Random STufF from DonnaB

Yesterday I shared the picture of the feral hogs and pigs I had cropped to where it looked like I was very close to the critters. Let me show you what I actually saw from the road through my lens.

No zoom at all on the first picture

The rest zoomed to the max of my 300mm lens

The image below is the one I cropped to get the closeup view I posted yesterday.

If you haven’t played with editing your photos by cropping to the subject of your pictures, you should try it.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, there are many software applications created just for editing your pictures. Most are also capable of creating graphics like I do here. You know my choice for playing is Paint Shop Pro. I’m sure you’ve heard of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements. Within these programs mentioned (and others) is a tool for “cropping”. Literally meaning to remove unwanted portons of a photo or to change the aspect ratio.

You see what my camera captured in the next to the last photo above, but by cropping to the animals, I was able to show you a better view of them. This method isn’t always successful. Sometimes the cropped photo is blurry or becomes less interesting without the surrounding scenery, but in this instance, it worked.

Remember this post from last January?

It was cloudy and very gloomy this January afternoon, but I checked a field we have been seeing deer hoping to get a photo opportunity anyway. I got my photo, but it wasn’t what I expected to see. I took 52 pictures as they foraged in the wheat field. This is the best of them and it is a bit blurry. I was using my zoom lens and I was still quite a distance away.

You know… I don’t know what to think about the thrill I get in photographing wild animals. Reckon that says something about me? And if it does, what exactly is it? Please tell me if you have an idea, cause I’m fairly sick of analyzing myself!

Enough rambling… here’s the pic!

Ed and I have resumed our afternoon and evening photo excursions without very much success UNTIL yesterday. This sunset was spectacular and we both took many pictures. This was the favorite of mine since the silhouette of the microwave tower, building and surrounding cedar trees made the shot more interesting.

I came home today to find the the deer, sleigh, lighted packages and spiral trees were already in the shed. The lights had been removed from their temporary homes in the shrubs and were waiting on me all over the lawn to determine where the next 11 months will be spent. Oh… I’m just being silly! The husband wasn’t sure what storage containers to pack them in and wanted me to be happy. I’m a little bit of a control freak… oh wait! I’m a whole lotta control freak, but I’m workin’ on it!

That is all…

Great day here, nothing in particular or spectactular going on, but the sun was shining, the temperature was fantastic, I walked 3 miles and I played on my computer tonight!

mzbet challenged us this week to choose at least three elements from the image below and make something depicting New Year’s.

I made the front of a greeting card and then decided to animate it.

Hope the first day of 2009 has been a good one for you too!