From 2005 - Red Light Dove

Occasionally a photographer will get lucky and see something that is worth capturing, even if there is no time to set up for a professional looking shot. This is a case in point. In Galveston for a band performance in which my son was participating, on Broadway I saw this dove. In a split second a decision was made and the brakes were hit hard. Fortunately there was a place to pull off to the side of the street, and in a few seconds I was out the door and fast-walking back to the scene - my goal was to make it back there before she decided to fly away.

With the 3800 a few shots were snapped off, but I realized that it would be more interesting if the red light was illuminated behind this mama bird. So there I stood on the street corner, camera in hand, waiting for the red light.

It may not be apparent here, but there is a "grainy" appearance due to the fact that it is cropped way in from a much larger picture. Since it was the 3800 there was a platform of only 3 megapixels to play with, but looks like it turned out fairly well in terms of data retention. With my electronic "pooper scooper" - the clone tool - some bird droppings were removed from the pole, and the photo was flipped horizontally since this was to be posted on the left-hand side of the blog page. The unsharp mask tool was used to increase detail in the bird and her nest.