Posts in Category: Maine
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! Fiddlehead season
Fiddleheads (emerging ferns): Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, May 2023 — It is fiddlehead season and the woods at Laudholm Farms are full of them. Emerging ferns. I was trying out the somewhat macro capabilities of the Olympus 100-400mm zoom. It does .5x at 800mm equivalent, and 1x using the digital tele-converter for 1600mm from 4.3 feet. You don’t have much depth of field, but still, it makes a emergency macro without carrying an extra lens. 🙂 Olympus OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800 and 1600mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving macro and environmental modifications. (Custom program #4). ISO 800 and 640 @ f6.3 @ 1/320th. Shot off my bean-bag headed monopod.
Maine! Eastern Towhee
Eastern Towhee: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA, May 2023 — Again I took advantage of some early sun, or so I thought, to get out for some practice with the new Olympus OM-1 and the 100-400mm zoom. By the time I got down to Laudholm Farms, the clouds had rolled in and the light was already less than ideal. So it goes. I have trouble remembering that this is not the Rufous-sided Towhee, which is the name it had when I as first leaning bird names. I think I may have confused more than one young birder by calling it that. It has been the Eastern Towhee for some time now. 🙂 It was keeping company with a couple of Catbirds and some Robins along the upper trail at Laudholm. Olympus OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving custom birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine! Chickadee at nest hole…
Black-capped Chickadee: Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2023 — We had a few hours of sunshine yesterday early so I took my new Olympus OM-1 and 100-400mm zoom out for some “field” practice. So far most of my photos have been from the back deck door or from my backyard photo blind. I need to know how the camera works in less controlled environment. 🙂 Not much going on at Roger’s Pond. I always hope for the pair of Eagles that is often see there…well, more often not seen there…but sometimes seen there. Not yesterday. And no ducks in the river. I had to make do with chickadees and titmice. This Chickadee was working a nest cavity low on a big maple. Olympus OM-1 and 100-400mm zoom at 1600mm equivalent (with digital tele-converter). Program mode with my evolving custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f6.3 @ 1/500th. Minus .7EV.
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! Wet birds…
Pine Warbler, Purple Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird, Red-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2023 — We are having several days of cold rain here in a row, but the birds have been very active at the feeders despite the weather. I had fun yesterday afternoon when the light was at its brightest for the day, photographing wet birds through the double-glazed deck door. I can’t say that they look very happy! but they were certainly busy. Olympus OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1600-2500 @ 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.
Maine! Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2023 — Another shot from the open door of our deck. Our faithful male bluebird posing nicely on a stick…so, yes, your classic bird-on-a-stick shot. Still learning the Olympus OM-1 and 100-400mm zoom. 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications (under development). Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/500th. Minus .3EV.