Thursday, April 7, 2011

Bright Red

I'm on a roll! This is my fourth day in a row posting something. I almost feel like my old self as far as that goes. This cardinal is a bit of a trick though. I did something that I don't normally do with my pictures.

I doctored this one somewhat. Well, when I say "this one", I really mean these! Each picture you see here is a combination of two pictures. I did indeed get the pictures, but I thought they could be a little nicer for you.

The first thing I did was to brighten up the cardinals just a bit. I had to do it because the day I shot them was rather gloomy out, and full of dark clouds. That made it a bit hard to see these birds the way they were originally.

The next problem was that after brightening the pictures the sky background was bright white! That obviously also had to be fixed. So I went into my archives and found a good sky to go along with my newly brightened cardinals.

I then placed my good sky behind the first picture and then erased the bad sky right out. That left me with these pictures that I have here. I didn't do the best job ever of fixing them up, but they're much better than they began, and I now can share some presentable pictures of the cardinal I found.

And yes, I know that I do things like this on occasion. So this is not an isolated incident. I constantly experiment with many things. Many things. I watch nature very closely. I edit my own photos. I write fiction. I have written my own video games. I won't share those. I design my own blogs. I have even built over two dozen computers from the ground up.

That's enough of the bragging. I love bragging, even from someone else. It's fun. Go ahead and try. You'll see. It's called tooting your own horn. Even the smallest accomplishment is worthy of a bit of a blustering brag or two. And my comments section is so close and inviting that you can taste it.


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17 comments:

  1. wow, am so impressed, the picture of the red cardinal is truly very inspiring. so happy for you being on a roll, I still have to try doing merging of pictures like what you did, wish I have a lot of time in my hand. But happy for you that you are well enough to try so many new things.

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  2. The pictures are beautiful, and don't look anything gloomy at all. It shows how fantastic the cardinal color really is. Very happy that you're posting and get to go out hiking.

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  3. When that sun hides it takes on a different approach at what one will photograph. I haven't ever used this.Yesterday i was in a deep canyon with partly cloudy day and lost some of the highlights I wanted, but this is a place I go a lot so there will be another day.

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  4. Nicely done my friend. Love those cardinals and their interesting song. Good to see you on the comeback. Hope the progress continues.

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  5. Well, you certainly succeeded. That first picture is stunning! I have a hard time catching cardinals. They are fast. I also know that having the dog with me makes many wildlife shots hard to impossible, because they move off even faster than if it were just me nearby.

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  6. Hi Ratty!
    Glad to see you are doing well and feeling up to blogging more again. Well done on your pics. I think a good part of photography IS being able to make a good picture great! Well done.

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  7. Beautiful pictures. You did a good job Ratty. I used to do a lot of that stuff but not much any more. Takes too long. Most of mine were done with people though. That cardinal is striking for sure against that sky.

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  8. You did a great job at fixing those pictures, they look marvelous. I rarely post a picture that hasn't been touched up in some way. You are a man, or I mean rat, of many talents :) Toot that horn as loud as you want

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  9. This is the one that I have never tried before. You have done a good job.

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  10. Ratty, you can trumpet from the heavens if you like. The pictures are exquisite and I haven't see a cardinal in years. You've done an incredible job, with sky, bird, the whole lot. Bring us more. It's nice to see you are feeling good.

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  11. That red bird sure does look nice with the beautiful blue sky for a background! Good idea!

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  12. Good job on the cardinal, he is a beauty. Nothing wrong with tooting your horn.

    One of these days we'll have to talk computer building.

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  13. You added a great sky backdrop - it really makes the cardinal stand out. My human does a lot of Photoshop work too on my blog, but it's usually to erase the cat fur on the rug.

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  14. Thanks everyone for your comments. I'm running a little behind, so just a few answers for this one.

    @SquirrelQueen
    I love talking computer building. Any time.

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  15. Well done Ratty... The photos look amazing!

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  16. Nice shots! I always give my pictures a little bit of added saturation to make up for my crummy camera. More saturation always makes them look as I saw them in the field. Thanks for sharing!

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  17. Some wonderful cardinal pics. Ratty, I am often envious of the extent of the wildlife you come across!!

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