Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife
8/16/2011: Monarch and Blazing Star
Driving back through the Plains from my excursion to Plains Pond last Saturday, I caught a butterfly in the Northern Blazing Star out of the corner of my eye. It was headed away from me, but I pulled up, grabbed the camera, zoomed out, pointed it out the open window of the car and got off one shot. The contrast in color is pretty dramatic here, and the telephoto end of the zoom throws the background into pleasing bokeh. Cropped from the right for composition.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 538mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
8/3/2011: Make a wing. Piping Plovers
A wing, literally, for Wednesday. This endangered Piping Plover clearly does not realize its status, as it was on the open section of the beach in Kennebunk Maine, in among the early fishermen and the very early sun bathers…though it was hanging out in the relative safety of a bit of sand in the rocky section of the beach.
For this full frame shot I was experimenting with the digital zoom on the Nikon Coolpix P500, running it out to 1296mm equivalent field of view (810mm optical x whatever digital). Prior accidental experiments had indicated that it might actually work, and I am quite pleased with the results. Not equal to a behemoth lens on a DSLR, but pretty good! thank you, for a camera and lens that just about fits in a photo vest pocket.
The following shot was taken at the normal 810mm optical, and then cropped slightly for composition and scale. It is also very satisfying, considering. (If you are pixel peeper, you can view them as large as you like up to full resolution by clicking the image and using the controls across the top of the Smugmug lightbox page.)
Nikon Coolpix at the stated equivalents, 1) f8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160, 2) f6.3 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. #2, as stated, cropped slightly from full frame.
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7/20/2011: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Milkweed
As I mentioned yesterday, the Milkweed was in bloom at Laudholm Farm over the weekend, and it had attracted a variety of butterflies…well beyond the Monarchs you expect to see there. Many of them, like this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, were rather travel worn. This specimen looks like it might have had an encounter with a bird who went away with a large chunk of its right wing. I am often amazed at how damaged a butterfly can be and still manage to fly just fine.
I was also amazed by the smell of the Milkweed bloom…in a mass as it is at Laudholm, it is very sweet indeed! No wonder it attracts insects of all kinds.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 810mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/500th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.
Processed for Clarity and Sharpness in Lightroom.
7/11/2011: Chipmunk Defense Posture
A mammal for Monday.
There were lots of chipmunks on the grounds of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. This one was along the path below the Hillside Gardens, between the gardens and the river. He ran across in front of us and then kept just out of sight, or just too fast to catch, as we walked on…until, quite by accident, my wife Carol got ahead of him. Then he didn’t know what to do, so he just froze in this pose long enough for me to work as close as the macro telephoto setting on my camera would allow. The pose, I suspect, is the traditional freeze posture…an instinctive defensive mechanism based on the quite reasonable (considering likely prey) “if I don’t move they can’t see me” premise…since I have other images of chipmunks in this same pose in similar situations.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 700mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/50th @ ISO 200. Close Up mode.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/27/2011: General Woundwort instructs on Eating Thistle
The thistle, as a food source, is problematic. The question, don’t you see, is how to eat it…and I do assure you it is quite tasty…without getting stung on the lip. The proper technique is to roll the lip back and come in from the side. Observe.
You see? Quite delicious really, and quite worth the trouble, what?
Any questions? I thought not.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 403mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. Programmed auto with Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization. No animals were harmed in the making of this sequence.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/24/2011: Least Tern Fledgling, Feathers on Friday
On my digiscoping excursion in Orange County CA last weekend, we went to the Least Tern enclosures (or exclosures more accurately). Beyond the page-wire fence are two smaller compounds protected only by snow-fencing. The nests there have not fared well this year, as a coyote discovered the easy pickings and accounted for many of the nests. Still, this fledgling, which we found on its own out on the open beach, is evidence that at least a few of the nests were successful. I love the delicate colors and patterning. Look closely and you will see a few pin feathers still around the brown patch on the head.
We kept hoping that one of the adults would come and feed the fledgling, but this is a close as we got…
We did not have good light as it was a pretty standard June-gloom morning for Orange Co., but adequate for these shots.
Canon SD4000IS behind the Vario Eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 85FL for equivalent fields of view in the 2000mm range. Auto focus and programmed auto exposure. Shutter speeds from 1/200th to 1/250. ISO 125.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
And I do have a snip of video.
6/21/2011: Caspian Tern, Wings on Wednesday
While at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach California doing some digiscoping, I could not resist trying to catch the Caspian Terns as they hunted over the boardwalk/bridge with my Nikon Coolpix P500. Bad light, fast birds, but still, you have to try.
This sequence captures the beginning of a dive that brought the bird into the water only about 30 feet out from where we were standing. Number 3 is my favorite, but the whole sequence builds an impression that no single image can. To have a chance of catching the birds moving this fast, I had to back the zoom off to medium telephoto.
Nikon Coolpix P500 using my custom Flight and Action program. 160mm equivalent field of view, f6.3 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Cropped for image scale.
6/1/2011: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, wings on wednesday
As a birder, I will admit that I think almost all birds are beautiful…as in the eye of the beholder if nothing else…but I find the Rose-breasted Grosbeak particularly striking. This Grosbeak, incidentally, shows exactly what Magee Marsh is all about. Magee is a major stop-over for birds waiting for favorable winds to cross Lake Erie in Ohio. They stop there to fuel up, and the rich habitat of the mid-west spring provides the fuel. Every bird you see there is actively feeding (note the seeds on that massive beak)…even those who are not moving on in the morning…since the residents are busy at nest building and also need their energy.
I like this shot, even-though the bird is mostly obscured. It is pretty much what most birders get to see of most birds they encounter in a woodland setting. However I did manage a few full frontal portraits of Rose-breasted Grosbeak while at Magee as well.
Nikon Coolpix P500. 1) 810mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. 2) f5.7 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160. User selected Flight and Action program.
User Flight and Action mode:
full size (12mp)
fine image quality
8 fps for 5 frames
center and continuous focus
center metering
auto ISO and a minimum shutter speed of 1/125 second
hybrid Vibration Reduction
LCD off
zoom fully extended (810mm equivalent)
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
5/27/2011: Putting on the Ritz: Snowy Egrets in Breeding Plumage
Snowy Egret in full breeding plumage, St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery. Intimate portrait via P&S camera behind the eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope spotting scope for an equivalent field of view of about 1000mm.
And even closer, this one with the Nikon Coolpix p500 at about 500mm with a much closer bird (and in more challenging light).
Pulled back to 240mm for the full effect of the displaying bird.
And just a final, interesting take on the breeding plumage. The fact that it was taken at 300mm equivalent is testimony to just how close to the birds you can get at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery.
1) Canon SD4000IS behind the 20-75x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 85FL. Equivalent field of veiw as above at about 1000mm. 1/250th @ ISO 125. f2.8 effective.
2) Nikon Coolpix P500 at 466mm equivalent, f5.7 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 160. 3) 240mm equivalent, f8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160, 4) 300mm, f5.4 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
And one more, just for fun.
5/25/2011: Catbird!
Catbirds at Magee Marsh during The Biggest Week in American Birding were almost too easy. They were everywhere, they were close, and they were totally unconcerned with the human traffic on the boardwalk.
I like this sequence because of the light and shadow contrast.
This individual was a bit grubby from digging for grubs.
And finally, this is the very first bird I shot at Magee Marsh.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 600 and 668mm equivalent fields of view, #1 at 810mm. ISO 160 to ISO 500 (#5), 1/100th and 1/125th. f5.7.
Processed for Clarity and Sharpness in Lightroom.