Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife

9/23/2011: Great Blue Portraits

On September 23, 2011 by lightshedder With 1 Comments - animals, birds, digiscoped, Lake Erie, Ohio, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

There is nothing so photogenic as a great blue heron…or at least no bird that poses so well! For a digiscoper, trying to capture images through the eyepiece of a spotting scope, that is half the battle. These shots are from a dull, overcast morning in Ohio, a few hundred yards back from the shore of Lake Erie, in the ponds at East Harbor State Park near Port Clinton. I am still learning to use the Nikon Coolpix P300 in this application, and I had a new adapter for the scope as well…so I needed a bird that would sit. I took maybe 35 images of this bird, slowly working my way closer, before the demands of the day pulled me away. It was still sitting where I found it when I left.

Nikon Coolpix P300 behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. 1) about 4500mm equivalent field of view, 1/30th @ ISO 400, f12 effective (limited by the scope), 2) 1050mm equivalent, 1/80th @ ISO 400, f4.5 effective (limited by the camera).

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

9/21/2011: Face to face with a Dragon

On September 21, 2011 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, butterflies and insects, dragonflies, Odonata, Ohio, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

For Wings on Wednesday, lets go with dragonflies. There were a lot of dragonflies in Ohio, but they would not sit for me. I saw Common Green Darners in great numbers, and a couple of Black Saddlebags. No pics! I think this is a worn and weary Ruby Meadowhawk sitting on the rail of the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. Worn because its color is dull and the face plate is dingy rather than white. Weary because it sat for its portrait at 32mm equivalent field of view and with the camera inches from its tail (second shot).

And I was so close here I had to crop out the shadow of the camera behind the bug.

Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close UP mode: 1) 60mm equivalent field of view. f4.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. 2) 32mm equivalent (the auto setting for Close UP mode), f4.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

9/14/2011: Semipalm Sand with Snails, Wings on Wednesday

On September 14, 2011 by lightshedder With 1 Comments - animals, birds, close up, digiscoped, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Dull morning, but I really like this shot for the composition. The bird is partially hidden, so it is not a great ID shot, but I love the way the Semipalmated Sandpiper is emerging from behind the snail covered stump. The contrast in textures and colors (especially the wood and tangled pile of seaweed) is interesting as well.

Back Creek, in Kennebunk. Nikon Coolpix P300 behind the 15-56x Vario Eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for something in the 3000mm field of view range. 1/80th @ ISO 160. Programmed Auto. f8 effective (scope limited).

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

9/13/2011: Bugs on Fern

On September 13, 2011 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, butterflies and insects, dragonflies, fern, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

There are lots of these Ruby Meadowhawks around in Southern Maine right now, and I have taken maybe too many of pics of them…question: “can you have too many pics of a Ruby Meadowhawk?” I could not resist this one, since the sun-lit fern makes such a great backdrop.

And, on the same theme, a tiny Hover Fly against a similar background.

Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode…auto zoom setting overridden. 1) 403mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/250th @ ISO 160. 2) 309mm, f5.4 @ 1/640th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Both images cropped for scale and composition.

9/12/2011: Two heads are better than one. Yellowlegs and Semipalm.

On September 12, 2011 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, birds, digiscoped, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

I saw this shot in the making and took several exposures to catch the Yellowlegs with its eye open and the Semipalmated Sandpiper with its head showing. Just for fun.

Nikon Coolpix P300 behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL. About 3000mm equivalent field of view. 1/60th @ IS) 160. f8 effective (limited by the scope).

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

9/11/2011: Black Saddlebags, Happy Sunday

On September 11, 2011 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - animals, butterflies and insects, dragonflies, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, Sunday, wildlife

Happy Sunday.

As I mentioned a few days ago in the Ruby Meadowhawk post, I have started what appears to be a little love affair with dragonfiles. Suddenly they are everywhere I look, I am taking a lot of pics, and my iPhone Audubon Field Guide to New England, which has a good section on dragonflies, is getting a good workout. Browsing there, a while back, trying to identify a dragonfly I had managed to catch with my camera, I came upon an image of the Black Saddlebags…one of the larger and showier of the New England dragonflies (found everywhere in the US east of the Rockies, as a matter of fact). Okay, so I want to catch an image of one of those! I saw a few in the air earlier in the summer during my rambles, but they never settled for a pic. Of course that just made me want one more. It turns out those early flies may have been vagrants from the south. The Saddlebags only reach adult stage in late summer here in Maine, so this specimen is most likely newly awing. And clearly more cooperative.

I saw it cross the beach and settle a the edge of the beach rose on the dunes (I was chanting “land, land, land” the whole way), but by the time I got there the Saddlebags had moved in a few yards. I had to maneuver among the rose bushes to get a shot. It was sitting in full sun, but deeper in among twigs and grass stems, and there was no clear shot that showed the full bug. The only way to get a full body shot was to stand in my own light and shoot the dragonfly in my shadow. I was pretty sure that as soon as my shadow touched it it would be up and away…but it sat.

And here is a full sun shot for contrast.

One spectacular bug!

Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode with the zoom setting overriden. 1) 403mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/80th @ ISO 400. 2) 538mm, f5.7 @ 1/40th @ ISO 200. 3) 499mm, f5.7 @ 1/250th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. 1) and 2) adjusted for color temperature and Vibrance to more closely match the balance of 3).

Sunday thought: Every time I look at these images in the future, I will remember the thrill of taking them…and the feeling of deep gratitude and crazy joy that lasted all the way back to the car after. Right now, writing about it, and looking at the images, that same feeling is there, just behind the words. I am grinning here. I will probably take better pics of Saddlebags in the future…but these will always be special. Special in part because of the anticipation…because of wanting them since I saw the first Saddlebags in my reference and on the wing…and special because I had to dodge rose bush thorns to get them…but most special because of the feeling of being in the right place at the right time and ready for the blessing. No credit to me. The joy of these shots has nothing to to with self-satisfaction…it has everything to do with appreciation of the gift. (And not “my gift” as in “a gifted photographer”…but something I have not earned, and don’t deserve…an outright gift from someone who loves me.) While taking the images I was, of course, concentrating on angles, light values, zoom settings, and all the technical stuff of photography…and holding my breath (almost literally) lest the bug fly…but in a sense I was also totally absent from myself…completely caught up in the wonder of the moment. And when I stepped back down off the dune to return to the car, I was only aware of the gift. And grinning like…well…like a very happy man (or maybe boy). And that is what it is all about. Photography. Nature study. My new love affair with dragonfiles. To be so gifted I can only grin.

9/10/2011: Give us a leg up…Yellowlegs

On September 10, 2011 by lightshedder With 2 Comments - action, animals, birds, digiscoped, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

A lesser Yellowlegs bringing a foot up to rest (warm?) and caught in action. I cropped the shot for composition but the scale is provided by long reach of the spotting scope in my digiscoping rig. I like the attitude of this bird, with the slightly parted bill.

Nikon Coolpix P300 behind the 15-56x Vario Eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL. Equivalent field of view of about a 1250mm lens. 1/640th @ ISO 160. f3.7 effective (limited by the camera).

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness, and cropped from the right and top for composition.

And here is a bonus shot, pushed out to about 3000mm equivalent. 1/400th @ ISO 160. f8 effective (limited by the scope). Again cropped from top and right for composition.

9/9/2011: Ruby Meadowhawk (I think)

On September 9, 2011 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, butterflies and insects, Maine, Odonata, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

I am pretty sure we don’t have any more dragonflies this year than any year…but I am certainly seeing a lot more. It began, suspiciously, when I got my new camera with its 810mm equivalent reach and efficient telephoto close up setting…which enables some very satisfying approaches to dragonflies. Suddenly they are everywhere. We have way more species in Southern Maine than I ever dreamed of, and I have now seen, and photographed, a good number of them. I am even learning their names…with the emphasis on learning. With each new fly, I go to my references and try to name it. I am never completely confident…and matters are not helped by the fact that even at this early stage I can tell that about a quarter of the images on the internet are mislabeled. 🙁

So I think, tentatively, that this is a Ruby Meadowhawk. I think, because if you do a search for images of Ruby Meadowhawk on the internet, at least a third of what turns up are obviously female Blue Dashers. Please, anyone who knows, correct me if I am wrong here.

Whatever this bug is, though, it is a striking contrast to the foliage around it. And you have to love the name: Ruby Meadowhawk…so I am really hoping I am right.

Nikon Coolpix P300 at 499mm equivalent field of view and Close Up mode, f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

9/8/2011: Once Upon an English Golf Course

On September 8, 2011 by lightshedder With 1 Comments - animals, birds, England, foliage, morning, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, Pond, wildlife

We will pop back to England, and my recent visit there, for today. Mallards in the early morning sun on one of the many ponds along the heavily designed water course that passes through Greetham Valley Golf Course were we stay while I am at the British Bird Fair. Mostly I really like the reflections of the greenery around the pond. This is a long zoom shot to isolate the birds. And it is cropped slightly for composition.

Nikon Coolpix P500 at 810mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/200th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

9/7/2011: Stretch that wing!

On September 7, 2011 by lightshedder With 2 Comments - action, animals, birds, close up, digiscoped, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Since action shot possibilities are limited when using a camera behind the eyepiece of a spotting scope for bird images (digiscoping: you are working from a tripod, always, and focus is not quick or reliable enough for flight shots in most situations), the wing shot is, so to speak, the pinnacle of digiscoped action photography. Digiscopers learn to anticipate when a preening bird is about to stretch a wing. Or they try to.

This shot was taken on a dreary, overcast morning, so, while the light was favorable for molding, it was not great for action. Feeding and preening Yellowlegs, ideally, require more light. I did have the advantage of today’s Back-illuminated CMOS sensors, and was able to set the camera for a burst of up to 7 shots at 8 frames per second. This is one of 5 shots…and all show the stretched wing…the first just reaching full stretch and the last just coming off it.

I like the water in these shots as well as the bird.

  

Nikon P300 behind the 15-56x Vario Eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of about a 2000mm lens, 1/160th @ ISO 160. f5.5 effective. Programmed Auto.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.