Wire Worm to the Rescue

Sometimes modern artefacts just get in the way of a decent picture. Directly opposite me is a telephone pole and wires which can be very annoying when I am photographing cloud formations.

The exposure reading was taken from the brightest part of the sky so the clouds didn't become washed out.



The photo was then imported into PaintShop Pro Photo X2 and the ReDynaMix plugin used to bring out some detail in the shadows. This was followed by the use of a plugin called Wire Worm which can be very effective at sliding and blending nearby material over the unwanted parts.



If you are interested in Wire Worm then have a look HERE at  MV's PLUGINS. It should work with any graphics program which recognises Photoshop type plugins.There are some excellent examples of its use and a short video demonstration of its facilities. The best part is - it's free.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Aha! I get the gold star for last week's puzzle picture as no one managed to identify it.
My thanks to all those who attempted a guess.

It was a very close view of the head of a match.

  


And now for the new close up to identify:



Clue: It could heat up at the same time as last week's object.

No prizes. Just a bit of fun.

I really must catch up on some other blogs today. I spent a lot of time over the weekend trying to make some sense of the C++ programming language. It's many years since I use Sinclair Basic, then BBC Basic and finally Agfa Basic (Atari ST) but now I want to be able to have a play with the modern generation of programmable microprocessors as used in the Arduino kits. I want to build some more versatile methods of controlling the camera for nature photography so I think I will be needing a new bottle of aspirin to cure the headaches when I start banging my head on the wall! 

Friday at the Flicks - Wren, Wood Pigeon, Blackbirds and Apples

Most days I spot the Wren exploring the shady parts of the garden but it rarely stays in sight long enough to get some video clips.The other day I got lucky.



Under the seed feeder I have a large tray to catch any seed which falls. After one night's rain the seed was under water but that didn't put off one Wood Pigeon from having a good breakfast.



The Blackbirds continue to enjoy a piece of apple from time to time. They seem to prefer to wait for the apple to go brown and soft before tucking in.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you. For those following the progress of the nestbox - the Great Tit continues to use it as a roost every night.

Great Tit, the Moon and Jupiter

The Great Tit is roosting in the nest box for the tenth night running.

Great Tit by day and by night:
Still plenty of feathers left over after last week's scrap.


Jupiter is quite bright at the moment. Two nights running I have tried to photo Jupiter and its moons. Still photos were a complete failure. The length of exposure needed meant that  the planet moved across the sky by a small fraction of a degree but enough to make the moons appear more like UFOs. In the end I set up the Panasonic SDR-H80 on a sturdy tripod, switched it to night vision and full 70x optical zoom. The resultant video clip is a bit jerky with the slow shutter speed of night vision and the rotation of the Earth.

Jupiter with four moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa. Three are easy to spot. The fourth is much dimmer and further off to the left of Jupiter and comes into view on and off.



I did manage some still photos of the Moon. Being a lot brighter the exposures were much shorter.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

As always, the answer to last week's puzzle picture first.

  

It was indeed a close look at one small part of a clump of moss which the birds had removed from my roof.
Gold Stars to Adrian, Glo and Jan who plumped for Moss. Wilma hedged her bets so I think a Silver Star there.

Now for the new puzzle photo.



Clue:  Too hot to handle? It will be later on.

Blackbird and Apple

Knowing from past experience that Blackbirds like to eat apple I chopped a windfall in half and put it out over a week ago. Finally this morning a male Blackbird decided to help itself. Rather grainy photos as it was early, poor light and the 50D was set to ISO 3200 to obtain a reasonable shutter speed.







 Having invested in a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone which has an 8Mpixel camera these are a couple of the first test shots as taken with no processing.

Are we going walkies or are you going to fiddle with that phone all afternoon?



Great all round phone but very battery hungry!

The Great Tit has just arrived in the nestbox, and fluffed itself out ready to roost there for the seventh night running.

Friday at the Flicks - Great Tit Roosting in the Nestbox

Trying to get video files up to YouTube yesterday was a nightmare. They would upload but processing seemed to have come to a full stop. In the end I remembered I had a Photobucket account so put them there. The only problem I have found is that there doesn't seem to be a way for me to choose the size of the displayed videos unlike YouTube which gives several choices. All these clips are silent.

I get the feeling the Great Tit wanted a bit more ventilation in the nestbox as from time to time it has been pecking at the back wall. Maybe it wants an emergency exit.



A couple of videos from the first night the Great Tit used the nestbox as a roost.
The first shows how it fluffs out its downy feathers to turn itself into a birdy duvet.



The last video shows it stretching its wings in preparation for leaving the box in the morning.



So far the Great Tit has roosted in the nestbox every night since those video clips were made, There don't seem to have been any more intruders but the bottom of the box is still covered in feathers from the scrap a few nights ago.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.