A Lesson about Photographing Birds
Inside: I like photographing people; Things I’ve learned; Bad pics, good pics, great pics; Tips and tricks; Goals
You know how I get when I find something I like to do that I’m marginally good at. I get swept up for a while. Before I get into it, though, I gave up on Huntley Meadows this morning. I did drive there while running an errand, but the parking lot was crowded and I really didn’t have a lot of time.
So I went home — damn! I forgot to get stamps. While at the Post Office. For the love of…
Anyway, I went home. I decided I’ll just go into my backyard to see what I can see. Well, it’s the backyard of the apartment complex, which is technically a park. It’s a stream.
Point is, right in “my” backyard right near the tennis courts — between the courts and the stream, I saw 7 bird species that I’ve never seen before in my life. Birders apparently call them Life Birds.
I took photos even though there was no hope of getting good pics with a 70-300mm lens, max. aperture 5.6. No tripod, overcast day. These are horrible and cropped to focus in on the subject. I just wanted to have something to identify. I bought the Audubon Birds app for the iPad/iPhone. I saw a/an:
- Osprey
- Carolina Chickadee
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Something small with a thin pointy beak
- American Tree Sparrow
- Brown-headed Cowbird (male and female)
- Downy Woodpecker
I also saw a Canadian Goose aquatic boxing match.
Let’s Draw … Badly
Hm. The bad news is, this did not turn out well. The good news is that I found out that the paper in this drawing pad comes in four different colors.
I don’t have control of these oil pastels. Here are the problems with this one.
The eye is cartoony-big. This gull could be in a Geico commercial. Kind of hard to draw precisely with a rounded edge. Oh. So that’s what the sandpaper is for? Sharpening?
Still don’t know how to do muted colors. But I have a super duper set of oil pastels on the way. Senneliers.
I don’t know to mix colors smoothly. Yet. Senneliers are supposed to be more buttery, i.e. blendable.
I should really do some painting. Trying to use oil pastels has really opened my eyes even though all subtlety gets lost in translation by the time the idea gets to paper.
But you know me. I’ll figure it out. Eventually.
Let’s Draw … Spring
Oil pastels are different. I watched a bunch of oil pastel speed painting videos on YouTube last night.
I’d prefer to paint if it weren’t for the set up and clean up time. They’re different, which is why this turned out a little psychedelic. I don’t know how to do muted colors. I started to get the hang of it at a few points.
Had to put some elbow into the blending stumps.
Let’s Draw Something
You know you wanna.
I blame it on the Internet. I’m glad I got this far, but my attention span is brief. I guess I did work all day. Still, it’s good to make a go of it, right.
I’ve been in the mood to paint. That takes a lot of time and is a bit messy. Then I thought I’d find my colored pencils. Or use some newly acquired pastels.
But then, you know. Let’s start simple.
Not too bad. Some of my proportions are off. I was going to cheat and trace the photo but nah. I need the practice.
Oh, I guess I should post the photo, huh.
Hmmm. My drawing looks a little chubbier with bigger eyes and therefore younger. I didn’t capture the gloss of the coat well. Not sure how to accomplish that with just pencil, though.
Trompe L’oeil Class 9 of 9
Dang. I’m still not finished. I’ve got some serious work to do on the model. I may have to retrace the eyes. Hmm.
Patrick got me started on the face. The fur is going to be … different. Can’t do it quite the same way I would with oils. But acrylics can be blended and gradiated with water.
Trompe L’oeil Class 7 of 9
I never would have attempted the jewelry if it were up to me. I’m surprised it turned out so well. Smoke and mirrors. I’ll try to remember to take photos as I work next time.
Trompe L’oeil Class 6 of 9
Man. Those straight edges really make a difference. It’s going to look wicked smaht with the newspaper edges and shadows. I got most of the colors right. I’ll probably skip some details. Still working pretty slowly, though. I really need to put in some time during the week.
I’m still digging the acrylics, although I need a way to keep them wet, preferably for days at a time. I hate throwing out substantial amounts of mixed colors every week.
Trompe L’oeil Class 5 of 9
Coming along. Slowly. I’m surprising myself.
The instructor is Patrick Kirwin. Kyrwin?
These classes are great. 3+ hours devoted just to painting in a room full of other people with the same interest and a great instructor giving you tips and techniques along the way. There’s a family in the class. Mother, father and daughter. Indian. I think that is so cool. It would be great to take a class with a friend. Maybe going outside into DC or a park and painting some landscapes.
Check out judsonsart.com. So many options for portable painting. But it will cost you. I just got a fancy but cheap case and a special case for transporting wet paintings. That was expensive enough. But if you get one of those fancy French portable things with all the accessories and backpack and tripod. You could easily spend, like, $700.
It’s kind of funny because the instructor is hands on. When he has something to show you he’ll pick up a brush or razor or masking tape and show you on your painting. That’s a good lesson. To have someone else get hands on with your “masterpiece”.
It puts things in perspective. If you look at the source material in one of the earlier blogs you’ll see that the newspaper parts — I painted them with way too much contrast. The colors are too lively.
But Patrick showed me how to do a glaze. I’m really digging the acrylics. Even though they dry on the palette way too quickly for me. Quick drying with the help of Leika’s old hair dryer really speeds things up. I’ll figure it out eventually. But a newspaper colored glaze will really push the liveliness down to that of old newspaper. Neat.
I have to work on this at home a lot more. And I’m looking forward to it.
Trompe L’oeil Class 4 of 9
Hm. I didn’t get very far tonight. Tried some spattering and speckling to try and get the background looking cardboardy.
The instructor showed me some techniques — this class is all about techniques — with tape to get clean edges: a razor blade, blue paint masking tape, liquid matte. My edges still aren’t very clean. I did it wrong. I’ll get it next time around.
I’ve got a lot to learn, apparently. I didn’t even know how to keep acrylic paint from drying out on the palette. Thank goodness for acrylic glaze. And using a hair dryer to dry the canvas between steps or layers. Yes, I have a hair dryer. What? A bald dude can’t have a hair dryer? It was Leika’s. Although, drying a wet dog with a hair dryer was not as effective as I hoped it would be.
In the photo of the painting in progress that I’m about to put here, you’ll notice something. My colors for the newspaper portion are too bright. Too lively. That part of the image is supposed to look flat, which is the opposite of what I always try to do when painting something. So I’m not sure what to do about that.
I may end up using a yellowish glaze to get that faded newspaper feel. Also, note how gray the newspaper is. And how cool the color of the magazine ad with the diamond/titanium jewelry is. Oy.
I’m definitely going to have to work on this at home. Three hours of painting and that’s what I got done tonight other than the background.
