Hello!

There's some progress:

Growing, those two are somewhat faster than the others.

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 150mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.0
Exposure: 1/200 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 100+200

I wanted to post this photo first, but I think I'm going to share Yesterday's "bird photo trip" with you guys as I post, so I don't have to stay up for too long. (I got ill after all.)

After taking Miro to school (Leo had to stay home for he had awful cough and throat ache) I drove along Savontie towards Heinola. I thought to myself that I wanted some good shots of birds, I never really managed to shoot other birds than pidgeons and jackdaws.

In Vierumäki I stopped for a coffee in a quite peculiar looking place and a bit of Steemit via phone. I asked the coffee lady if she knew where there were nature trails of places to shoot birds at. But she had no idea so I left. Well, I might return to take photos of the coffee shop some day, it was kind of nice looking place, a low building built of what looked like tarred logs.

Anyway I moved on toward the Vierumäki sports academy grounds, as I figured they'd have a nature trail tucked somewhere.

I had arrived to Vierumäki at about 10am. (Seems my camera is still in Summer time, checked the timestamp of the photo and it says 11:45) and inquired for nature trails from a local hotel info desk. I was given a map and told to park at the sports academy carpark, and then head north towards Valkjärvi.

By this brook I wondered if I should go over the lake Suurijärvi on ice, or should I perhaps walk around it. I decided to take the long way around.

Little brook flowing from Valkjärvi to Suurijärvi

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 80mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/640 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 100+400

Not far from the brook, I tested the camera settings against these polypores.

Polypore 1

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 80mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 100+800

It looked like I was pretty close to the truth with these settings. While it was a bright sunny day, in the forest most of that light was lost. It's a peculiar thing about snow. It makes everything that is not snow appear very dark. Even if you try to account for it in your settings. So I chose to have a particularly wide dynamic ISO setting for my photos. (You must know by now that I use Dual-ISO in most of my photography.)

Polypore 2

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 300mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/400 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 100+800

While I was walking the path I noticed one particularly odd thing. I couldn't hear any bird singing. Not one bird. It was completely quiet in the forest, not counting the distant hum of the motorway in the west.

It was weird.

I climbed a hill, and while walking the top I thought to myself "Where are all the birds?". I was in the perfect place, I had a high vantage point in case I would see some birds in the trees below. High enough I wouldn't have to sprain my neck to shoot a bird above me.

...and no birds...

...none.

Spotted a bearded branch, among many.

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 125mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 200+800

The beard moss was funny looking so I had to shoot it because I didn't see any birds. It'd been cool if there was a bird on that branch looking at the branch, or maybe even trying to take it along for nest beddings.

Some branches.

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 300mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 200+800

There were more branches in dire need of some birds to hop from branch to branch. Is it still too cold for birds here?

Empty birdhouse

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 95mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 200+800

Even the birdhouses looked empty. Maybe in the summer they'll be occupied again. (I guess that's just it, we are still too deep in the winter.)

This tree seems to be missing a part.

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 300mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 200+800

I wonder if it was a strong storm that cut the tree. The top was nowhere to be seen.

And I still heard no birds. No I think I did hear something.

It was just a branch hitting a tree trunk in the wind.

Well maybe it was time to get out of the forest and start heading back to the car. All I got was shots of trees and snow. I'm probably not even going to publish them all because they are all pretty much just photos of trees.

These branches grow a bit frantically.

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 230mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 400+800

I've never seen a witches broom like that one.

When I was coming out of the forest, and heading towards the parking lot, I finally heard it: a resounding "ti-ti-tyy" right above me.

I glanced up and high above me I saw two Great tits mockingly bouncing up and down the tree branches.

I raised my camera and sprained my neck trying go get a clear shot as they were some 30 meters high in the tree tops in middle of the tree branches that practically made focusing impossible.

I got a few shots, but in the end only one of them was even remotely worth of publishing:

Great tit

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 300mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 400+800

I needed to crop it into a third or fourth of its size to get the small bird visible. The bluish glow you'll see in the photo around the tit and the branches is due to chromatic aberration. It's basically the curse of many cheap lenses, and on my 75-300 it is abhorrent. Otherwise the photo is quite nice. Too small, bad quality photo, but still it was a great ending for my great bird hunt. (Wild goose chase?)

On my way home though, I decided to reward myself with a lunch at an American Bus Burger restaurant.

Bus Burger

Camera body: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: EF 75-300mm ƒ/4-5.6
Focal length: 75mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure: 1/500 s
ISO: Dual-ISO 400+800

It's an intriguing place where you can eat big hamburgers in an old American school bus.

I could continue the story with something about an insurance service phone call and our plans of setting up a business...

But um.. it's getting late so I'll wrap this story up and bid you guys good night!

So, see you soon!

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[Previous post: One photo every day: Beard moss (254/365)]

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Full moon (249/365)
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Messilä manor (251/365)
A Postcard from Lahti #1 (252/365)
Breaking the rules (253/365)
Beard moss (254/365)

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