Posts in Category: Colorado
Magpie
Black-billed Magpie: South Valley Park, Denver, Colorado, USA, July 2023 — a lucky shot from our hike in South Valley Park on the mountain edge of Denver. When I saw the bird it was on the rock, of course, but as I pressed the shutter button, it took off. Happens sometimes 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Colorado! Mule Deer in the Morning
Mule Deer: South Valley Park, Denver, Colorado, USA, July 2023 — We went for a hike yesterday, early, at South Valley Park, about 30 minutes from my daughter’s home in Centennial. Early is relative. Toddlers in tow. We were not completely out of the car yet (it takes a while when traveling with two in car seats), when my daughter, who was suiting up in the baby carrier, cried out “look Everleigh, look!” and pointed over my shoulder. This buck Mule Deer had just crossed the parking lot and was, at that moment, running up the stairs in the trail above. I managed a few shots as it headed off the trail toward greener pastures up the canyon. Not a big “rack” (set of antlers) by Mule Deer standards…and still, from the look of it, in “velvet”…still growing. Everleigh did get to see the “reindeer” and this photo is for her. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my animals modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Colorado! Young Robin
American Robin: Centennial, Colorado, USA, July 2023 — Our walks around Centennial in the morning are limited by how far I can push a stroller, and how far an almost 4 year old can walk, given time at the playground, and we are in the heart of Denver suburbia, so we are not seeing a wild variety of Colorado birds. There is a family of American Robins at one of the local parks and this young bird posed nicely for me. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 640 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Colorado! Thumper.
Eastern Cottontail: Centennial, Colorado, USA — I asked my granddaughter Everleigh to help me pick a photo for this morning’s post. I suspect this is the patriarch of the bunny clan that lives in the housing developments around my daughter’s home in Centennial. He was taking is his ease, warming in the morning sun in the middle of a residential street, and was not bothered by us on the sidewalk at all. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 250 and 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th and 1/800th.
Colorado! Bunnies
Wild Rabbits: Centennial, Colorado — The only other wildlife we have seen on our walks around Centennial with our granddaughters are the wild Rabbits that seen to enjoy the lawns of the housing developments and the small parks. I will not say they are everywhere, but there are a surprising number of them, and, as you might imagine with them living in suburbia, they are somewhat tame. This one sat for me for close-ups…though some of that might have been the “freeze” response. (“If I do not move he can’t see me!”…which is a survival technique against airborne and other sight predators, but does not work well against photographers…or other “shooters” for that matter. Fortunately for the rabbits, I am pretty sure shotguns are banned by the local HOAs, if not by the city itself. 🙂 Anyway. The bunnies are a big hit with the granddaughters and look remarkably healthy. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 372mm and 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. (No need to switch to animal mode for animals of this size, I am finding.) Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 1250 and 1600 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Colorado! Say’s Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe: Centennial, Colorado, July 2023 — Our morning bird walk yesterday (to the playground and back, after some appropriate play time before the slides got to hot to touch) turned up a group of Say’s Phoebes hunting in the short grasses of the park. As an Easterner for a long time now, Say’s is a treat. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
7/1/2011: Meadowlark in Song at 4fps.
You could cut the mirage with a knife, it was that thick, on the shooting range in Byers Colorado last week, but this Meadowlark sat on a post 100 yards out and sang most of the afternoon. Who could resist?
Canon SD4000is behind the 20-75x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 85FL for the equivalent field of view of about a 2000mm lens. 1/800th @ ISO 125. 4 frames per second.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Cropped from full frame.
6/30/2011: White-tail at a Distance, CO
At the end of the day at the shooting range in Byers Colorado, after spending the odd free moments between workshop sessions Shooting the Clouds, there was a barbeque, and during the barbeque two White-tailed Deer decided to risk ambling across the range, behind the bunkers. They were obviously young deer and maybe did not know any better. You would think the strong smell of cordite and the recent thunder of the guns would have deterred them!
They were not really all that close…the shot above is at the full 810mm reach of the Nikon Coolpix P500 (actually in looking at the exif data I apparently zoomed a bit into digital zoom, 972mm is the recorded figure), and cropped…and heat shimmer from the long day of prairie baking in the sun was a real problem…but I like the early evening light and the layers with the flowers setting off the foreground. View it larger by clicking the image.
In this shot, where the deer are lower down and closer to the open expanse of the shooting range itself, you see more of the heat shimmer effect…which softens the whole…but I really like the light on the deer here.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 972mm equivalent field of view. f5.7 @ 1/800th and 1/500th @ ISO 160. User programed Flight and Action 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.
6/26/2011: High Plains Sky, Happy Sunday!
I had forgotten how big the sky is on the High Plains of Colorado. The Rockies push up amazing clouds that drift (or drive as the case may be) out over the gently rolling prairie. This is near Byers Colorado, about 90 miles east of the cloud factory of the Front Range peaks. It is a 4 frame panorama. Click on it to open it to the full width of your screen or monitor.
I spent an afternoon and early evening at a shooting range north of Byers demonstrating spotting scopes (work), and had an ideal opportunity to watch (and, between sessions, capture) the variety of High Plains clouds that you can see in a single day.
All these shots make use of the Nikon Coolpix P500’s Active D-Lighting to maintain detail in the clouds, and Lightroom’s Graduated Filter Effect to bring up the foregrounds. If you click the image to open it at WideEyedInWonder, and then click the Show Details button at the top right, you can see complete exif data on any of the images.
And for the Sunday thought: I really did not expect much from a shooting range on the high plains…in fact I was disappointed when I found out that our one day outside was to be further from the mountains than we already were at our hotel. I forget that no matter how flat the landscape of our lives at any given moment, the creator can, and very often does, fill the sky above with glorious evidence. We just have to look up and notice.