Oh, he and Splash Gordon are twins! I love these birds. I lucked out at the time I got him--Lisa Cree had two splash roosters that she was having a dickens of a time deciding between for herself, because they were so close... so I got her "runner up," which is better than I'd have ever done on my own.
I really am not educated at ALL about photography. I have a very simple strategy, and when I stray from it, my pictures are awful. I have two basic rules that I have to follow in order to take a decent shot:
1. Stay OUTSIDE.
My indoor pics seriously suck, even though I got a super-duper $400 flash for Christmas year before last (apparently, you have to be smart enough to USE the tools, or they're no good). Overcast days are best, or late in the day.
2. I use either the regular lens, 18-70mm, or my favorite, the longer lens, 70-300mm. I get far enough away from the subject (birds, dogs, horses, kids) so that I can set the zoom at about the halfway point. Usually, that gives a nice DoF, and provides the appearance that I know what I'm doing (I don't). OK--this picture doesn't have great lighting, and I don't edit photos or use PhotoShop (again, just don't know how), but see how the background is all fuzzy and soft? It totally looks like I did that on purpose!
The camera is wonderful. It's a Sony DSLR Alpha-100, and it's completely idiot-proof. I don't use 10% of the features this thing has. And now the Alpha-350 and higher-end models are out, and they're even better, and cost way less than comparable models. Sony bought out Minolta's camera division, so the Sonys are totally compatible with older model Minoltas.
The blue hen, I put in with the Marans, so that if I find a blue egg, I'll KNOW it was hers!
