Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife

2/23/2012: Head Shots. (Great Blue Heron)

On February 23, 2012 by lightshedder With 1 Comments - animals, birds, close up, digiscoped, Florida, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Steve Creek is doing a series of posts over at Steve Creek Outdoors on why the Great Blue Heron is his favorite bird to photograph. I can identify with the sentiment! Great Blues are certainly photogenic, and, since they are relatively abundant, we generally end up taking a lot of pictures of them. Who could resist?

This series of head shots is from Viera Wetlands (1) and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. I took a lot more GBH shots that this but the GBH head shot is a genre unto itself. For one thing, it is a big head, and you can get relatively close to the birds, so it is easy to fill the frame. For another, that look of alert tension is unique to herons and egrets, and the GBH sets the standard. Finally there is interest in the play of textures and colors, from bold beak to the fine features of the cheeks and neck…and the yellow eye is always riveting.

1) Canon SX40HS at 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-extender function). f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. 2) Same camera and zoom, f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. 3) Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent of 2565mm. 1/500th @ ISO 200. f6.9 effective.

In all cases, Program with iContrast and –!/3EV exposure compensation.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

2/22/2012: Brown Anole, Merritt Island NWR

On February 22, 2012 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, close up, Florida, lizard, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

In honor of Wild Life Wednesday, instead of just another bird, I will offer up this little Brown Anole, captured at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I have taken pics of the native Florida Green Anole on these very same rocks, near the rest stop half way around Black Point Wildlife Drive, but that was in the spring. On this January day, the only lizard present was this little guy, certainly descended from illegal immigrants (or at least escapees) from Cuba or the Bahamas, but now well naturalized in most of Florida.

Canon SX40HS in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. 2) 840mm equivalent (cropped slightly) f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 125. 3) same as #2.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

2/21/2012: Three Birds on a Snowy Day in VA

On February 21, 2012 by lightshedder With 1 Comments - birds, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, Virginia, weather, wildlife

So, I had planned this trip to Virginia for a week of meetings and face-time at the office. Flights on Monday were prohibitively expensive, so, I thought, I will just fly down on Sunday. We don’t have any children who actually go to school (we home-school) so we are not as attuned to the vacation and holiday schedule as some households, which is why it never occurred to me that the office would be closed on Monday. President’s Day! By the time I realized, less than 30 minutes before my flight, it was too late.

And then, of course, I flew from relatively spring like Maine into a raging blizzard in Richmond. They got 6 inches at the airport and I woke to snow shrouded trees, white lawns, and inches of wet slush in the parking lots of Chester. I did not pack my winter boots.

Still, in light of Sunday’s revelation about keeping more current with my photography, I got out for an hour to Henricus City Park and Dutch Gap Conservation Area to see what could be seen. I was dependent on finding bare paths and ground, as my dress crocs are in no way suitable for snow.

There were lots of Ring-necked Ducks on the big marsh (pretty much a lake after the storm) as you drive into Henricus City Park. There were also a few Northern-shovelers, Mallards, Coots, and Canada Geese. The Veery and Red-bellied Woodpecker were down near the boat ramp. And yes, I made it back to the hotel with relatively dry feet. My socks dried in less than an hour. 🙂

Of these three birds, I have always thought both the Ring-necked Duck and the Red-bellied Woodpecker were woefully miss-named. Who has ever seen the neck ring on the Ring-neck Duck?…while the ring on the bill is so obvious. What’s wrong with Ring-billed Duck? And the woodpecker? I guess there is some excuse. If you called every red-headed woodpecker “Red-headed Woodpecker” then where would we be… Still. Red-bellied does not leap right out at you when looking at this bird. Okay…I get the Veery. It is an ear thing, and I am okay with that.

All three shots with the Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender function) handheld. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. 2) f5.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 200. 3) f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 100.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

2/20/2012: Reddish Egret in a Bush, Merritt Island NWR

On February 20, 2012 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - birds, Florida, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, wildlife

Misty morning light at Merritt Island. A classic pose and a classic exposure problem. I love the cup of the mangrove supporting the bird.

Canon SX40HS at 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm x 1.5 digital tel-extender function). Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation (thou that was certainly not needed in this shot…I keep it set because of the 40HS’ habit of over-exposing the highlights…and I forgot to turn it off).

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. A fair amount of fill light and some exposure adjustment as well.

2/17/2012: Tricolored Delight, Merritt Island NWR

On February 17, 2012 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, birds, digiscoped, Florida, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Tricolored Herons are, possibly, even more abundant at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge than Great Blues. Along Black Point Wildlife Drive they are everywhere, in every pond, and in all the water channels. In the brilliant Florida winter light, they are a truly colorful bird. Even, as here, in more subdued light, they certainly fill the frame with color and interesting detail.

This bird was sitting up, as they sometimes do, in a small mangrove bush, about 4 feet above the water, and well isolated against the background of the mangroves on the other side of the pond. Ideal portrait placement with a long lens, or, as in this case, a digiscoping rig.

In second two shots you can see the subtle purple/red tinge to the back and lower neck feathers.

And I have to say, the Tricolored Heron is really considerably more than tri-colored. 🙂

Taken with the Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 3420mm equivalent field of view, 1/100th @ ISO 400. f9 effective. 2) 1881mm equivalent, 1/50th @ ISO 100, f5 effective. 3) 1368mm equivalent, 1/125th @ ISO 100, f3.7 effective.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 3) cropped for composition.

2/16/2012: Hunting the flats. Great Egret.

On February 16, 2012 by lightshedder With 1 Comments - action, animals, birds, Florida, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, reflections, wildlife

A lone egret hunts the flats of the Indian River off Biolab Road at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Not much more to be said about this shot, except maybe, that it was the only image I got on Biolab Road this year 🙂

Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

2/15/2012: Anhingas (R Rated), Viera Wetlands FL

On February 15, 2012 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, digiscoped, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Anhingas in breeding plumage are quite striking. Those bright green eye-rings can be seen from a surprising distance. Which is good for these shots. They were taken at the maximum reach of the equipment I had with me…full zoom on the Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the DiaScope 65FL for an equivalent focal length of 3420mm. Even so I cropped away some of the image to increase the relative size of the birds. The Anhingas, He and She, were across at least 100 yards of water, nesting at the edge of what I call the Alligator Island, nearly all the way around the main tour loop at Viera Wetlands in Melbourne Florida. That is 100 yards of simmery, moisture laden, swampy Florida air. Might as well be shooting though moving water. So I am actually pretty happy with these.

I almost did not attempt them, as I knew it was pushing the limits, but I am glad I did, for I no more than got set up when He-Anhinga decided to get frisky with She-Anhinga…hence the R rating on the post.

 

She-Anhinga does not, by human standards, look all that happy about it. Do you suppose that head grip the male has on her is what passes for affection between Anhingas? She looks a bit more satisfied (and comfortable) after the fact.

All shots with the set-up detailed above. First and last image at 1/320th @ ISO 200. The rest at 1/500th @ ISO 200. Sequence selected out of burst shot at 3-4 fps (there are intermediate shots I did not post). Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. Processed, including cropping, in Lightroom.

2/13/2012: American Bittern Revisited

On February 13, 2012 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, birds, digiscoped, Florida, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

While still in Florida, I posted a series of images from my first encounter with this Bittern. Or at least I assume it is the same Bittern. I found it a second time several hundred yards down the same ditch, same time of day, and in the area where it was consistently reported during the week of the Space Coast Birding and Nature Festival. If it is the same bird, and I suspect it is, there are now almost certainly more images of this American Bittern in existence than of any other of its species, anywhere, ever :). It had the habit all that week of working along the water channel that parallels Black Point Wildlife Drive…the most heavily traveled and birded stretch of road at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge…most of the time in easy view of the road. And hundreds of photographers took thousands of photos of this bird during the week, with everything from the 3x zoom on their Point and Shoot, to 600mm Canon Image Stabilized lenses with 2x extenders, to, as in my case, a Point and Shoot behind the eyepiece of a spotting scope.

On this outing I had the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on my DiaScope, and with this combination and my Canon SD100HS’s native 3.8x zoom, in good air and good light, I can reach ridiculous equivalent focal lengths, for amazing close ups. The top image is at something like 3500mm equivalent, and the next one is at about 5700mm! For comparison, here is the bird at 840mm equivalent taken with the Canon SX40HS from the same spot.

And I can’t resist posting one more in this series (all taken before the bird began to move down the channel). This one is at something like 2200mm equivalent. I think he saw me.

Camera as above. The long shots are at 1/80th @ ISO 100 and 1/100th @ ISO 250. The SX40HS shot is at f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 320. The intermediate shot is at 1/200th @ ISO 100. All in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.

Processed, and cropped where cropped, in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. Color balanced by eye to match the series.

2/10/2012: Intimate Great Blue Heron, Merritt Island NWR

On February 10, 2012 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, birds, bokeh, close up, digiscoped, Florida, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Intimate portraits of Great Blue Herons are not difficult at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in January. Great Blues are abundant along Black Point Wildlife Drive, and they are used to people stopping to photograph them. They simply go on about their business (which sometimes seems to be exclusively posing for photographers) and ignore the audience. This bird was perched in the top of a mangrove, perhaps 40 feet from shore, ideally placed against a semi-distant back ground for good bokeh in close-ups.

I have, honestly, a LOT of images of Great Blue Herons already, but who could resist this poser?

All three shots are with the Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. 1) 2565mm equivalent field of view, 1/200th @ ISO 100. f6.9 effective. 2) 855mm equivalent, 1/640th @ ISO 100. f2.8 effective. 3) 1900mm equivalent, 1/500th @ ISO 160. f5 effective. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.

This is actually a very good demonstration of range of a good Point and Shoot behind the eyepiece of a scope. I had to crop out the dark corners (vignetting) on the 855mm equivalent shot, but that I could get that low an equivalent from a 30x eyepiece is pretty good okay any day. And then the other two framings are from the same spot, just by twiddling the zoom on the camera. Not bad!

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. Cropped as needed for composition.

2/9/2012: One Snowy Egret: Merritt Island NWR

On February 9, 2012 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - birds, digiscoped, Florida, Merritt Island NWR, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

I took a lot of shots of Snowy Egrets at Viera Wetlands and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge while in Florida on this last trip. Who could resist? I like this shot, not in spite of the encroaching reeds and grass, but because the encroaching reeds and grass give the bird an interesting context. That, combined with the effective bokeh of the water provides a setting for the bird, and emphasizes its elegant lines and delicate plumes.

Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope for something in the range of a 1600mm equivalent field of view. 1/800th @ ISO 100. f4.3 effective.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. My digisocping camera was just off center for this shot, giving an uneven exposure across the field. I used a Graduated Filter effect from the left to more or less balance it.