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I use a digital camera to take pictures of Scarlet and her friends. My camera is small enough that I always carry it with me. I’m always ready when I see a parrot at a friends house or store.
My camera setting is with the flash off. I find that sunlight or florescent light is enough. The rest I can tweak with some software.
When people ask me how I get some of the great photographs for the cards, I tell them three basic guidelines.
- Take lots of pictures. Professionals take many and only show you one or two. The more pictures you take, the better the chance of a few great pictures. Hey, these are digital…its cheep. Amateurs’ show you the entire pack…including those very much out of focus.
- Keep your elbows in. It’s not your parrot’s movement that ruins a picture. Those pictures are much less frequent than fuzzy pictures because your arms not steady.
- Stop worrying about taking the perfect picture. Just keep clicking and moving to different angles. Your best picture will probably not be the one you spent the greatest amount of time “setting up.”
Now go enjoy your companion (oh, make sure they don’t bite off the clicker).
In my search for an unusual gift, I found this hand-carved parrot puzzle by Stave Puzzles (Steve Richardson owner). Not what I had in mind but great to share with fellow parrot lovers. However, I wouldn’t let your little darlings near these. The beautifully carved pieces may just wind up being splinters! Too bad no ekkies!
Stave Parrot Wood Puzzle for Humans Only
http://www.stavepuzzles.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=15&products_id=3421
Catching up on some reading, I read this issue of the magazine published by the World Parrot Trust (WPT). This is an organization that funds research and parrot-saving projects around the world. This organization was instrumental in saving some of our favorite parrot subspecies from extention.
The magazine is wonderful but make sure you have tissues nearby. Some articles talks about the illegal parrot trade. For example, this issue mentioned how one trapper tried to get Ecelectus Parrots out of Indonsian by stuffing them in a water pipe! On a happier note, the magazine has articles by field researchers. In this issue, they mentioned how a rare type of Macaw (blue-head) was growing. The magazine always has pictures of parrots that are worth framing!
They also have an online site that contains blogger reports from many researchers and an encyclopedia of parrot species. It’s a great site with great information about parrots and how our donations help the world of our favorite creatures. If you wish to help this organization, you can donate online.
Here is the outside/inside view of the sneaker. What do you think?
Do you like the feathers on the side?
No feathers ... just Scarlet on the inside
- First Draft playing with Ked’s Sneaker Design
This isn’t as easy as it looks!
Isn’t it great that all we have to do is watch a video of any parrot and we start smiling (and laughing). It makes a gray day bright and cheerful.
This morning I watched Riley the male Eclectus talking…singing…and just being a great companion parrot. For this reason, I’ve added another widget to this blog that points to a few of my favorite YouTube video’s of companion parrots being great companions…
Here is one of my favorites:
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