Stumped

I followed this Green Heron as it was hunting along the water's edge. After being unsuccessful in its quest for food, it flew to this stump giving me an opportunity for a few nice shots.

Mush Mouth

Recently, a small flock of finches appeared in the backyard and spent two days munching on the berries in one of the trees. To say they were messy eaters would be accurate. After a couple of days, the finches disappeared as quickly as they arrived. 

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday

Cell Phone Camera Fun

Cell phone (or smartphone) cameras have gone from being an afterthought on devices to being quite good. For many people, their cell phone camera has replaced regular cameras. I'm not one of them because, as good as they are, cell phone cameras still have far too many limitations for the kind of shooting I do. However, I do use my iPhone for taking photos and editing them using a variety of photo apps. The editing is the fun part for me. I just like to see what I can create right on my phone. I know photographers who think this kind of stuff is ruining photography, but I ignore that and just have fun.

Shadow Of Green

Linking to

Night Life

I thought I would make a small departure from my usual images. Sometimes it's just fun to do something different.

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Painted Sky

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Rusty Daisies

A Kiss Before I Go

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Meet Little Maverick

Hummingbirds have been scarce this summer and when we did see them, it was only one at a time. About the middle of August, this male began staying around the back yard. He would feed and then perch in a nearby tree. If any other hummingbirds came to the feeders, he would promptly chase them off. Normally, it was a female or a juvenile. Sometimes the "intruders" would stand their ground or air, as it were, and miniature aerial dogfights would commence. I unofficially named this male Maverick because the dogfights reminded me of scenes from Top Gun.

(Since these photos were taken, the hummingbirds have disappeared. Our recent cooler weather may have prompted them to begin moving farther south.)

Apparently, little Mav wasn't very impressed about having his own personal photographer.

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Kentucky Barns...On The Water

As you can guess from the title and the cattails, this is another barn that sits in a great location. This black barn is on the opposite side of the lake from the white barn I posted previously.

Linking to

Eye See You III

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On The Lake

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From Storm Clouds To Fire Clouds

The evening started off like this with a big storm front that whipped the birds into a frenzy and brought some rain.

And it ended up like this. A world of difference. The sun was below the horizon, but still throwing light.

When shooting the sky, I always shoot in manual and usually underexpose my shots by 2/3 to 1 2/3 stops depending on the light. I find it brings out deeper color in my sky photos. If you shoot in RAW, this can be done in post processing, but I like to get the look I want in-camera as opposed to having to fool with it later. While all the exposures may not be technically correct, I'm going for what I see with my eyes and a certain feel, not necessarily what the camera thinks is right.

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Beauty And The Beasts

This Monarch, the bees, and wasps were all competing for the same flowers. At times, some ended up on the same flower. The butterfly held its own.