Monday, April 10, 2017

Sounds of Spring!

My photos from the weekend are a bust (see below), but I was sitting on the back deck in our 'cool summer evening temperatures', and listening to the mad chorus of Spring Peepers from across the road.  So I decided to go and see if I could record the 'sounds of spring'.  For me there is nothing like the Spring Peepers to mark the arrival of spring.  Here they are:

The picture isn't very exciting, but if you turn your volume up loud and listen, you'll hear the sounds of spring - both Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs.  The first are the loud 'peeps', and the second sound very much like gabbling ducks.  I was afraid they'd shut down when I got close, but I was able to walk right up to the little wetland and record them.  At the beginning of the video you catch a brief glimpse of our green house across the road, and there's an old farm field roller in the foreground part way through the video.

Photographer's Brainfart

I was over on the shoreline of Lake Huron on Saturday, and thought I had captured some great photos of the lake to share today.  But it was a disaster.  I had been photographing inside a building, and had the ISO set up high.  One of those newbie photographer mistakes, I failed to recheck my settings outside in the bright sun.  All the photos were over-exposed.  Never-the-less, I'm going to share three of them here to embarrass myself, in the hopes I will remember this occasion and not do that again!

Kincardine Lighthouse  

Lake Huron Shoreline

 The Bruce Nuclear Plant in the distance.

I worked away to change the bad exposure in Lightroom, but with very limited results.  All the colours are still way off!  The lighthouse picture isn't too bad, but the last two pictures of brilliant turquoise water and sky are TOTALLY unrealistic!

With that I'm taking a two-week break; will be back in late April.  Have a great early spring.

30 comments:

  1. You will not believe this, but I thought the other night I need to video those sounds...we need to remember this post and come back in the winter to remind us of spring. Roger and I both love that sound....

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  2. Guess there are some advantages to a point and shoot after all. - Margy

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  3. Special effects! Add a vignette and a filter and it becomes art! Well, have a good break.

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  4. What a noise, they are very vocal. Have a great time away, hope the weather is kind, and you are well and happy every day.

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  5. Love the sounds of the birds in the spring. No matter the pictures you still did get a few, mine are usually less than perfect but still works as memories for me.

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  6. It's good to hear the frogs, wood frogs certainly are the heralds of spring.

    None of the rest of us who are photographers have ever done anything like neglecting to adjust the ISO (HA HA!. Hopefully your two week vacation from blogging is for pleasure and not something else.

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  7. Enjoy your spring break! I'll miss your daily posts but I'll adapt. I couldn't listen to your spring peepers for some reason, but I've got some right outside my back window. :-)

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  8. We are getting all kids of sounds here too. Yes it is spring.

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  9. They are quite vocal! Enjoy the break!

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  10. I'm still looking for the bust, Stew - rather disappointing. And I've never heard the expression 'brainfart' before; naturally, I need to practice using it immediately and will take it to the pub on Friday. The sounds of spring are great, but turned up too loud come across as something from a 1950s sci-fi. Have a great break!

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  11. I do love the peepers that's for sure and they have been serenading us here for some time now in the marsh and along the river bank . I get brain farts all the time lol ! Um I have had photos like that to and not even Lightroom could bring them out but I played with my ISO and Fstop and found that for shots like bright skys ISO of 400 and Fstop of about 8 seems to work for me so far but everyone's cameras and settings are different aren't they ?! I have a Nikon D3100 nothing fancy and my lenses are the newer light weight VR ones , being photographers there is always something to learn isn't there and a lot of trial and error ?! Lovely video and photos . Thanks for sharing , Have a good break .

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  12. i enjoyed your sounds of spring!! i view images like memories...they are all wonderful, especially if you enjoyed yourself!!

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    1. i missed the very "bold" break part, my bad. wishing you wonderful away time!!!

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  13. The peepers are sure making a lot of noise, cute noise though.
    Hey I think we've all done that from time to time. Your photos were still a pleasure to look at.

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  14. The video didn't show up in the post but it is one of the first sounds of spring that say "Spring is here" to me! We haven't heard them yet as the ponds are still frozen over. Enjoy the rest of April.

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  15. Love the Spring Peepers. I was just outside to see if the moon was up and got blasted with all the Ribbits ribbits. And even if the colors are wrong---I love the blues.
    Have fun where ever you are going.

    MB

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  16. gosh they are very loud, like cicadas in Spring here.

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  17. Have a great vacation! I'll see you when you get back.

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  18. Happy Spring! I love the sounds of the spring peeprs, we have not heard them yet! :)

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  19. We used to hear an incredible chorus of peepers at Jericho Park at this time of year, but now that we live in Yaletown, we never get to hear those amazing sounds. So.. thank you! As for embarrassing yourself, I doubt there is a single photographer here who hasn't made that mistake from time to time. Always love to see what has drawn your attention! Have a wonderful break!!

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  20. We used to hear an incredible chorus of peepers at Jericho Park at this time of year, but now that we live in Yaletown, we never get to hear those amazing sounds. So.. thank you! As for embarrassing yourself, I doubt there is a single photographer here who hasn't made that mistake from time to time. Always love to see what has drawn your attention! Have a wonderful break!!

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  21. Thanks for stopping by my blog. It has been awhile since I visited yours. Now I see you are taking a break. Enjoy!

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  22. We have the sounds of spring here, too!
    I like the lighthouse photo
    Enjoy your break!

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  23. Hope you enjoyed Whidbey and the surrounding area. I hope you liked the Tulips too. We were there yesterday too.
    MB

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  24. I too love the sound of frogs in the Spring and especially the Peepers and I too always forget to check my camera settings even after all these years messing around with photography. The age thing is against us now more than ever in trying to remember little things like that and it is so continuously frustrating. I thought your 3 photos looked fine. We have to remember we are not professionals who's livelihood depends on getting things perfect. Photography is a fun hobby for us and as long as people enjoy the photos we take that makes it enjoyable and spurs us on to get out there and find more photos whether they be great photos our not quite so much:))

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  25. Thanks for keeping up my friend!!!

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  26. Your photos are wonderful! There is something so mystical about a lighthouse to me. Maybe all the tales of the sea from the olden days and the loneliness of the lighthouse keeper. We don't hear frogs here so I'm always amazed by the collective sound they make!

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  27. The sounds of spring are delightful, especially after winter.

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