SX50 Test Run

Happy Monday morning to you all!

I've been playing with the Canon Powershot SX50 quite a bit, and though it's been a frustrating experience, I think I've finally figured out through trial and error, and tutorials on the internet*, how to obtain fairly sharp images. However, it's been raining and/or cloudy since I got the camera, so I haven't had adequate light to know if I can get the same sharpness I am seeing from others who own this camera.

On my DSLR (Bertha) I shoot in aperture priority, sometimes at 1600 ISO to get a fast shutter. Since the sensor in Bertha is full frame, there is no noise at this ISO level. No-can-do on the SX50. The main trick with this camera is to have a shutter speed of 500 or more, an ISO below 400 (preferably), and let the camera choose the aperture. Also, I have better luck using the back screen for finding my subject, rather than looking through the viewfinder. The viewfinder pretty much sucks on this camera, imo. Put her on a tripod and use the back screen with the other settings, some bright light, and it's a great little camera.

No cropping on any of these, just resized, noise removed, and sharpened slightly for the blog. I think this is going to be a good option for kayaking and for times when I do not want to lug all the heavy gear.

The Autumn Carnation azaleas I planted are going crazy! There are hundreds of blooms on three small bushes.

Downy woodpecker. Not sharp, but I was amazed at how much closer the zoom allows than my 400mm.

Izzy. Double D has made her rotten.

Sparky. My first rescue from the emergency pet clinic. He's 12 now and on three medications for
congestive heart failure and thyroid disease.

*I found this link very helpful on how to achieve sharp photos with the Canon SX50. I hope this helps someone else out there who owns this camera, or is thinking of buying it.

Linking with Saturday's Critters. Please check out other submissions on Eileen's fun new meme!

Geodad

A few days ago I went to Bluebonnet Swamp to check out the owl/owlet situation. No sightings of the chicks or their parents, but I was blessed enough to witness a male prothonotary warbler enticing a female into a nesting station. There are nineteen of these stations in the swamp, three of them very close to the barred owls' nesting site.

This little chap is named Geodad--so named because he is one of four prothonotary warblers that were netted and banded last year with geo-locator software to track their migratory patterns . Out of the four original experiments, Geodad was the only one to return to the swamp after 300+ days. He was recaptured and the software removed for analyzing. We are all excitedly awaiting the results of his adventure. Here is the Facebook page to the Louisiana Bird Observatory who led the experiment if you're interested.

Sorry for the deluge of photos; I don't normally post this many, but I couldn't leave some of these on the cutting room floor. :) Nesting Station 11 (below) is the closest one to the barred owls' nest. If these two love birds choose this nest we will be doubly blessed!

Geodad scouting the location.

Okay, it's pre-fab but seems solidly constructed. Lovely interior. I think she'll like it!

Darling!!!! I've found our new abode! The view is fantastic!

Waiting....

Come in, my love! It's perfect for us!!

Well....I'm not sure about this one Geo.

It could be a little more plush on the inside. Try again!!

Geodad returns later.
What's wrong with it? I think it's beautiful.

Location location location!! You're hard to please, woman!

Oh, all right. I'll give it another chance.

Let me just grab a quick bath!

Hold your horses! Give me a chance to dry off. I don't want to get the new floors wet.

Please visit and check out other wild birds around the world. Thanks so much to the hosts!
Wildbird Wednesday
I'd Rather B Birdin'

Peppy

Tex's Fence meme has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I've never really made fences a main subject in photography, but needing something to kick my mojo into gear, I decided to give it a try. On April 1st I drove out to the cemetery to put new flowers on my mother's and sister's graves. Afterwards, I drove along River Road desperately searching for the perfect fence. There are several places in the road where I left skid marks and some places where I simply did not feel safe to stop. The cars whizzing by at 80mph could have easily put me in the morgue. I stood in some pretty tall weeds for some shots, risking ticks, cows staring at me with their goofy faces. You'd think after all that I'd have something better to show for it. I was hoping for a fence with a bird on it or a really spectacular, awesome design. Since that didn't happen I used a butterfly image I found on Flickr years ago by Angela Wolf. He's my go-to image to pep up an otherwise boring image. Meet Peppy. You might be seeing more of him if my mojo fails to return.

Thanks TexWisGirl for hosting the meme!!

Sunday

Sunday morning we slept in, drank coffee, and read our devotionals. Finally, showers were taken, the dogs watered and fed, and the car packed. Off to Lake Martin to hopefully improve our kayaking skills. An hour later we were standing in front of the boat rental place, cash in hand. However, this time I asked for a more stable kayak and Mr. Champagne gave us two kayaks which were wider in the middle. Boy, what a difference! I wasn't afraid to use my binoculars or phone. Since it was just the two of us we took our time and meandered around the lake, stopping at times to just sit and soak in all of God's great beauty. It was the best day ever!

Double D is loving this too! He told me I am doing a good job of keeping him young.

Double D took this one of me. Rarely do I relax and smile for the camera.
I think we've figured out the formula!

Oh no! Our 2 hours are up; time to return to the dock. :(

Our iphones do a great job for landscape shots, but it's killing me that I can't take photos of wildlife with my DSLR. So, I have ordered a Canon Powershot SX50 just for kayaking. There is no way I can chance losing the DSLR in the lake. The new camera is supposed to have 24mm on the wide angle end and up to 1200mm on the zoom end. I doubt if I'd ever have to use 1200mm since we can get so close to the birds, turtles, and gators on water, plus it has Image Stabilization built in. The reviews are mostly positive, so I'm super excited! Anyone else have experience with this type of camera?

Saturday

We had a full weekend which is extremely rare for us. We like to stay loose and go with the flow on the weekends. It started Friday night when my cousin Brent wanted to meet us for drinks and it kept going from there.

On Saturday we had a cracklin' cookout in the small town where my grandparents lived. My cousin Billy started with a big iron pot and some vegetable oil. Then he threw in about 75 pounds of pig fat that he had pre-cut into small squares. There's a lot of stirring involved and at one point he took out the cracklin with a slotted spoon the size of Texas and spread it out on a table to cool. While that cooled he began cooking whole chickens, liver, and french fries in all that pig fat. Then he returned the cracklin' to the pot and cooked it again. Apparently, this is what gives it its crunchy goodness.

This is Billy on the left and my Uncle Jay on the right. They are very serious cooks.
Here they are discussing how long the food needs to boil in oil. Not healthy, but hey, it's once a year.

These are my 2nd cousins Eric, Brody and Tyler. Love these boys!

Eric, his dad and my favorite first cousin, Brent, and my other first cousin Michael, who is director of the
St. Vincent de Paul shelter in Baton Rouge. He is such a good and caring soul. Brent is too, he's just
a goofball sometimes. But we love that. :)

My godfather, Uncle Johnny and his pretty wife, Aunt Yvonne.
They were both very close to my mom and did a lot for her when I couldn't be here.

Afterwards we went out to Bluebonnet Swamp. The owlets have not made an appearance yet, so this is all I could come up with. Sorry for those of you squeamish about reptiles, but these are non-venomous and I'm shooting them from a safe distance.

Ribbon snake. See the skink in the lower right corner? He kept antagonizing the snake,
seemingly enjoying sneaking up on him.

Five-lined skink. I loved the texture on the tree trunk.

Investigating. He passed on the red globs--whatever they were.

I think this might've been mama skink. She was watching two little ones very closely.

After the swamp, we rented "The Big Year" starring Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black. If you're into birding at all you will really enjoy this film. Double D and I were laughing at ourselves and wondering how we got to be such bird nerds.

Whew, so Saturday was a big day. Sunday will be discussed in tomorrow's post, but will be much shorter in length.