Mike Hendren, GRI, CDPE

A few days ago, I was treated to a spectacular, fiery sunrise the morning after a few inches of fresh snow softly coated the pines near home.

Hear was a golden opportunity to try out some HDR (High Dynamic Range), using my new camera, the Nikon D7000. So far I've been thrilled with the results from this camera, finding it to produce very clean images with low noise at reasonable ISO's.

One of the things I'm really liking is the ability to save settings to two of the positions on the mode dial: U1 and U2. I haven't tried everything but I'm happy to report that you can save your AEB (bracketing) settings and even other positions on the mode dial. For instance, when I select U1 now, the camera is set to the Aperture Mode and is ready to shoot 3 bracketed images with 2 EV spacing - quick and easy!

Once the images were downloaded, I used Nik's new HDR Efex Pro to create this image. In this case, I was only able to use two of my bracketed images and was surprised and pleased with the result. HDR Efex Pro is a great addition to the software possibilities available for HDR work and gives you a good number of presets to choose from, plus it has Nik's proprietary U-Point technology as one of it's tools.

This image is available in a variety of printed formats at my Fine Art America website.

We have hummingbirds - LOTS of hummingbirds! Conservatively, we estimate that we are feeding about 100 different birds.

Sometimes, it's like a fierce air-to-air battle with a dozen or more hummingbirds buzzing around fighting for a space at the "trough". Although, since we put out 2 feeders, each with 8 feeding holes, I would think there is plenty of room. But I guess, sometimes, two quarts just doesn't seem like enough for one of those tiny little guys! :-)

They're pretty amazing little birds and are the only birds that can hover and fly backwards. It's also said that because of their extremely high metabolism, they are always just a few hours away from starvation. But yet, when they migrate, they can cross 500 miles of open water in the Gulf of Mexico.

Speaking of migration, I guess this "hummingbird season" will be over soon as they head south for warmer weather. I wonder - - - will they switch from sugar water to tacos! :-)

I just moved my blog from Wordpress.com to a self-hosted Wordpress installation on GoDaddy . . . and it has been SO easy!

This is a move I've been considering and reading about for several months, dreading all of that setup that I had read about. Well, GoDaddy and Wordpress.org made it a very painless process.

So, here's the quick synopsis:

• Called GoDaddy and they setup Wordpress hosting on my desired domain name.
• About 24 hours later, the process (on their end) was complete and I was able to log-in to my "new" Wordpress.org Dashboard. By the way, it is virtually identical to the Wordpress.com Dashboard so there was very little "learning curve" there.
• After exporting my blog from the .com site, I them imported it to my new WP installation and it brought in everything: posts, comments, medial library, and pages.
• Next, I located the same theme I had been using, Vigilance, and activated it so my blog had the same look as before.
• Done! Well, almost - after that is where the fun begins. A self-hosted Wordpress.org installation gives you much more control over your blog with many additional capabilities. You can read all about it at Wordpress.org.

Just a quick reminder - if you were not already using your own domain on WP.com, be sure and write a final post telling all your readers the new address for your blog so they can continue to read your updates.

You can see the end result at my photo blog:

www.Mikes-Viewfinder.com

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

It's great to be an American!

It's a great day to remember the beginnings of our nation. It's also a time to reflect on the sacrifices made by our military forces and their families throughout our proud history. Please also take time today to appreciate those who are currently serving our country and to thank them for that service if you have the opportunity.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

I have a listing south of Elbert, Colorado, that is an amazing A-Frame. It was recently highlighted in an article by Vickie Wallis on Examiner.com.

Examiner.com is sort of an "online local news source" that contains articles and news about interesting happenings in over 200 cities and towns across the USA and Canada.

If you haven't checked out the one in your area, take a look - you'll be informed and entertained!

Oh, and by the way, they're looking for writers and we have a bunch of good ones here at AR, so I'll be looking forward to some of your "by-lines" on Examiner! :-)

More information about the listing is available at www.MikeHendren.com