Image dump

I've been getting used to Lightroom and full Photoshop after using Photoshop Elements for many years. Lightroom's strength is it helps organize images more effectively. What I've had to get used to is Lightroom has its own folder structure which does not reflect changes done outside of the program in Explorer. I also upgraded my computer, which was more than seven years old and was stuck on Windows 10. So it is easier to categorize tens of thousands of images with the speedy new setup. Full Photoshop is not that much different from Photoshop Elements so far, but I'm probably not taking advantage of capabilities that I don't know about yet. The thing is I don't want to make fake images on my computer. I want to clean up exposure challenges, but I do not want to make composites or do other manipulation that substantially changes the original. My first college degree was in journalism, not art. In Facebook, some folks were reposting spectacular eclipse images that were obviously composites. Sorry, but the sun was not anywhere near low enough to the horizon to show the eclipse and a field of flash-lit bluebonnets at the same time. But I didn't say anything.

Here are some of the better images from the new Gardepro trail camera #14 not previously posted, from April 24 to 28. I think one of the problems with images this spring from Melted Browning #6 was the camera is not good at closeups, which is what the Gardepro shines at. I can put the Gardepro at one-third of the distance that I had the Browning and get in-focus images. They still aren't nearly as good as images from my 20-year-old 1D Mark II, but they are OK as long as you don't zoom in too closely.

April 24

April 24

April 25

April 25

April 25

April 27

April 28

May Day

Just one from the 1D Mark II today so far. I lowered the camera so there isn't so much background clutter. Now I just have to get him to turn around, but it is clouding up so it might not be today. Just for grins, the second image is from the new trailcam April 23. Keep in mind the distance from the camera to the hole is 18 inches, so this bird is maybe six inches away. If the meta data is to be believed, the exposure time was 1/11,400. It may not be sharp from corner to corner, but there is no motion blur.

1D #9

Gardepro #14

DSLR

The day dawned sunny so I decided to deploy at the old nest box the 1D Mark II with 70-200mm lens set at 70mm, motion triggered. The swallows have been buzzing around, but I'm still hoping they take the new nest box and leave this one for the bluebirds. There are also a couple shots here from the trail camera, including one of a cat early this morning.

Canon 1D Mark II #9

Canon 1D Mark II #9

Canon 1D Mark II #9

Canon 1D Mark II #9

Gardepro T5CF #14

Gardepro T5CF #14

Day 2

It is Day 2 of having two nest boxes. The bluebirds are definitely trying to build a nest in the original box. The swallows have gone to the new box, but also haven't given up the old box. Then they both disappeared when it started raining. We'll see what happens tomorrow. The next sunny day I need to get a DSLR on the case. This new trailcam shows me what is going on but I still think the images aren't quite right, they have a weird texture to them. Images taken with the Gardepro T5CF #14.

Nest building

Swallows still hanging around

Bluebird

Getting along

Last year the bluebirds and the swallows competed for the nest box in my back yard, and the swallows won. There has been a bluebird pair around the box this year, but the swallows also have been swooping at it in recent days, so I decided it was time to give them each their own box. According to the Internet, bluebirds and swallows will not allow their own species to nest within 300 or 100 feet respectively, but they will tolerate each other in separate boxes within 0 (two boxes on the same pole) to 25 feet. I think this is 25-30 feet, old one on the left and new one on the right. If it doesn't work, I can move the new box to the post that is now in the middle. Images except the first one taken with the Gardepro T5CF #14.

Bluebirds and swallows competing today before the new box went up.

And a few other shots from the past few days.

Yote

I haven't checked the trail cameras in the national forest south of town since Feb. 1, so I did that today before we get hit again with a major winter storm. The weather people say 8-12 inches, but we don't know if that is way up in the mountains and less at lower elevations. Based on the past few storms, we may get 2-4 down here. I grew up in northern latitudes but not in the mountains, so getting a major snowfall at the end of April does not seem right.

Anyway, we have a somewhat fuzzy image of a coyote with something large in its mouth. I dare say it looks like about the size of a house cat. Then we got a healthy-looking coyote, probably the same one, a few yards away a week later. Third is a nighttime shot from about a month before. And we have the usual deer running around.

I didn't post the image because it wasn't that clear, but on March 7 it appeared there were two coyotes on Browning #11 walking away from the camera.

Reconyx #7

Browning #11

Browning #11

Browning #11

Closer, closer

After some experimentation, it is now 18 inches from the Gardepro lens to the nest box hole. I often put cameras within 3-4 feet, but this one is so close that I think it interferes with the birds' flight path. I need to point it further right and hopefully get some quicker triggers. This is one of the better ones so far. I will continue to crop off the sides because of lens distortion, which precludes using the info strip.

Trailcampro gave this camera a 95/100 on image quality. I would give it about a 72, but no camera I have is better than an 78 on my scale. The newest Browning and the two Reconyx are probably toward the top of that range. (And I think Trailcampro is the exclusive distributor for three of Gardepro's cameras from China, so now I wonder how impartial their reviews are.) I like the close focus and I won't send it back, but they could make these so much better. At what price, I don't know.