250 - Bird(s) - March 25-31, 2018
Elroy-
This is my version of unsuccessful on-line dating. I took this with a Canon Rebel T3i using a Canon lens EF-S 55-250 MM F/4-5.6 IS II. I shot at ISO 100 250MM F7.1 1/500. White balance on auto. Edging was from IPhoto software.
This is my version of unsuccessful on-line dating. I took this with a Canon Rebel T3i using a Canon lens EF-S 55-250 MM F/4-5.6 IS II. I shot at ISO 100 250MM F7.1 1/500. White balance on auto. Edging was from IPhoto software.
Byron-
Actual living birds are a bit scarce here in the North country this time of year. Maybe there are just as many here, they are all shivering under their blankets with their little beaks chattering. I used an artificial bird in a natural surrounding. This bird is from the Lorraine Lewis collection. I had several to choose from, this being the most interesting. The Sun was positioned low in the west so I took advantage of that lighting. By placing the bird on the railing of my front porch, the sunlight hit the bird directly and the house with it's white siding reflected enough to make a pleasant fill light. I used the camera that already happened to be mounted on a tripod. I had been too lazy to put it away. That meant I spent no more than 3 minutes photographing this week's subject. I spent another 5 minutes tweaking it in Lightroom.
ISO1250, 1/2000 sec, f 5.6, 100mm
Actual living birds are a bit scarce here in the North country this time of year. Maybe there are just as many here, they are all shivering under their blankets with their little beaks chattering. I used an artificial bird in a natural surrounding. This bird is from the Lorraine Lewis collection. I had several to choose from, this being the most interesting. The Sun was positioned low in the west so I took advantage of that lighting. By placing the bird on the railing of my front porch, the sunlight hit the bird directly and the house with it's white siding reflected enough to make a pleasant fill light. I used the camera that already happened to be mounted on a tripod. I had been too lazy to put it away. That meant I spent no more than 3 minutes photographing this week's subject. I spent another 5 minutes tweaking it in Lightroom.
ISO1250, 1/2000 sec, f 5.6, 100mm
Darin-
Two weird birds...
On the left is a Cuckoo Bird on a bicycle, on the right is a massive cargo plane stationed at March Air Base Museum. This was shot late in the day on my cell phone, with a 10 second timer.
Two weird birds...
On the left is a Cuckoo Bird on a bicycle, on the right is a massive cargo plane stationed at March Air Base Museum. This was shot late in the day on my cell phone, with a 10 second timer.
Kevin-
On Thursday Michelle and I decided to have a mini-adventure day and drive all the way around the Salton Sea For those of you unfamiliar with the Salton Sea it is the largest inland body of water in California. Common history will tell you that the Salton Sea was formed in the early 1900’s when due to an engineering accident water flowed from the Colorado river into a desert area. However via a lecture at the Rancho Mirage library, Michelle and I learned that the Salton Sea area has actually been covered with water for most of the past 300,000 years, evidenced by water lines on the mountains and fossil finds on the ground. That larger body of water is called Ancient Lake Cahuilla.
A big benefit to the current Salton Sea is that the southern areas are a birder's paradise. That is unfortunately less true now in late March/early April than it was in January and February when bird migrations were at an annual peak, but it is still pretty dang good.
Unfortunately the first bird we spotted refuse to fly, but it had a pretty elegant walk. Other birds flew alone, or in groups
But what I really hoped to photograph was a burrowing owl. These remarkably small creatures live at ground level, in burrows (hence the name). Michelle spotted a number of them as I was driving, but it never seemed like a good place to stop. Our intended destination was the southern end of the Salton Sea, at a Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge, where the burrowing owls are most plentiful. There, while photographing the other birds above, I realized that a burrowing owl was nearly at my feet, making occasional "eep-eep” sounds as I tripped the shutter.
But I thought that the best shot was when if flew to the other side of a nearby road and stared back at me again.
Nikon D850, handheld, 70-200mm f2.8 Nikkor lens set to 200mm with a 2x teleconverter for a 400mm equivalent. ISO 400, f/8 at 1/1000th of a second.
On Thursday Michelle and I decided to have a mini-adventure day and drive all the way around the Salton Sea For those of you unfamiliar with the Salton Sea it is the largest inland body of water in California. Common history will tell you that the Salton Sea was formed in the early 1900’s when due to an engineering accident water flowed from the Colorado river into a desert area. However via a lecture at the Rancho Mirage library, Michelle and I learned that the Salton Sea area has actually been covered with water for most of the past 300,000 years, evidenced by water lines on the mountains and fossil finds on the ground. That larger body of water is called Ancient Lake Cahuilla.
A big benefit to the current Salton Sea is that the southern areas are a birder's paradise. That is unfortunately less true now in late March/early April than it was in January and February when bird migrations were at an annual peak, but it is still pretty dang good.
Unfortunately the first bird we spotted refuse to fly, but it had a pretty elegant walk. Other birds flew alone, or in groups
But what I really hoped to photograph was a burrowing owl. These remarkably small creatures live at ground level, in burrows (hence the name). Michelle spotted a number of them as I was driving, but it never seemed like a good place to stop. Our intended destination was the southern end of the Salton Sea, at a Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge, where the burrowing owls are most plentiful. There, while photographing the other birds above, I realized that a burrowing owl was nearly at my feet, making occasional "eep-eep” sounds as I tripped the shutter.
But I thought that the best shot was when if flew to the other side of a nearby road and stared back at me again.
Nikon D850, handheld, 70-200mm f2.8 Nikkor lens set to 200mm with a 2x teleconverter for a 400mm equivalent. ISO 400, f/8 at 1/1000th of a second.
Paul-
I had difficulty choosing between two shoots I favored of the same subject—with the primary difference being one was about 120° away along an arc of the the same imaginary line encircling the tree. I came back to them both a few times over the course of 24 hours, and finally made a decision based on nothing in my mind that tells me one shot was better than the other.
Just to keep things on the up-and-up, there are in birds in this nest. I’ve heard them and seem mamma bird feeding them, but I was much more interested with the shape of the nest, the lattice-like appearance of the branches, and the clouds at the time. (Both shots were taken on a cloudy afternoon at 5:17PM.)
Look at the birdies!: Nikon D5200; B&W in the camera; aperture priority; 55-200mm lens focused at 55mm; ISO 1000; 1/1000 sec at f/18; -2/3EV; and matrix metering.The camera was mounted on a tripod. All post-work was done in Lightroom 4, save for using PhotoScape to add a low “Bandicoot filter” to the final image.
I had difficulty choosing between two shoots I favored of the same subject—with the primary difference being one was about 120° away along an arc of the the same imaginary line encircling the tree. I came back to them both a few times over the course of 24 hours, and finally made a decision based on nothing in my mind that tells me one shot was better than the other.
Just to keep things on the up-and-up, there are in birds in this nest. I’ve heard them and seem mamma bird feeding them, but I was much more interested with the shape of the nest, the lattice-like appearance of the branches, and the clouds at the time. (Both shots were taken on a cloudy afternoon at 5:17PM.)
Look at the birdies!: Nikon D5200; B&W in the camera; aperture priority; 55-200mm lens focused at 55mm; ISO 1000; 1/1000 sec at f/18; -2/3EV; and matrix metering.The camera was mounted on a tripod. All post-work was done in Lightroom 4, save for using PhotoScape to add a low “Bandicoot filter” to the final image.
Jerry-
When Elroy chose the bird subject I thought of the model birds I used to make back in the 60's. They were made by a company called Bachmann and I must have made three or four them. One was a screech owl, I think it might have suffered from being a bb gun target.
While searching for any remaining birds I found a box downstairs with a few Corgi and Matchbox cars, a Bachmann painted bunting, and the subject of my photo, Dowdy the Gowdy Grackle. He/she/it has no wings but Dr. Suess calls it a grackle. So here is Dowdy!
Camera was the Sony A6300 with 16-70 zoomed to 53mm, 1/80 @ F11, ISO 3200. I was in my north light studio (the kitchen).
When Elroy chose the bird subject I thought of the model birds I used to make back in the 60's. They were made by a company called Bachmann and I must have made three or four them. One was a screech owl, I think it might have suffered from being a bb gun target.
While searching for any remaining birds I found a box downstairs with a few Corgi and Matchbox cars, a Bachmann painted bunting, and the subject of my photo, Dowdy the Gowdy Grackle. He/she/it has no wings but Dr. Suess calls it a grackle. So here is Dowdy!
Camera was the Sony A6300 with 16-70 zoomed to 53mm, 1/80 @ F11, ISO 3200. I was in my north light studio (the kitchen).
Don-
I shot one in blue the other night. I liked it and thought about it and chose to reshoot so I could have with different light. I adjusted the
aperture for each shot because of the varied brightness of the lights. The I ran them through camera raw in the auto mode but kept the
exposure adjustment to 0 or near 0 because I liked the dark. The bird is crystal and responded well to the lights.
Focal was 14 to 24 mm 2.8 nikor lens set to 24mm.
Exposure was 2.5 seconds; ISO 100 with the f stop from 5 to 18.
I shot one in blue the other night. I liked it and thought about it and chose to reshoot so I could have with different light. I adjusted the
aperture for each shot because of the varied brightness of the lights. The I ran them through camera raw in the auto mode but kept the
exposure adjustment to 0 or near 0 because I liked the dark. The bird is crystal and responded well to the lights.
Focal was 14 to 24 mm 2.8 nikor lens set to 24mm.
Exposure was 2.5 seconds; ISO 100 with the f stop from 5 to 18.