Before the new year starts, I thought it would be fun to look back on some of the most viewed and most “liked” posts on this blog over the past year. I may also throw in a couple of my personal favorites that may have not received that much attention the first time it ran.
Most of these entries were originally Weekly Photo Challenge Posts. For some of these Year in Review stories, I may add other photos or additional notes that have similar subject matter but did not run in the particular post the first time out. I will also provide a link to the original version.
For those of you who missed these posts the first time out, I hope you will enjoy them. For those long timers I hope you will enjoy taking a second look.
Over the next 10 days or so I will also be running new posts as warranted so please keep an eye on the ISBAA dailies.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made this blog a success.
Please see more text and photos below.
When I went to a daily blog the day after Memorial Day weekend, I never dreamed that in less than 7 months this blog would be approaching 22,000 views and 500 followers.
Better than that though, and this is the reason I would urge anyone to start a blog, when you blog on WordPress you become part of a worldwide community where you will be inspired by photographers posting all over the planet. Blogging is a tremendous way to share ideas and thoughts and good cheer on your passion, which in my case happens to be photography.
I wish everyone a wonderful holiday and Christmas season. I hope that your new year is filled with love, peace and understanding, (and of course great opportunities for photography)
I plan to take this blog to exciting places in 2014. Thank you!
The following post originally ran Aug. 23 and can be found at Weekly Photo Challenge : Focus
This was a photo I shot a winter or so ago of a cardinal. It looked so beautiful in the snow and wanted to get just enough depth of field to have the cardinal sharp in focus and not a lot else. In the photo at thee top of this post, I thought it was unreal how much snow had piled up on the bird feeder. I shot that photo in a vertical format so the viewer would really zero in on how tall the snow was over the cardinal.
Keep in mind when photographing snow scenes using manual exposure, white snow can throw off your exposure meter by as much as 1.5 to 2 stops, so be sure to compensate. That way your subject will be properly exposed.
Below is another shot I took of a cardinal on the same day visiting a very snow covered bird feeder.
Thank you so much for clicking on my post today!
To read more about my approach to photographing backyard birds, please check out this post on Backyard Bird Photography
Related articles
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus (dailypost.wordpress.com)
- Baltimore Oriole (iseebeautyallaround.com)
- Birds through the Windshield (myveryowncorneroftheweb.wordpress.com)
- My Cardinal Friend (littleworldofhope.com)
- Tips for Photographing Birds from Nikon (nikonusa.com)
- When You Need a New Bird Feeder (gardenwalkgardentalk.com)
- Bird Feeding Basics (lowes.com)
I See Beauty All Around 
Beautiful photos ~ I love seeing the Red Cardinals here in Northern Virginia. Unfortunately I forgot to get a supply of birdseed before the storm 😦
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I love these snowy images with the bright colourful cardinals.
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Thanks Beth! There seem to be so many here in Virginia!
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Cardinals are my favorite. So pretty in the snow.
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yes they are, they really can light up a scene! Thanks for the comment cynthia
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Looooove these cardinal pics, Rob!!!
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Thank Barb! I never get tired of photographing Cardinals
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Wonderful images, but the first with all that snow is just superb.
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I observe from the bottom image that you are starving these poor little creatures, Rob! NOT. [grin] And for mine, you can reproduce any photos of cardinals that you’ve taken: they are, quite simply, glorious! My sincere compliments!
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thank you so mud margaret. Our feeders are always as full as possible not withstanding the squirrels.
here is one time when we won the battle for the birds https://iseebeautyallaround.com/2013/06/03/bird-feeder-1-squirrel-0/
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Another super shot! The little devil, eh? and do you mean that your dogs would’ve eaten the bird food, or simply that they weren’t happy to see him there?
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Thank you for posting them, Rob! Love these bird shots!
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thank you amy!
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Beautiful photos Rob! I wish we had Cardinals here. Well we do, but they are the Stanford Cardinal! lol
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hmm, I did not know that you do not have cardinals in Northern California? Gee
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Nope, not here. At least not in the SF Bay Area. I’ve never seen a real one. 😦
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The top photo drew me in like some sort of Simpsons snow hairdo! I too am happy about coming over to WordPress.com, you are right about the community, the best!
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Thanks for the link Rob. It is funny you noted most liked posts. I noticed posts on Cardinals in the snow get searched all year long. Yearly I do posts on Cardinals and cannot believe how popular they continue to be. They are the bird most associated with our snowy areas. I enjoy their visits and I see you do as well. Pretty images and good advice.
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These are just great Rob!
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