The Big Year

A few days ago I was on a flight out here to Edmonton for work. For entertainment on the four hour flight, I watched the movie, The Big Year. I’d seen the ads for it when it came out on video last fall and thought that one day I’d rent the movie, but I hadn’t gotten around to it.

Black-throated Green Warbler. How many species can you identify by sight and sound? Check out my bird gallery on the 44th Parallel Photography website for more bird photos.

The plot is focused around ‘the big year’, a phenomenon in the bird world. Born out of a 30,000 mile road trip in the 1950’s, by birding legend Roger Tory Peterson and his colleague, James Fisher, the duo documented 572 bird species during their trip across North America. Since then, there has been this informal challenge in the birding world, to record the highest number of bird sightings in a single year.

The Big Year was the subject of a 1998 book by  Mark Obmascik. I listened to the audiobook last year and sadly, barely managed to get to the end of it. It’s definitely not on my top ten list. But during my flight to Edmonton, I figured I had nothing better to do and so watched the movie. And given my spring-time addiction to bird photography, I thought it was some light entertainment I might enjoy.The movie features the funny trio of Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. I can’t imagine that they could have put together a more appropriate cast for this movie.

So was the movie any good? All I can say is, what a hoot! [Ok, pardon the really bad birding pun]. Seriously, I loved it! The movie was funny, light-hearted, and yet also dealt with some of the serious issues of life. But all in a light-hearted way. There was some great scenery and well, I could really relate to the passion about birds. No, I’m not about to take a leave of absence from my job and do ‘a big year’. I’m passionate, but not crazy. ;o) But I could relate to the excitement of seeing a rare bird or the thrill of seeing a great diversity of birds. And well, I’d never be in contention for top honours for a big year, because I can’t move fast enough, lugging around a 600mm lens on a tripod. And there’s no way I’d be going on to the next sighting until I got a decent photo of the bird of interest. Not that I would go any lengths to get the photo. I don’t believe we should be trampling nature and harming the environment to get a good photo. But I would camp out until I got the photo. Remember one of my earlier posts – patience really is a virtue in wildlife photography.

For those of you who love birds or bird photography, I highly recommend watching The Big Year. It’s fun. It’s light entertainment that will put a smile on your face. It also made me realize how bird-geeky I truly am. When the movie credits scrolled by, accompanied by photos of a diversity of birds, I challenged myself to name as many species as possible as the photos and credits flew by. Hmmm, maybe one day I will do a A Big Year. ;o)

 

 

Photo of the Week – Spring Wildflowers

Our snow is gone, the days are warming quickly and soon, our woodland wildflowers will be here once again.

Click here to view the 44th Parallel Photography Photo of the Week

Spring Wildflowers by 44th Parallel Photography

Photo of the Week – Long-tailed Duck

This weekend Ray and I drove down to Prince Edward Point, near Picton, Ontario, looking for owls and hawks. No luck. But at the point beside the bird observatory, the waters were busy with the sights and sounds of dozens of male and female Long-tailed Ducks.

To see the Photo of the Week at 44th Parallel Photography, click here.

Creating Artistic Wildlife Images

I just discovered textured backgrounds. It’s something I’ve looked at for a while, but hadn’t had a chance to experiment with. I’d seen some nice wildflower images with textured backgrounds. They were subtle and I think that’s why they worked so well. I can see that textured backgrounds are like HDR – it’s very easy to overdo it and end up with a gaudy looking image. But as with HDR, it’s very worthwhile experimenting. Some images work and some don’t. But the only way you find out is by trying.

Here’s an image of a Barred Owl to which I decided to add a textured background. It was my first real attempt at this and purely experimental. In putting this together I found that striking the right balance between opacity of the background texture, brightness, contrast, and vibrance/saturation is truly an art in itself. It’s easy to overdo it. But adding something subtle can take an average photo and give it some Wow-factor.

It’s so easy to add the background. Download a texture from the web or make your own. Add it as a layer in Photoshop. Set your blending mode to multiply. And then play with opacity and other parameters until you get what you want. I’m sure there’s a more methodical and predictable way to generate the results you want, but I’m new to this. And I’m just experimenting. I hope you’ll give it a try. For certain images, it really does take them to a higher level.

Adding a textured background to an image can add a creative, artistic look. Barred Owl, by Shelley L. Ball, 44th Parallel Photography.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is out!

Today Adobe announced that Lightroom 4 is available for purchase. A lot of people have been playing with the beta version, which I think is still available for trial download until the end of March.

I’ve only had a quick play with it, but Lightroom 4 looks really good. And I even like the new module that allows you to quickly and easily put together your own book using Blurb.

The price for this release of Lightroom 4 also looks good. Only $149 US for the full version and $79 for the upgrade. That’s a great price for such a fantastic tool.

Check out a dpreview’s article on Lightroom 4 to see what’s new and good.

Photo of the Week – Barred Owl

There’s a hint of spring in the air and with this time of year comes the movement of hawks and owls back into our forests and meadows. It’s a good time of year to get out with your camera in search of these wonderful birds.

Click on the thumbnail below or the link here to visit the Photo of the Week on the 44th Parallel Photography website.

Barred Owl - Photo of the Week on 44th Parallel Photography website.

Nikon Professional Insights with Jim Brandenburg

Nikon has just posted a short movie and a wonderful mini biography about Jim Brandenburg, as part of their Nikon Professional Insights series. You’ll find the link to them on Jim’s blog site or directly on Nikon’s website.

He’s also posted more images taken with the new Nikon D800. Fantastic images and more convincing evidence of the superb new camera Nikon has come out with.

Nikon has also set up a Nikon D800 microsite, with images and movies made by an assortment of professional photographers, using the D800. A fantastic site! Check it out.