This is my first Pheasant capture! A couple of friends and I were shooting with a Meet-up group in Solano County and were on the way back from lunch when one of my companions noticed him. I was shooting from a car window, and didn’t think anything would be very good, but was thrilled to see this shot would be a keeper. I love his coloring, wing patterns, and long tail. Even though he’s sort of camouflaged in the grass I’m thrilled that I was able to capture a photo of him in his natural habitat. He darted behind a knoll just after this shot. I didn’t see him again.
Sunday afternoon I spent with Rainey and Dali photographing birds and waterfowl. Late in the day we saw a Bittern and an Eurasian Wigeon. The lighting and weather weren’t ideal; the sky was getting darker both due to time, and it had been stormy the night before so the sky was still overcast and flat. Monday the sky was blue, and the sun was shining so we decided to go back in the afternoon to take advantage of the better light. The Bittern was there in the same place we’d seen it before tucked in the reeds under an overpass with the late afternoon sun warming his back. This shot was taken from the overpass looking down on him/her.
I uploaded Lightroom Beta 4 to try it out. I’m a bit lost since this is the first time I’ve ever tried LR, but I have to say the highlights and shadow recovery sliders are pretty good. The white feathers around his neck were pretty blown out due to the late afternoon sun beating right down on him. LR did a great job of bringing back the detail in his feathers on his shoulder, and neck. I’m going to be using LR4 for the next several weeks. I’ll be sharing my thoughts and feelings about it as I learn it.
When in range the 70-300mm VR really is a good lens! (click photo to view it large. It looks awful compressed to this size!) We had an overcast sky yesterday, but for a few brief moments the sun peeked through the clouds and lit him nicely just as if I ordered it.
This is my best Black-crowned Night-Heron to date. I wish all the birds I chase were within range of my lens.
I went out with some photographer friends to hunt for Harrier’s on Saturday. We spent the day on the coast. We headed further north for some lunch and more birding then headed south again. Hiking back to the field where we had good luck several hours before we found this Male Harrier not too far off the trail eating his dinner. This was definitely the highlight of the day for me. I was shooting him from his shady side so I got some nice side lighting.
I spent most the day a bit frustrated with the limits of my focal range. I have a definite case of NAS for a super telephoto lens! I should have rented one for this outing.
None-the-less It was a fun, and exciting day.
This morning as I was pulling up to my house I noticed in the tree across the street a Merlin Hawk perched on a branch. I was so excited I couldn’t get in the driveway, parked ,and out of the car fast enough. I raced into the house, grabbed my long lens then raced back outside all the while hoping he was still there.
He was! I think it’s a juvenile. Well, it looks young to me.
I got several shots of him perched then quick as a wink he took flight. He was so fast I could barely keep up with him panning. There is more motion blur than I would have liked, but his eye is pretty sharp. I definitely need more practice panning. Shooting in Continuous High I only got 4 frames of him in flight before he was gone; this one, and one other have motion blur the other two I only caught his tail in the frames.
It’s the first time in the 25 years I’ve lived here I’ve ever seen a falcon. Several weeks ago I saw a hawk for the first time on my street. This winter food must be in short supply in the country. I can’t imagine anything else bringing them into the suburbs. I hope he comes back and I am around to photograph him.
Update: A reader Tj of TjFivephotography emails, ” It looks more like a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper’s Hawk b/c this one doesn’t have the markings under the eyes like falcons do.”
He sent a cool link showing photos of both birds. I’m leaning toward this one being a Coopers Hawk. What do you all think?
Golden hour on this section of the Marsh was absolutely gorgeous the Sat. I spent here photographing birds. There were some low clouds, and a fine mist of fog was moving in just as the sky was getting a hint of pink. It acted as a diffuser making the golds and yellows POP! I moved to a couple of locations around this area looking for a composition I liked so when I finally saw this one I was in such a rush to compose it before missing this light I made the decision to shoot it with my telephoto lens on. I remember thinking as I looked through the viewfinder to compose it, “Oh! this is nice I can zero in on this part of the marsh rather than getting all in.” By doing so the ducks have a little more body, and the reeds and willows are nearer, so we can see more texture and detail. The whole scene is compressed so we feel a closer connection to the pond.
I haven’t used my telephoto to shoot a landscape in many months, and if the light wasn’t changing fast I probably would have switched to my favorite 17-35mm wide angle lens. In retrospect I’m happy that I didn’t take the few seconds to change lenses as it was a good reminder for me that not all landscapes need to be a sweeping vista, or shot with a wide-angle lens.
If you click the photo and then once redirected click it once more you can view it larger to see him better.
I believe this is a 3rd year Bald Eagle. He was in the shadow of the upper branch and didn’t change his gaze for the longest time. He was also at the end of my lens range.
My friend Dali and I stayed watching and photographing him for about 5 minutes then we moved on to meet some other friends. When we circled back around he was gone. We didn’t see him again. I’ve only seen 4 Eagles in the wild in my whole life! As you can imagine this was a very exciting sighting for me.
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