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Posted

...contrasting shadow on your subjects. blown out highlights on their backs and very saturated shadows underneath.

Don't miss out on the potential beauty of above-back lighting. Get a polarizer filter, barndoors, aim toward the light source rather than away from it. The result is that the fill light reflecting from the ground and the indirect ambient light of the suurounding sky become the primary, and the sun becomes a secondary, controlled hair light.

J

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Posted

Actually yes! I would like to get some external flash units to set up this summer around my hummingbird feeders! This way I can use fill flash combined with shutter speeds around 1/4000 second to completely freeze wing action as well as light up their iridescent metallic looking feathers!

Jonathan I have thought about polarizing filters, perhaps a soft on for doing shots of lakes in mountain areas like Moraine lake, it is either that or start contemplating HDR for scenes like that. I am sure that if Ansel Adams were alive today he would embrace techniques like this as well. My god GALT that man was the Rembrandt of photography.

Posted

Lighting

eastern_bluebird.jpg
Eastern Bluebird. James Hendrickson © Cornell Lab of Ornithology

“The angle, intensity, and hue of your light source can make or break a picture,” says photographer Tim Gallagher. He feels the best times to shoot are morning and late afternoon when the light is angled, warmer, and more subdued. “It brings out all the color and texture of your subject's plumage,” Tim says.

It’s harder to take a good picture in the middle of a bright, clear day because images end up with too much contrast, washed-out light-colored areas, and inky black shadows. Having the source of light behind and slightly to one side of you creates a more three-dimensional subject. Having your subject backlit rarely works well unless you’re deliberately going after a silhouette.

Great website...http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=1109

Building Photography Skills
bohemian_waxwing_spread.jpg
Nick Saunders © Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Cedar Waxwings have always been one of my choice small birds because of their striking color and their social skills...
They will sit on a phone wire, five (5) or six (6) across and pass a berry, beak to beak, down the line and back up the line.
Hilarious.
Occassionally, they get "inebriated" eating berries that have started to ferment.
Here is an example of how each "page" presents itself:
Posted

Thank you! great post Selene, I love waxwings too, I have not viewed any Cedar waxwings yet but I did get some good shots of the Bohemians!

Thank you.

The Bohemian Waxwing is an irregular winter visitor from the far North. It comes primarily to states and provinces along the United States/Canada border, a bit farther southward in the West.

They are way out of our range on the East coast...gorgeous birds though.

A...

Posted

So I went to the zoo on the weekend and posted a few of the shots I took. The arctic fox ones are ...well demmit they are just do damn cute I am now a marshmallow.

Oh yeah here is a Bohemian waxwing shot I had posted.

http://jestephotography.deviantart.com/art/Bohemian-Waxwing-416653943

JT:

Bravo!

The mix of similar colors makes this for me. I just posted a comment on the Deviant site...being a regular deviant is quite comfortable for me.

As I have mentioned to some, I was a "prevert" before I became a pervert.

One of the many aspects of Ayn's work that I love is how she stormed the semantic citadels of the marxist progressives.

It is an age old rule that when you control the definitions of terms and the information pipeline, you control the path of the final decision.

Aristotle framed it that, "If you have the will and the power, the deed is done."

The general goal of rhetoric is clear. Rhetoric, says Aristotle, ‘is the power to see, in each case, the possible ways to persuade’ (Rhet. 1355b26). Different contexts, however, require different techniques. Thus, suggests Aristotle, speakers will usually find themselves in one of three contexts where persuasion is paramount: deliberative (Rhet. i 4–8), epideictic (Rhet. i 9), and judicial (Rhet. i 10–14). In each of these contexts, speakers will have at their disposal three main avenues of persuasion: the character of the speaker, the emotional constitution of the audience, and the general argument (logos) of the speech itself (Rhet. i 3). Rhetoric thus examines techniques of persuasion pursuant to each of these areas.

When discussing these techniques, Aristotle draws heavily upon topics treated in his logical, ethical, and psychological writings. In this way, the Rhetoric illuminates Aristotle's writings in these comparatively theoretical areas by developing in concrete ways topics treated more abstractly elsewhere. For example, because a successful persuasive speech proceeds alert to the emotional state of the audience on the occasion of its delivery, Aristotle's Rhetoric contains some of his most nuanced and specific treatments of the emotions. Heading in another direction, a close reading of the Rhetoric reveals that Aristotle treats the art of persuasion as closely akin to dialectic (see §4.3 above). Like dialectic, rhetoric trades in techniques that are not scientific in the strict sense (see §4.2 above), and though its goal is persuasion, it reaches its end best if it recognizes that people naturally find proofs and well-turned arguments persuasive (Rhet. 1354a1, 1356a25, 1356a30). Accordingly, rhetoric, again like dialectic, begins with credible opinions (endoxa), though mainly of the popular variety rather than those endorsed most readily by the wise (Top. 100a29–35; 104a8–20; Rhet. 1356b34). Finally, rhetoric proceeds from such opinions to conclusions which the audience will understand to follow by cogent patterns of inference (Rhet. 1354a12–18, 1355a5–21). For this reason, too, the rhetorician will do well understand the patterns of human reasoning.

For more on Aristotle's rhetoric, see the entry on Aristotle's Rhetoric.

He develops distinctions in the Poetics:

The same holds true of the Poetics, but in this case the end is not easily or uncontroversially articulated. It is often assumed that the goal of tragedy is catharsis—the purification or purgation of the emotions aroused in a tragic performance. Despite its prevalence, as an interpretation of what Aristotle actually says in the Poetics this understanding is underdetermined at best. When defining tragedy in a general way, Aristotle claims:

Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious and complete, and which has some greatness about it. It imitates in words with pleasant accompaniments, each type belonging separately to the different parts of the work. It imitates people performing actions and does not rely on narration. It achieves, through pity and fear, the catharsis of these sorts of feelings. (
Poet
. 1449b21–29)

Although he has been represented in countless works of scholarship as contending that tragedy is for the sake of catharsis, Aristotle is in fact far more circumspect. While he does contend that tragedy will effect or accomplish catharsis, in so speaking he does not use language which clearly implies that catharsis is in itself the function of tragedy. Although a good blender will achieve a blade speed of 36,000 rotations per minute, this is not its function; rather, it achieves this speed in service of its function, namely blending. Similarly, then, on one approach, tragedy achieves catharsis, though not because it is its function to do so. This remains so, even if it is integral to realizing its function that tragedy achieve catharsis—as it is equally integral that it makes us of imitation (mimêsis), and does so by using words along with pleasant accompaniments (namely, rhythm, harmony, and song; Poet. 1447b27).

Unfortunately, Aristotle is not completely forthcoming on the question of the function of tragedy. One clue towards his attitude comes from a passage in which he differentiates tragedy from historical writing:

The poet and the historian differ not in that one writes in meter and the other not; for one could put the writings of Herodotus into verse and they would be none the less history, with or without meter. The difference resides in this: the one speaks of what has happened, and the other of what might be. Accordingly, poetry is more philosophical and more momentous than history. The poet speaks more of the universal, while the historian speaks of particulars. It is universal that when certain things turn out a certain way someone will in all likelihood or of necessity act or speak in a certain way—which is what the poet, though attaching particular names to the situation, strives for. (
Poet
. 1451a38–1451b10)

In characterizing poetry as more philosophical, universal, and momentous than history, Aristotle praises poets for their ability to assay deep features of human character, to dissect the ways in which human fortune engages and tests character, and to display how human foibles may be amplified in uncommon circumstances. We do not, however, reflect on character primarily for entertainment value. Rather, and in general, Aristotle thinks of the goal of tragedy in broadly intellectualist terms: the function of tragedy is ‘learning, that is, figuring out what each thing is’ (Poet. 1448b16–17). In Aristotle's view, tragedy teaches us about ourselves.

Amazing mind. Most of what we know about his thought is "perceived" through the notes of his students.

Can you imagine if all we knew of Ayn's corpus of thought was from all of our personal notes after attending NBI lectures?

A...

Posted

Thanks Adam, that is very kind of you.

Very true about Aristotle's students notes, also amazing is how he is still such an important part of modern day thought, even if people do not realize where those thoughts originated!

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

http://www.viewbug.com/member/JestePhotography#/JestePhotography/activity

Just an update I have started posting my work here at viewbug. The majority of the work at this site is geared towards various forms of photography and they have contests where people can win prizes. I also like the format very much. I will still post at deviant art however I very much like the format here. Both sites offer the ability to purchase prints and canvases. I have however for the most part taken it upon my self to sell to some local buyers images printed to 20x30" wrapped frame canvas. The geese silhouette, the Bohemian Waxwing with the red berries and the cottontail rabbit have been pretty popular :)

I have some new captures posted, a coyote that snarled while looking my way, and some Snowy owl captures in flight.

I have the weekend off so hopefully I will be able to find something interesting for you all to look at next week.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Valentine's day!

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Tony, Jules:

I'm a bit slow. I have been searching around for an entry level camera. I found this blog entry: Stokes Birding Blog about the Canon SX 50 camera and I'm blown away by the pictures, the ones that show a close up after a wide shot of the same scene. I think for a beginner this is a great camera. Less than $400. Built in 30x (or 50x in another model) optical zoom. No changing lenses.

I'm also interested in recording bird songs, it would be great to make video's with audio of the migrant birds that come through our yard. I can never remember exactly how they sound to identify them.

Posted

Actually yes! I would like to get some external flash units to set up this summer around my hummingbird feeders! This way I can use fill flash combined with shutter speeds around 1/4000 second to completely freeze wing action as well as light up their iridescent metallic looking feathers!

Jonathan I have thought about polarizing filters, perhaps a soft on for doing shots of lakes in mountain areas like Moraine lake, it is either that or start contemplating HDR for scenes like that. I am sure that if Ansel Adams were alive today he would embrace techniques like this as well. My god GALT that man was the Rembrandt of photography.

Ansel accelerated my entry into photography, especially B&W. Below are 2 photos I took (1976), developed, printed, matted & framed. I sold a few dozen each to Macys NY, who in turn re-sold them in their picture dept.MastsEbay1.jpgVerrazanoEBAY.jpg

Posted

I have not had the chance to download my latest images off of my camera yet but the Bohemian Waxwings were back the other day and just going through the viewfinder I managed to get some really "WOW" shots. Some are backlit with the morning sun really adding some nice lines, and then I went to the other side of the tree for some more traditional lighting. One in particular that stands out has the shadows of berries and the stems sharply shadowed against his chest and a really nice catchlight in his eye. I will post some time this week, currently working 15hour shifts so have not had time. :)

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Great work!

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