the peeps and I

I’ve been chasing the chickens around with my 20mm fixed lens. I love how wide the shots are….I can see a lot more of the environment than with my oh-so-perfect 50mm. I became creatively dependent on my 50mm. If you have one you know what I mean. It’s just too easy to take a good shot. But I don’t always want close-ups of faces and that’s where the 20mm shines. This is my first spring and summer with the 20. I bought it last fall. I’m still exploring all of the options with it and looking for the sweet spot. I’m figuring out how far away I should be from the subject for the best shots but since the type of subjects I shoot change from critter to kid to landscape, it’s a moving target.

The peeps are growing quickly but they still love their momma’s. I was following Pip when all of the sudden a peep poked out of her wing. How cute is that? This one would have been better with a 50mm. I have a cheapo lens that’s 18-50mm but it’s not fast enough for me. My 20mm is an f2.8 and my 50mm is an f1.8. It’s hard to accept a slower lens after you get used to something fast.

We ended up with a total of 11 babies. We lost two to either a snake or a feral cat. I found a snake in the chicken coop. I do not like finding snakes in confined spaces. I don’t mind snakes. I just don’t want to snuggle up to anything I’m not familiar with. So I lured my husband to the coop and then told him what I wanted him to do. He’s seriously afraid of snakes. But being the good guy that he is, he helped me out in spite of his fear.

There was another dozen or so eggs that the momma’s gave up on. It was sad to remove them from the nest…what might have been, you know. But everyone is healthy and very happy. They are so funny to watch. They hop over the grass instead of running. Silly little peeps. I’ve only named one so far and that’s the first born in the picture up top. He’s Bubba.

This is a typical peep shot…I get nothing but a blur of butt as they run away from me. I’ve been playing with the tilt shift maker again, too. This was one of the first shots I took for tilt shifting. Notice that the angle is down at about 15°. I get a wide view of the cuties, but it feels a little close for adding the tilt shift. What do you think?

This one of the flock was taken at about 30° and a little further away. I like the perspective better for adding the tilt shift. I wish there was more going on in the photo though. Like some flowers and other things to make the perspective more absurd. There’s something so playful about these sorts of snapshots. I must lure them to the front garden where there’s a lot of growing going on.

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