American Cardinals

A patio hour and the Merlin App

For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.  

For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow can run a full-screen slideshow if you click on the corresponding icon. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

Many of the bird photos I share are snapped as I sit and look out onto the backyard from the covered patio. Generally, that’s early morning — sometimes between 7:00am and 10:00am — when the weather permits it.

The birds are more active early on, flying hither and fro and, like the robin in the photo above, occasionally avail themselves of one of the two birdbaths we keep filled, fresh, and clean.

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“H” stories voting reminder and Note 8 photos

Let’s get this out of the way . . . It’s been four days since the “H” stories went up and me being too busy to plug them resulted in a low vote count.

Therefore, ergo, thus, here’s a quick reminder to — if so inclined — please read the stories. After, if receptive to the idea, the writers hope you’ll make the effort and vote for your favorite of the “Alphabet Challenge H-Stories” HERE.

That post has links to the individual stories and the poll where readers can click a box to indicate their appreciation for their favorite. If you have friends (I mean, even I have a few, so I imagine most readers have many, many friends), you can share that link and help expand the readership. I mean, we’re not professional writers, but there’s usually at least one decent story in the bunch.

So, photos.

Specifically, Samsung Note 8 photos. I mentioned before I’ve been lax in covering Note 8 photography, so let’s jump in with both feet, shall we? Oh, I often frame them, but these won’t be. Also, I’m breaking from chronologically presenting the photo to fit the narrative style of the presentation.

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Another “F” Stories Reminder and a Few Hints

If you’ve read the “F” Stories, the writers hope you voted for your favorite of the trio HERE. That’s also where you can find links to the stories in case you’ve yet to read them but want to participate in the voting. 

You still have a few days before the “G” Stories go up, but don’t dillydally.

Yes, COVID-19 stuff takes precedence, but  — you know — if you’re bored out of your skull and have lost all sense of taste, perhaps these stories are just what you need to remind you how to identify mediocrity.

Anyway, yesterday I showcased the Common Grackle. Today, a few — very few — photos of other birds.

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More Old Favorites and Another Reminder to Vote

If you haven’t yet done so — and if so inclined — please take a few minutes (about 15-20 minutes) and read the three stories in THIS post and then, if feeling charitable, please cast your vote for one of them (the survey is after the stories).

Also, if you are associated with the publishing industry (editor, published author, agent, etc.) and would like to volunteer as a judge to help us confer our Professional Recognition Award, please drop me a line or leave a comment. Thank you.

And that’s enough of that . . .

The following photos are the rest of the photos I had processed a few days ago. I posted the first set yesterday. Some of these photos show different poses of the same subjects . . .

And some are new subjects . . .

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Old Favorites and a Reminder to Vote

If you haven’t yet done so — and if so inclined — please take a few minutes (about 15-20 minutes) and read the three stories in THIS post and then, if feeling charitable, please cast your vote for one of them (the survey is after the stories).

Also, if you are professionally associated with the publishing industry (editor, published author, agent, etc.) and would like to volunteer as a judge for our Professional Recognition Award, please drop me a line or leave a comment. Thank you.

And that’s enough of that . . .

I’ve got this itch, you see . . . no, nothing medical. I have lots of pretty good photos (my opinion and not necessarily shared by the public) going back to 2002, when I purchased my first digital camera, the Nikon D100.

I’ve recently mentioned processing tools have exponentially improved since then and that has me looking back at photos I like but were marred by bad lighting, limited equipment, user error, and limited operator skills. Many of these I’ve already published here or on Smugmug, but always with the disclaimer and apology for the poor quality.

Well, I’m going back and revisiting some of these and processing them in Topaz Sharpen AI, Topaz Adjust AI, Skylum Luminar 4, and Skylum Aurora HDR.

For instance, this cardinal was photographed through a double-pane plate window at my Franklin (Michigan) home . . .

Prior versions have always been “soft” and somewhat unsatisfactory to my critical eye.

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