Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife
5/2/2012: Wildlife Wednesday: Mr? Coon
I was looking for the Barred Owl that frequents Vaill Point Park in St. Augustine Florida, checking every likely limb in that little patch of mixed forest along the creek, which is how I happened on this Raccoon, doing his or her best to look like a lump on the limb. Not good photographic conditions. Too far into the forest, too dark, and too backlit at that. Still, who could resist?
I used the full reach of the zoom on the Canon SX40HS, plus 2x digital tel-extender for the equivalent of 1680mm. Despite the ISO 800, that pushed the shutter speed to an impossible 1/80th of a second (impossible at that focal length). Still the Canon’s image stabilization pulled it off! f5.8.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity and sharpness.
5/1/2012: Roseate Spoonbill in Flight!
One of the joys, and challenges, of working the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, is the number of birds in flight during your average hour. That would be lots! The superzoom Point and Shoots which I favor are not the ideal camera for flight shots, but with patience, persistence, the right settings, and the right expectations, in a place like the Alligator Farm you can come away with some stunning images.
The key is managing your expectations. You are going to miss more shots than you get by a very large factor. It is essential that you just keep shooting, and not stress out over the shots you are not getting. That is why I do most of my flight shots at places like the Alligator Farm or Bosque del Apache where there will always, if you just wait a moment, be another bird in the air. And even when you think you got a shot, 2 out of 3 hopefuls will not be sharp when you get them on the computer. Just the way it is. Shoot a lot.
As for settings, I had success this last visit with the Tracking Auto Focus setting on the Canon SX40HS. This setting puts a target frame in the center of the view. You put the target frame on what you want to track and hold the shutter button down half way to keep your subject in focus. That combined with Continous Shooting Mode (3+ fps) allows for some DSLR-like shooting of birds in flight.
(So okay, lets face the issue head on. Why am I not using a DSLR and tel-lens for flight shots? 1) expense. My SX40HS is a very cost effective shooter. 2) Flexibility. To match the range of situations the superzoom P&S handles would require a DSLR body and at least 3 lenses…and then it could not reach the extreme telephoto ranges. 3) Portability. No contest, the superzoom P&S is all I am willing to carry at the moment.)
And sometimes persistence pays of better than you have any right to hope. This shot of a Roseate Spoonbill gliding pretty much right over head surprised me when I got to processing the day’s take. I cropped out some empty pace on the left, and I like the resulting tension in the frame. It really deserves a larger view: here.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 125. 400mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
4/30/2012: Needham’s Skimmer, Washington Oaks Gardens, FL
I went to Washington Oaks Gardens State Park south of St. Augustine Florida three times on this trip to the Florida Birding and Photo Fest, looking primarily for the Great Horned Owl and chicks that are always seen this time of year around the Visitor’s Center. I saw the chick twice, but never could get a decent shot of it.
However, there were dragonflies! As you know if you follow these posts, about a year ago I got interested in Dragonflies and started taking pics of them when I encounter them. The Canon SX40HS works really well for this, as you can shoot at up to 1680mm equivalent from under 5 feet and get some excellent macro effects. This shot was taken using that combination. Considering the folds in the wings and the way this specimen was flying, I am thinking this might be a newly emerged dragon. I believe it is a Needham’s Skimmer.
Canon SX40HS as above. Program with iContrast and –1/3rd EV exposure compensation. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 800. That is another thing about the SX40HS. I can let the ISO go as high as it needs too…and in the deep morning shade, light was a challenge here…without worrying that the image is going to be too noisy.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And a full body shot for reference.
4/28/2012: 3rds on Arcata Marsh Wren
If Marsh Wrens are good for two helpings, certainly they will do for thirds! I never tire of watching their acrobatics in the reeds and there is nowhere better than Arcata Marsh in Arcata California.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 320. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, sharpness, and clarity.
4/26/2012: Second helping of Arcata Marsh Wrens
As I mentioned a few days ago, shooting singing Marsh Wrens at Arcata Marsh in Arcata California in April is relatively easy. The wrens are there. You have easy access to the trails beside the cattails where they sing. Not even the dull light of a misty-rainy day dampens their spirits when the males are establishing territory.
I have, pretty much, a year’s supply of wren shots! I like this one for the whole, unobscured, bird and the radical cock of the tail, as well as for the tip of the tongue showing. “See me! I sing loudest! Come be my mate!”
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent field of view (840 optical plus 2x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 125. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
4/25/2012: Waders on Wednesday / Wildlife on Wednesday
I am really late with my post today because I am at The FL Birding and Foto Fest where I lead a 7am Bird Walk at Vaill Point and then did The 7 Fold Path to Better Birding workshop.
Godwit Days is, of course, about Godwits, and and on a good year there can be hundreds of thousands in Humboldt Bay. This year was pretty good, though Godwits were outnumbered by Dowitchers. And of course there are other waders as well. This shot of a Godwit and a Wimbrel is a good comparison of two waders I don’t see enough of.
The second shot is a mixed flight of Godwits and Dowitchers.
And another comparison of a spread winged Godwit and the Wimbrel.
And finally “a smoke on the water” shot of small shorebirds.
Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent field of view. Program with iContrast and – 1 /3EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
4/22/2012: Song Sparrow in the Reeds, Arcata Marsh
Happy Sunday! Arcata Marsh has two things in common with all my favorite birding and bird photography spots: abundance of birds (which includes a variety of species AND great numbers of at least some of the species), and access (ease of getting close to the birds). In these respects Arcata is just like Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico, the Cape May New Jersey hot-spots in spring and fall, Viera Wetlands and Merritt Island NWR in Florida, the Magee Marsh boardwalk in OH during migration, and Edinburg Wetlands and Estero LLano Grande World Birding Centers in the Rio Grande valley of Texas. Now, in all other ways those destinations are about as dissimilar as any set you could name…certainly the mix of habits and species is spectacularly broad…but all of these locations the offer the combination of abundance and access that makes them my top picks for birding and photography. (I could expand the list, of course, but those are the places I get to at least once a year, most years.)
And of course, part of what make abundance and access so attractive to the photographer is that is simply increases your chances of getting the shots that really satisfy. You are surrounded by opportunity. You shoot a lot. It is just way more likely that some of those images will have that little something extra that raises them above the ordinary bird portrait.
This shot of a Song Sparrow deep in the cat-tail reeds does it for me. I love the lines and textures of the reeds, the crisscrossing patterns of hard geometric shapes in contrast to the living bird. I really like the play of focus receding to the bird. I like the composition…with the bird high and centered, and looking left. And the green bokeh behind pulls the whole thing together for me. Even the dull, but well defused shadowless light, contributes to the effectiveness of the image. That is what I see when I think about it…but really I just like the way the image looks!
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And to build out from that for the Sunday thought: abundance and access make bird photography easier, certainly, but that is never all there is to it. I used terms like “way more likely” and “increases your chances” because that is how we think of it, but of course it is not really a matter of chance at all. Without an attentive eye, developed over years in the field with your camera in your hand, an nurtured by many many visits to places like Arcata Marsh, you can just as easily come away from even a place with abundance and access without that memorable shot. Most people do.
And don’t think I am boasting here. No one is more surprised by an image like the one of the Song Sparrow in the reeds than I am. When I first saw it on my computer monitor while editing images, my thought was, “great image” not “well done.” I hesitate to take any credit for it at all. It is as though the spirit of the sparrow, and the creative spirit that is all in all, touched the creative spirit in me and the image just happened. I can only sit back and applaud. I am totally delighted at the gift.
That does not mean I don’t know that gifts like this come much more often in places like Arcata Marsh!
4/21/2012: the Marsh Wren Extravaganza: Arcata Marsh
I know of nowhere that comes even close to Arcata Marsh in Arcata California for Marsh Wren photography (or just plain Marsh Wren enjoyment!). The Humbolt Bay weather for this year’s Godwitt Days Birding Festival has been very Humbolt Bayish…which is to say it has rained every day so far, and between rains the air is never completely free of a falling mist (worse case) or at least a visible fog. I have not seen any sunshine since I drove into Ukiah on the first night north of San Francisco on Tuesday. The trails at the marsh are wet at best, and outright muddy were you have to go to get the best wren show. Still. Totally worth it!
A word about Arcata Marsh. The marsh is an excellent example of a municipal wetland…a waste water treatment plant which has been turned into a exceptionally rich bird habitat by planting and managing the settlement ponds…and then opened to birders and other nature lovers by building a trail system. It sits right at the edge of Arcata, only moments from anywhere in town, nestled up against the Arcata Bay end of Humbolt Bay. There are some low hills with mature trees, lots of brushy areas, some open fields, tidal channels, reedy ponds, and easy access to the open waters of the bay. That covers a lot of habitats, and makes the marsh pretty much a one stop birding destination along the Northern California Coast.
Marsh Wrens are everywhere in the extensive cat-tail marshes, but it is along the narrow trail at the edge of one of the ponds, parallel to the old rail bed, that I have always had my best encounters. As you see from the scenic photo, the cat-tail margin is thin, and the trail runs right behind it, so you are close to the birds, and, when the males are establishing and defending territory, they are not bashful about climbing up on a reed and shouting their song within 20 feet of you. In several hundred yards of trail yesterday, there were 5 males singing at each other, and that was on a dull, dreary morning.
One of the thinks I love about Marsh Wren is their acrobatics. They are the pole dancers of bird-kind (not that I know anything at all about pole dancing…but I have heard rumors). The things they can do on a cat-tail reed are amazing (and amusing!).
All these shots of of a single male, doing his thing on territory. I came away with shots of all of the males (some of which you will undoubtedly see in the coming days). I even shot a little video.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. All at 1680mm equivalent (840mm optical zoom plus 2x digital tel-extender function). f5.8 @ 1/200-1/250th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
4/18/2012: Muskrat! Kennebunk ME
Though I am in Ukiah California as I write this, half way between San Francisco and Arcata, where I am headed for the Godwitt Days birding festival, I will drop back to last Saturday’s photo-prowl for a visit with our local wildlife. There is a little shallow pond that is formed where the rail-road tracks cross a marsh about a mile from our house, It is a good spot for migrant birds in spring. I often catch warblers there that I see no where else around Kennebunk. As it happens, Saturday was too early for any warbler action (though I did see two snipe) but I was surprised to find a pair of Muskrats in the pond. Visible Muskrats that is. I have always assumed they must live there as I see other signs, though no big nest. I suspect the pond has so much vegetation that the Muskrats don’t have to store much for the winter, or that their “lodge” is at the back of the pond where I can’t see it through the small trees and brush.
Seeing them right out in open water was a real treat!
My daughter said they were cute…until I showed her a picture on-line that showed the tail. 🙂 The tail is kind of creepy…but a great appendage for a semi-aquatic rat!
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) and 4) at 1680mm equivalent (840 optical plus 2x digital tel-extender function). f5.8 @ 1/200th. 1) ISO 100 and 4) ISO 160. 2) 24mm equivalent. f4 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. 3) 840mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 125.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
4/17/2012: Over Achiever
Of course I went to the beach to catch the awesome vistas of ocean and sky, but I could not resist this little tableau of achievement. Kind of a visual parable 🙂 Of course that is not what I saw in the shot at the time. I saw the texture of the stone, the shape of the snail shells, the pattern of their placement, and took the shot. Only now, in reflection, do I see the parable. It is all good.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent field of view. Program with iContrast and – 1/3EV exposure compensation. f5.8 @ 1 /800th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.