So far I am sticking to my New Years resolution to get out and shoot.  Took the Sigmos (150-500) out looking for birds.  I need the practice, its a new lens, and I am only a month away from the Biggest Weekend in American Birding event/trip.  I have recently discovered eBird.  It is a place where you can log your bird sightings and the others can see what has been seen where.  Its really cool.  I have an app from Audobon that ties into it, and can tell you where the current hot spots are.

Today it said Sims Park in Euclid was good.  Its a park that I never thought of a s a birding park.  Along the shores of Lake Erie it is mostly a lake access park, with a great little disc golf course.  I ventured out, and when I got there it was clear that there were a lot of birds, in a couple of stands of trees.  I headed out into the trees, and I started looking for tiny little song birds.

While scoping out for the little guys, the sun would occasionally disappear, then quickly come back.  But I was focused on finding out what tiny little 3 inch bird was making such a racket.  After a minute or 2 of looking at leaf buds and trying to triangulate locations with my ears I happen to see a really big black thing fly by, just outside of the trees.  I was so focused on little birds that the big one that flew by looked huge.

I quickly realized it was a turkey vulture, but it was repeatedly buzzing the grass field, about 10 feet above the ground.  Normally I would consider a tv (turkey vulture) to be one of the ugliest birds on the planet.  They traditionally fly in groups 100's of feet up in the air, and I always though that was a good thing.  These tv's were so unusually close to the ground that while still ugly, they were fascinating.

I headed out of the woods towards the lake.  As I stood on the bluff above the beach I noticed a turkey vulture sitting in the sand eating a dead fish.  The second vulture however was still circling and buzzing the beach.  As I started shooting away, he swooped down, and I had the opportunity to shoot a bird of prey from above.  Not a normal thing for me.  Add to that the contrast of the dark bird with the fairly light colored water of Lake Erie, and I think I got one of my better wildlife shots.

I like wildlife shots because you have to take what nature gives you, most often it is crap, but sometime the light, background, subject, and all come together and then it is really cool... if you actually ready to take advantage of the moment.

As operation Re-Dux continues I have started to come to a realization.  First, it is clear that re-examining the photos posted on the site, and to temporarily defer adding more until I am done, is a good move.  I have discovered many things in these photos, colors, details, etc, that were not in the original edits.  Beyond that I have discovered a new truth, my photo skills are/were, lacking.  I am heading in the right direction, thats the good news, the bad news is that many of my older efforts were nearly completely worthless.  O.k. not worthless, they were a step in the journey, but wow, were they bad.

Over the next 18 months I have plans to go to several places that we have been to before, but not for a long time.  We traveled more before we had kids, then came the inevitable pause.  We started saying things like, we'll go back after the kids get older.  Well, they are older now.  Not too old, but old enough to travel with us. (they have been traveling since they were very tiny, but now we are talking really long, or more active travel).  So this summer we are headed to the Outer Banks of N.C.  Used to go there every few years, but have not been there since 2004.  Next summer we are headed to Yellowstone, went there in 1999... 3 days of driving each way, but it will be worth it.

In talking about the trips with the kids we naturally grabbed the old photo albums.  Started to look through them and wow, the only thing more embarassing than the quality of the pictures was that I actually had to pay for the film and the developing.  You have an image of a pace in your mind, then you try to find the photo that matches that thought, and the ones you find don't do it justice.  Even now, as I am going through some of the pictures on the site, I have discovered that it has been quite a while since I shot some things that are right in my own neighborhood, and oh boy could they use a reshoot.

The lesson, and I guess I always knew this, is to relook at things as your skills develop.  Reexamine your post production editing, relook at you initial shot, composition, etc.  New images are to be had from places where you think you have completely explored already. 

On a side note, I am really looking forward to Yellowstone.  Every time I buy a lens, I think, "Man, would I have loved to have had this in Yellowstone"  In fact the Sigma 150-500 Bigmos that I recently purchased was chosen with what it could do for me in Yellowstone in mind.

A recently re-edited photo, since this is a photoblog....

I am going through my posts, and re-editing all of the images.  I have learned much more about color correcting and levels adjusting since I did most of these.  It has resulted in far better images.  Most of my older ones came out way to dark and way to contrasty.

I am posting 2 images from the Washington DC gallery, to show a before and after comparison.  These are from the 2010 Cherry Blossom Festival.  The first picture is unedited and the second image has been modified.  I think the fighter stands out from the background in the modified image.  Looking at it, it still might be a little dark.