.



This nuthatch was actually a little bully, it didn't come down to feed as often as the others but when it did NO other birds were allowed at the seeds, it kept turning around and stamping towards them to scare them off. The bullfinch arrived just as I was about to reluctanty return to work - it pays to wait!







250mm, 1/400s, f/6.3, ISO 800 (both)

7 comments:

  1. Nice work Sarah , hope to catch up with you soon . Try and focus on just one bird and keep the background clean will show you next time.
    Steve.

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  2. Thanks for your useful comments. I kind of like the blue tits lining up against the bullfinch as they feel like they're interacting with the shot, but I see what you mean in the nuthatch picture. This kind of feedback is exactly what I need to improve, hope to see you about when I have more time to hang around.

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  3. I like the three little bluetits feeding while the bullfinch looks as is he is standing guard.

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  4. The blue tits were all so cute and teensy, they all looked like babies even though I'm sure they weren't.

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  5. Love them...... Loving the depth of field...

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  6. Great shots! No wonder you are pleased--nice to have both the camera and the ability to produce such shots :-)

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  7. Thanks. The ability is something that's always developing, hopefully I wont wear the camera out in the meantime :-)

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