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Fly Tying
Graham

Bird Photography

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I stopped by a local lake for a couple of hours today, wanting to capture some bird shots. This was the first time I’d tried taking bird photos with my 70-200mm lens, in fact it was the first time I used this lens. I learned a few lessons; 200 mm does not give a lot of reach, which means sneaking up to get closer shots. I also learned not to do this during lunch hour when the sun is high and contrast too high, luckily for about one hour a few clouds passed by, which helped. I didn’t use a tripod today, wished I had for stationary birds. The area I need much more practice, is taking shots of birds in flight, and learning how to pan smoothly, focus quickly, and stay locked on. Tonight I’ll study the exif data to see how I got the best exposures, such as f/stops, shutter speed, iso, etc… I did a lot of experimenting by changing settings often.

 

I really enjoyed taking bird photos today and here’s a few shots, including a Fish Hawk or Osprey, even have a shot with it carrying a fish. I now have a goal of getting shots of this bird diving into the water and flying out with a fish. BTW, some help identifying some of these birds would be greatly appreciated….

 

Graham

 

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Holy crap, Graham! Your bird shots are publishable right now! Your side view of the great blue heron and the first and fourth exposures of the osprey are full-page-spread material. Fantastic job!

 

It scares me to think of the photos you'll make after you get a little experience...

 

John

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I'm so glad you guys like them, I was really hoping some of the pics would come out nice. I filled two memory cards today, took about 300 shots. It's real hard deciding which ones I like the most, and thanks for the help John...

 

Here's a couple more Osprey shots, and later I'll post more shots of other birds, some of which I don't know their species names. I also have a few more of the flying heron, but in the shot below I tried to quickly blurr out a parked boat with a blue tarp over it, out of the background.

 

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Fine work as usual Graham - that last osprey in your first post looks like he really has it in for you. (Whadda you lookin' at Bub?) The first bird appears to be a pied-billed grebe

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I found the tree where the Osprey takes its fish. This was my last shot yesterday, beacuse my memory cards were full. But, I'll be back....

 

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I'm wondering what this white bird is? Cool little guy, and he sure keeps an eye out for the osprey....

 

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Here's another Egret in flight shot I like...

 

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Honestly, I used to think macro photography was fun, but I had so much more fun shooting birds yesterday.

 

 

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Looks to e like you're just the guy thie world needs to go get picks of one of those Ivory Billed Wooodpeckers they just found out weren't extinct anymore

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