Posts in Category: backyard photo-blind
Maine! Just Robins
American Robin: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — The American Robin does not get the photographic attention it deserves because it is so common. They are here in York County year around and underfoot all summer in our yards. It really is a beautiful bird though. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom. Program mode with my custom birds modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Titmouse Song
Tufted Titmouse: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — There is perhaps no birds song or call that is a carrying, one might even say, piercing as the Tufted Titmouse in the spring. Common in both yard and forest they certainly make their presence known in season. I caught this one in full voice and you can see the effort going into the call. They are quick and agile and not easy to catch in a photo, at least around our yard. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Not at home, at all.
House Finch: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — The House Finch only reached Maine in the early 1970s…it was originally a bird of the Southwest, but has slowly but surely extended its range to cover most of the US (with a strange gap in the center of the continent). Our habit of feeding birds has probably encouraged that extension, as it is among the most common feeder birds wherever it lives. I still can’t convince myself it is at home here though, though it was in Maine well before I got here. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Ready or not, here I come!
Eastern Bluebird: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — Our Bluebirds are with us pretty much year round now, with the exception of a brief period when they go further afield just after the second brood of the summer fledges. It is still fun to sit out in my ghillie poncho and camp chair and watch them under the pines. This one seemed to be ready to fly straight at me. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Dapper Downy
Downy Woodpecker: Backyard, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, November 2023 — I am still dialing in the exposure settings on my OM Systems OM-1 camera…I want to be totally confident of them by the time I leave for Costa Rica next month 🙂 This little dapper Downy Woodpecker provided practice the other day from our back deck. Such an elegant, but chipper little bird. Olympus ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. Assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Downy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker: backyard, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2023 — So we will stay close to home for the holiday today. This is one of our backyard Downy Woodpeckers, taken from my photo-blind out by the big pine on our property line. Looking just a bit disheveled. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom @ 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 4000 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Goldfinch, nothing so yellow
American Goldfinch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2023 — there is nothing so yellow as a fresh spring male Goldfinch. We suddenly have a small host of them in the yard. This one posed outside my pop-up backyard bird blind as I was learning the new OM-1 system. Olympus OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 320 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th. Minus .7EV
Maine! Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2023 — I am trying to find the best combination of focus settings on the OM-1 to allow me to pick the warblers out of the dense foliage at Magee Marsh in Ohio next week when I am there to give two Point and Shoot for Warbler workshops, so I am spending time in my backyard photo blind whenever the weather permits, practicing on the titmice, chickadees, chipping sparrows, and goldfinches. As you can see, this was a tricky shot, with foreground foliage and vines and a confusing background. I had the camera set to bird recognition and to the “small” focus target to give it a chance to find the bird in the brush and it worked quite well. Often with a larger focus target, which works fine in less obscured situations, the camera could not get close enough to focus to actually recognize the bird. But with the small target if I could get the target on any piece of the bird, the camera would focus, recognize the bird and move focus to the eye. Pretty slick! Still a lot to learn! Olympus OM-1 with the OM System 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 320 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th. Minus .7EV. (to protect the highlights).
Maine! Grey Squirrel (I see you!)
Grey Squirrel: Kennebunk Maine, USA, May 2023 — When you live in Maine you practice Animal Auto Focus on any wildlife available…mostly squirrels. 🙂 This squirrel did its “laying out flat on a branch” thing for me, and watched me inside my hide. He very definitely knew exactly where I was and was keeping track of what I was doing. We have two different framings here: 800mm equivalent and, using the digital tele-converter in the OM-1, 1600mm equivalent. In both cases the camera automatically kept focus on the eye. Program mode with my evolving wildlife modifications. (That is what the practice is all about.) Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f6.3 @ 1/500th. Minus .7EV.
Maine! Chipping Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2023 — Still in the experimental stage of setting up my OM-1 for birds and wildlife. Here I was using the cooperative Chipping Sparrow on the feeder to test the built in 2x digital converter. Lots of cameras have them. Some work surprisingly well for those times when you need the extra reach. This shot was taken with the 100-400mm zoom at the equivalent of 1600mm and I think it is just fine! I could have gotten the same image scale by cropping an 800mm shot, but the digital converter maintains, or simulates at least, the full 20mm files. I have the converter programed into a handy button on the camera so I can just click it on and off as needed. Olympus OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom. Program mode with my evolving birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f 6.3 @ 1/500th.