photoartflightGreat Egret Landing Sequence
Posted on July 4, 2014
Last week at the Celery Farm Natural Area, a Great Egret was fishing close by. He was good at catching fish and seemed very intent on what he was doing. Suddenly he just took off almost straight up, then landed almost immediately a little to one side. I think maybe a snapping turtle got too close. I thought the sequence with the different Great Egret wing positions was interesting so I setup a 7 image septych file for a print (7 images either related or separate, to tell a story or convey a final image). When finished it is 125 inches wide. I was setup for a vertical image, so I did not have time to change to a horizontal, but I still liked the Egret’s classic wing positions in a row of images.
Great Egret Fishing. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Semi-backlighting, f/8, 1/400 sec, ISO 400, Open shadows in Adobe Camera Raw
Great Egret Shaking Head w/ water droplet pattern. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Semi-backlighting, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 400, Open shadows in Adobe Camera Raw
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Posted on June 30, 2014
I was at the Celery Farm Natural Area on Sunday and saw about a dozen Northern Rough-winged Swallows. They were quite active darting in and out, grabbing insects, but usually returned to the same branches. The photo above is a juvenile swallow which was staying by itself. I had not seen them before, so it was fun to watch. Because of all the branches and leaves it was hard to get clear photos of them, but sometimes when they flew off and returned, they landed in a less cluttered area on the branches. The Feature photo on top I added some fill light with an on-camera flash with a Better Beamer Flash Extender, the others I just opened up the shadows in Photoshop CS6.
Tree Swallow mixed in with the Northern Rough-winged Swallows. All the swallows were busy chasing bugs. but hey kept returning to the same branches. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series II 2X Teleconverter, @ f/8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 640.
A juvenile Northern Rough-winged Swallow, keeping an eye on the swallows on other branches. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, f/8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 640
An adult Northern Rough-winged Swallow, on a branch by itself. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 640
Same Northern Rough-winged Swallow as above, on a branch. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 640
Great Blue Heron Coming In!
Posted on June 29, 2014
This Great Blue Heron was way across the lake and was not far from the opposite shoreline. After hearing a loud bang, probably a firecracker, it flew right into us. I thought it was an interesting landing series of photos.I just selected a few out of the 30 or so in the series.
Great Blue Heron Landing. #12 in the sequence. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon 2X Series II Teleconverter, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 640
Great Blue Heron Landing. #13 in the sequence. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series II 2X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 640
Common Whitetail Skimmer Basking
Posted on June 8, 2014
Summer is almost here and the dragonflies and damselflies are starting to appear. Here are some shots of a Common Whitetail Skimmer, showing the chalky bluish white abdomen and the transparent wings with black bands. The sun was shining through the wings highlighting the wings and the hairs on its back. It kept taking off to get an insect for a meal and returning to the same warm rock to finish the meal.
Common Whitetail Skimmer Dragonfly Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO IS f/4 lens, Canon 25mm Extension tube, Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter, f/10, 1/160 sec, ISO 640
Common Whitetail Skimmer Dragonfly Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO IS f/4 lens, Canon 25mm Extension tube, Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter,
Common Whitetail Skimmer Dragonfly Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO IS f/4 lens, Canon 25mm Extension tube, Canon 1.4X Series III Teleconverter,
When using an extension tube with a long telephoto lens for closer focusing, try putting the extension tube between the lens and the teleconverter. This will allow to focus closer than if you put the extension tube between the teleconverter and the body of the camera. Also if you want to go to extremes, try this combination for closer focusing and it actually enlarges the image a little more. First the telephoto lens, then a 25mm or longer extension tube, then the teleconverter (1.4X) then another 20-25mm extension tube. It works quite well, but you loose auto exposure, so judge your exposure by looking at your histogram. I also usually use a better beamer on a flash foe some fill light with that setup. Remember to try experimenting with different options and see what works best for you and your lens combination.
Great Egret Fly By
Posted on June 6, 2014
I was at the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale NJ in May and saw three Great Egrets roosting in a tree in the distance. I took a few shots, some looked like they were in breeding plumage. Suddenly they took off, one by one and flew off through the trees. One circled round and flew right in front of where we were. I only had the chance to get off a few quick shots as it flew over, but I thought the texture of the white feathers from underneath the Egret was interesting. Then one of the others flew by from the other direction.
Great Egret Fly By Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec, ISO 400
Great Egret Roosting Showing Breeding Plumage. Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec, -0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400. Sometime when I see a subject through the trees, but branches are in the way, I shoot with the lens wide open and focus past the branches that are in the way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Here it worked.
Great Egret Roosting Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/9, 1/1000 sec, -0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Black-crowned Night Heron
Posted on April 4, 2014
I was looking through a folder of older images from one of my favorite local photo spots. Friends were saying how the wildlife just do not seem to as abundant there as it was years ago, so I was looking through older files. This was one of a series of a Black-crowned Night Heron fishing. I liked the warm tone in the background from the early morning sun rising, while the bird was in the shade.
Canon EOS 20D, Canon 400mm DO f/4 IS Lens, Canon 1.4X Series II Teleconverter, f/8 @ 1/250 sec, ISO 400
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