Bird Photography

[Guest]

Graham and anyone else feel free to use that haring in any of your photos. I didn't get out lastnight, big old black thunder clouds came over the mountains. But tonight I'm going to try and get out to play with the ss and apeture settings.

 

Thanks

Jim

[kodiaksalmon 0]

The herons are starting to show up here again. The loons, brant, and sea ducks won't be far behind.

[Graham 0]

I managed to spend an hour at my little lake today, not the best lighting, but happened to be driving by this morning about ten thirty, and had my camera with me. There were birds everywhere, six ospreys were working the lake. I took seven series of shots with ospreys crashing the water and flying off with fish, but the shots were sort of distant, not the one's I'm looking forward to capturing, but it was great to see these birds are back. I had a huge school of fish in front of me but the birds kept going for a school fish about 150 yards away. It was non-stop action for about half an hour.

 

I found a Great Egret hunting in shallow water, and at times I was standing within ten feet of the bird, and it didn't seem to mind my presence. I wished I had arrived a couple of hours earlier with the sun lower in the sky. These shots were taken at about 10:45 am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there were several dozen Great Blue Herons

 

 

This one flew so close over head I almost ducked...

 

[Wulff 0]

Very nice Graham.

 

Egrets are one bird Ive yet to get any decent shots of. Theres some around bout I cant get within 100 feet of them. They tend to hang way back on the far side of the Marsh.

 

 

[kodiaksalmon 0]

Graham, are you AF'ing these?

[Will Milne 0]

Graham - Tremendous images!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I especially like the ones with " water action" I'm assuming these are high ISO/High Shutter speed ?

 

 

Not sure if this question warrents a new tread- but ---

 

On the subject of bird photography and long lenses, I'm wondering if anyone has technique tips they find work well--hand on top of lens on tripod/same with shutter release/mirror up etc??????????

 

I had'nt planned on this-lol- maybe reading this tread and enjoying the images ,created a karmic effect- I just picked up a Nikkor 300mm F2.8 ED-IF AF locally - the last type before the AF-I and AF-S . Wow!!!! on the D200 it works like a charm and is silly sharp and only a few hundred more than a new 300 f4. I can't see hand holding it, maybe a monopod , probably ,as with most of what I like to do, it will be on a tripod.

 

I'm off tomorrow for four days camping/fishing/photography, so it should be fun testing the new rig out.

 

Will

[Graham 0]

Will, I'm officially jealous! You’re going to love the 300 2.8!!!! For now I’m still struggling with my 300 f/4.

 

I notice such a huge difference when switching from a 2.8 to a 4, there’s twice as much light, and it shows through the viewfinder, and obviously makes focus acquisition much, much faster. The dilemma I currently have is trying to choose which lens to use at my local birding lake. For herons and egrets the 70-200 2.8 is perfect, but the osprey shots I want need at least 300mm. So, I’ll be using the 300 f/4 for a while, the auto-focus is ok, but not nearly as fast as the 2.8

 

I ended up at my local lake again this morning, not the best hours for photography, but I spent an enjoyable hour, from 10:30 to 11:30. It’s real hard to deal with too much contrast, and the pics only look nice when the birds bank and allow light under the wings.

 

Yesterday was the official beginning of my bird photography season for 2007. I hope, in the next three months, while it’s prime time at my lake, to eventually capture the quality osprey images I want. I want some close up, in your face, perfect angle and lighting images, and it will take many hours of trying. The hardest part for me is getting to the lake earlier and/or later in the day, work and family occupies much of those hours.

 

Anyway, here’s a few shots from today, nothing special, but it’s good practice. And next time I’m out there, I’ll be thinking of your new lens Will, and wishing I had it…lol…

 

This bird circled around looking for fish

 

When they hit the water it's amazing how high the spray goes, and how deep the bird goes.

 

I notice the white on the neck is blown out, should have adjusted the EV -2/3 instead of -1/3, especially with full sun at 11:00am

 

They look like flying dogs when shaking water from their coats...lol..

 

 

 

 

 

[Graham 0]

Will, have a GREAT trip! When photographing birds at the lake I always hand hold, have yet to take a mono or tripod to the lake, but my lenses are fairly light weight. I shoot at four frames per second, auto focus, and have the shutter programed for "release" instead of "lock". I find the split second it takes for my camera to activate the green focus lock light in the viewfinder can be too late at times. I have the camera set for continuous shooting and continuous focus. I keep my eyes open for an approaching bird, lock focus onto it as soon as possible, and track the bird through my viewfinder. As the bird gets closer and fills the frame it is much easier to retain focus than trying to aquire it. I don't use a cable release or mirror lock up, just hold the lens in my left hand and camera in the right. I try to always keep the sun at my back, and perfect conditions has the wind on my back as well.

[Frogfish 0]

There are several hawks and herons in the area that I can get close too, so as soon as I get my camera and lense, I'll go after them. Nice pics Graham!

[Graham 0]

Much to my surprise, I looked out my back window this morning and saw this hawk walking around in my yard. I snapped off a few photos before it grabbed something out of the flower bed and flew off. I'm not sure what type of bird this is? I don't think it's a Red Tailed hawk?

 

 

 

[kodiaksalmon 0]

Cooper's Hawk, or sharp-shinned hawk, depending on size. It's hard to tell scale from that pic, but the larger and more common of the two is the Cooper's hawk.

 

Jeff

[Graham 0]

Thank's Jeff. I think it probably is a Coopers hawk, it's a pretty good sized bird, and eats a lot of squirrels.

 

[kodiaksalmon 0]

If it was remotely large, it was a Cooper's Hawk. Sharp-shinned hawks are noticably small.

 

They're both accipiters, which means they're tailored for aerial hunting. Most hawks hunt rabbits, snakes, mice, voles, etc. Accipiters have longer tails and more streamlined bodies evolved for airborne maneuvering and taking birds on the wing.

 

Jeff

[kodiaksalmon 0]

Playing with backlighting on a heron.

 

 

 

[Mokai 0]

Those egret shots are superb Graham..The osprey are great too..

Nice back light herons Kodiaksalmon...

 

 

 

Got a chance at some ducks and a heron in this mornings light..