Wednesday, July 05, 2006

a better squirrel

squirrel_july3_06

My squirrel photography skillz have improved a little since last time, although this is still kind of blurry. The little bastards don't seem to realize my camera's power-on chime is their cue to strike a photogenic pose and hold still, dammit.

This particular squirrel lives in the remote mountain fastness of Marquam Nature Park, in downtown Portland. I should probably point out that "Nature" is a bit of wishful thinking in this case. The park is full to bursting with invasive English ivy. Technically this Eastern gray squirrel is a nonnative species too, but I don't see anyone starting a nonprofit campaign against squirrels any time soon. They're so cuuuute and cuddly... Awwww.....

Some of the credit here also goes to the nice folks behind GIMP, too. It was a hot, hazy afternoon, and the colors needed a little tweaking. I've also got a couple of pics of Mt. Hood from Council Crest (the classic tourist brochure shot), but the mountain almost disappears into the afternoon haze/smog, and I haven't yet figured out how to make it stand out without turning everything else weird and unnatural colors. So maybe I'll get to that sometime, or not. It's probably really easy in Photoshop, but I'm notoriously cheap, and I prefer having the source code available even if I never actually need it.

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