Please share your photos of nature, wildlife, etc.

[december-fire]

OUCH!! So sorry to hear that!
Prayers outgoing for a quick recovery.

Thanks, @Karl_K , much appreciated!

A couple of black and white photos for you.

 

[Karl_K]

Thanks, @Karl_K , much appreciated!

A couple of black and white photos for you.

Awesome!!!! Thanks!!!!

 

[WinkHPD]

Nice Karl.

I thought about doing it myself, but thought I would be more fun if you jumped in, since there are so many ways to do a B&W.

Looking at the nice one you have done, am I correct in thinking that you worked with the adjusted one? I think there is more detail, near the base of the rock especially, than you would have gotten from the unadjusted one.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

Wednesday morning, I went out to take photos.
It was foggy and raining.

The rain made the ice extra-slippery.
This duck flew in to land on the ice by the river, and the slippery conditions resulted in a bumpy landing.
I laughed.
An hour later, I slipped on the ice and broke my wrist.
Morale of the story: Never laugh at a duck.

Ouch, that is a distressing story. I hope it heals quickly. I also hope you did not hurt your new camera!

When I was a young teenager I went with my father to my grandfather's hunting club. It had been bitterly cold for some time and the water was largely frozen over. It had warmed up overnight though, and rained during the early morning hours and the ice was now covered with a skiff of water.

The ducks would come in and land on the water and go sliding and spinning across the pond. None of us had cameras with us then, too bad as the pictures would have been priceless. A good video would have made our fortune, but in the late 50's video cameras were not common in the hands of teenagers.

Since we would not shoot before the ducks landed, and of course once they land it is considered poor sportsmanship to shoot them on the water, we shot very little that morning. It was however, one of my favorite days of hunting. It still ranks in the top 5 of my life. Watching the birds on the pond pretend like they did it on purpose and then calling to their friends to come down and do it too.

Wink

 

[Karl_K]

Nice Karl.

I thought about doing it myself, but thought I would be more fun if you jumped in, since there are so many ways to do a B&W.

Looking at the nice one you have done, am I correct in thinking that you worked with the adjusted one? I think there is more detail, near the base of the rock especially, than you would have gotten from the unadjusted one.

Wink

I started with the adjusted one then played with the shadow and highlight adjustments to bring out the texture just a tad more.
I am just using a very basic editor. My old version of photoshop wont run on newer operating systems.

 

[december-fire]

Ouch, that is a distressing story. I hope it heals quickly. I also hope you did not hurt your new camera!

When I was a young teenager I went with my father to my grandfather's hunting club. It had been bitterly cold for some time and the water was largely frozen over. It had warmed up overnight though, and rained during the early morning hours and the ice was now covered with a skiff of water.

The ducks would come in and land on the water and go sliding and spinning across the pond. None of us had cameras with us then, too bad as the pictures would have been priceless. A good video would have made our fortune, but in the late 50's video cameras were not common in the hands of teenagers.

Since we would not shoot before the ducks landed, and of course once they land it is considered poor sportsmanship to shoot them on the water, we shot very little that morning. It was however, one of my favorite days of hunting. It still ranks in the top 5 of my life. Watching the birds on the pond pretend like they did it on purpose and then calling to their friends to come down and do it too.

Wink

Thank you, Wink!
My camera was unharmed!
My left hand, which held the lens securely, shot straight up into the air, so the camera was at no risk of connecting with the ground.
Priorities.

Love your story.
So funny seeing the animals/birds slip and slide like we do - they weren't harmed in any way.
At one point while I was out, a few ducks were walking in front of me on a narrow, particularly icy path. Every now and then, one of them would lose his footing and his leg would shoot out from under him. He never fell, would quickly regain his balance and toddle along until he lost his footing again.

Oh, I've decided to purchase ice cleats to add to my camera bag.

 

[redwood66]

I took this photo today. Not even photoshopped. A coati in Iguassu Falls, Brazilian side, busily walking along the bank, among the people. The coatis are very friendly...

Oh how cute! Are they bitey if people try to touch them?

 

[december-fire]

Ankle-deep water

 

[WinkHPD]

Ankle-deep water

Ahhh, the very rare black, grey and almost white duck.

 

[december-fire]

Ahhh, the very rare black, grey and almost white duck.

Yes!
Let's see if @Karl_K adds some colour.

Your comment made me realize that i should post some black and white photos of the American Black Ducks that are down by the river and lake.

 

[december-fire]

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I took this in my backyard in August.
Looking forward to the return of these lovely creatures in May; they have the good sense to head South before our Winter arrives!

 

[Karl_K]

Yes!
Let's see if @Karl_K adds some colour.

 

[jordyonbass]

Here's a colourful picture; a Mahi Mahi showing amazing green and golds with a deep cobalt blue ocean in the background. The little yellow streamer you can see in it's back is a serial number tag, it's now being tracked by scientists in hope it gets caught again. They are one of the best eating fish in the ocean and I have never thrown one back even half that size. I am still hurting inside slightly however we had no cold storage for the fillets and no way to cook it fresh at the motel we were staying at. So she went back (yes, it is a female).

I should have worn a black t shirt to balance out the brightness in the pic

 

[canuk-gal]

Here's a colourful picture; a Mahi Mahi showing amazing green and golds with a deep cobalt blue ocean in the background. The little yellow streamer you can see in it's back is a serial number tag, it's now being tracked by scientists in hope it gets caught again. They are one of the best eating fish in the ocean and I have never thrown one back even half that size. I am still hurting inside slightly however we had no cold storage for the fillets and no way to cook it fresh at the motel we were staying at. So she went back (yes, it is a female).

I should have worn a black t shirt to balance out the brightness in the pic

I love reading your posts! Always makes me smile.

cheers--Sharon

 

[december-fire]

Here's a colourful picture; a Mahi Mahi showing amazing green and golds with a deep cobalt blue ocean in the background. The little yellow streamer you can see in it's back is a serial number tag, it's now being tracked by scientists in hope it gets caught again. They are one of the best eating fish in the ocean and I have never thrown one back even half that size. I am still hurting inside slightly however we had no cold storage for the fillets and no way to cook it fresh at the motel we were staying at. So she went back (yes, it is a female).

I should have worn a black t shirt to balance out the brightness in the pic

Jordy, that color is amazing!

Thanks for sharing your photo - great to see you get out on the water!

 

[jordyonbass]

Thanks @canuk-gal!! It was a rather tough 3 days of fishing for us.....huge story there lol

And thank you @december-fire, I don't get out often enough at the moment. Too busy!!

 

[jordyonbass]

Another pic from the weekend, sunrise over the Pacific Ocean as we make our way out to the offshore Marlin grounds.

 

[WinkHPD]

Here's a colourful picture; a Mahi Mahi showing amazing green and golds with a deep cobalt blue ocean in the background. The little yellow streamer you can see in it's back is a serial number tag, it's now being tracked by scientists in hope it gets caught again. They are one of the best eating fish in the ocean and I have never thrown one back even half that size. I am still hurting inside slightly however we had no cold storage for the fillets and no way to cook it fresh at the motel we were staying at. So she went back (yes, it is a female).

I should have worn a black t shirt to balance out the brightness in the pic

Gorgeous fish Jordy!

I was staying a week with my wife in one of those all inclusive package resorts down in Mexico many years ago. It was a delightful place and towards the beginning of my stay I refereed a soccer game that was one of the featured activities that day. Seems I was the only guest who ever came to referee and one of the few that even came to play. It was offered, but normally only the of duty workers showed up. Several of them were bartenders, so I got a lot of free drinks the rest of the week. (Oops, that is not the story I came to tell...)

The next day I went fishing on one of the available excursion boats, and caught a nice big dorado. Beautiful fish, but not as bright and stunning as yours. It was head to tail, almost up to my shoulders.

I took it back to the resort and arranged to have it cut into steaks and cooked in Garlic butter. OMG good! They cooked up a huge platter of steaks as it was one of those walk in and up to eight people will eventually be at your table places. I took the platter around and offered it to many tables. Some looked at me like I had holes in my head, and others accepted and ate with gusto.

Turns out, one interesting couple at our table were judges. The husband was a NY supreme court justice and the wife was a family court judge who told stories of juveniles who would come in and try to snow her. She likened it to someone "P*ssing on her leg and telling her it was raining." We started telling stories back and forth and at around 11 the staff came and asked if we could move it to one of the bars as they wanted to close up and go home. They went to their cabin and we went to ours, we were tired too.

A couple of years later, I saw her again, on the TV. She ended up being Judge Judy and eventually published a book with the famous title, "Don't p*ss on my leg and tell me it is raining."

That's my true fishing in Mexico story...

Wink

 

[jordyonbass]

@Wink that is brilliant, and how good are Mahi to eat!?!?! It hurt me so bad to throw the one in the pic back

I got to know a former Olympic gold medallist through the Marlin fishing but he's become rather - well, let's just say he's had some issues lately and is not held in the highest esteem among the Aussie population. My only other cool fishing story like yours was hand-feeding some Yellowfin Tuna I had caught early that day to the Aussie girl who won the Miss Universe pageant over 10 years ago

 

[WinkHPD]

Issues? A rather polite way of putting it.

I did meet a stunning lady from Brasil one evening while eating at a Brasilian restaurant one evening back in 1979 when getting ready to open my store. I was on a buying trip in New York. I was told she was the reigning Miss World or something like that.

As a happily married man, there was no hand feeding involved and I never was sure why the restaurant owner thought the Americano who spoke Portuguese should be introduced, but it was a delightful dinner and a welcome opportunity to keep speaking Portuguese.

Wink

 

[december-fire]

@Wink and @jordyonbass ,

Love the photos and stories you gentlemen share!

 

[december-fire]

A rare yellow Cardinal is hanging out in Alabama!

This is so amazing to me, the yellow part - not the Alabama part, that I had to share!
So, not my photo, but thought I'd post it here for you fellow wildlife lovers.

Not sure if this link will work or not.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens...-rare-and-beautiful-yellow-cardinal-1.4553951

 

[december-fire]

A couple of my photos - first up, a female Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead out in the woods.
I was in the process of trying to get to a better location for a photo when she took off from the tree she'd been at.

Not the shot I was going for, but it shows the white on the underside of this large bird's wings.
Some birds have lovely colours/patterning that is concealed if their wings aren't spread.

 

[december-fire]

A cute squirrel ... is there any other kind?

 

[Karl_K]

A cute squirrel ... is there any other kind?

Its thinking.....
Be still my heart that 2 legged thing has a long nose! (camera lens)

 

[WinkHPD]

A couple of my photos - first up, a female Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead out in the woods.
I was in the process of trying to get to a better location for a photo when she took off from the tree she'd been at.

Not the shot I was going for, but it shows the white on the underside of this large bird's wings.
Some birds have lovely colours/patterning that is concealed if their wings aren't spread.

Just curious. What focus mode are you using on your camera? Are you using back button focus or shutter button focus? Are you using auto focus or ???

Wink

 

[december-fire]

Just curious. What focus mode are you using on your camera? Are you using back button focus or shutter button focus? Are you using auto focus or ???

Wink

I always use auto focus (AF), never manual.

The type of AF offered is as follows:
1. ONE SHOT; for still subjects.
2. AI SERVO; for moving subjects.
3. AI FOCUS; for subjects that are still but might start moving. So the camera switches automatically from ONE SHOT (setting focus on the still subject) to AI SERVO if the subject starts to move.

The camera has 65 AF points, so I can choose the points or area within which I want the camera to get focus.

With birds in flight, I'm always using AI SERVO.
I have one focus point with four points around it as the 'area' within which to look for the subject, although I tried 8 points as well, I think.
I think minimizing the 'area' reduces the time required to find the subject and get focus, but I could be wrong. Just something I think I read some time ago.

With still subjects, such as the squirrel above, I use ONE SHOT and select a single point as my 'area' so that I can get a specific desired point in focus; normally/always the subject's eye.

I have the option of placing equal priority on focusing and shutter, or changing the priority to ensure focus is achieved before the shutter opens, or vice versa. I haven't played with this yet, but thinking I'll try with placing the top priority on achieving focus before the first photo. The difference might be insignificant, but something to try.

There are also AI SERVO Characteristics, with six pre-set cases, and I believe the option to set others. For example, Case 2 continues to track the subject and ignores possible obstacles; such as a bird I'm tracking flies behind a tree between me and him, reappearing on the other side. Case 3 will switch the focus off the subject if a new subject suddenly enters the selected AF area. Case 4 is for subjects that accelerate or decelerate quickly. Case 6 is for subjects that change speed and move erratically. I haven't played with this (yet) and so its just set at Case 1 which is a versatile multipe-purpose setting for any moving subject.

I don"t use back button focusing, but have recently been watching videos on it that seem to strongly suggest its use. When I tried pressing the back button, without setting it, it seemed awkward to me, as though my hand was a bit too small to comfortably reach the button with holding the camera steady and securely. I'll try again (after I'm freed of the cast) because it seems as though it would be beneficial.

All that rambling to say that I usually have my camera on AI SERVO with a small focus area, switching to ONE SHOT if I'm in a wooded area shooting still subjects. In the woods, there are so many branches that a clear shot of a bird in flight is unlikely.

Of course, the photo of the pileated woodpecker above shows why we never say never. Nothing seems in focus in that shot! Walking off the path in deep snow and suddenly seeing her overhead was not according to plan.

Any and all photography comments/suggestions/etc. are appreciated, Wink. I try to continually learn about my camera, photography and improve upon the results.

 

[WinkHPD]

I always use auto focus (AF), never manual.

The type of AF offered is as follows:
1. ONE SHOT; for still subjects.
2. AI SERVO; for moving subjects.
3. AI FOCUS; for subjects that are still but might start moving. So the camera switches automatically from ONE SHOT (setting focus on the still subject) to AI SERVO if the subject starts to move.

The camera has a 65 AF points, so I can choose the points or area within which I want the camera to get focus.

With birds in flight, I'm always using AI SERVO.
I have one focus point with four points around it as the 'area' within which to look for the subject, although I tried 8 points as well, I think.
I think minimizing the 'area' reduces the time required to find the subject and get focus, but I could be wrong. Just something I think I read some time ago.

With still subjects, such as the squirrel above, I use ONE SHOT and select a single point as my 'area' so that I can get a specific desired point in focus; normally/always the subject's eye.

I have the option of placing equal priority on focusing and shutter, or changing the priority to ensure focus is achieved before the shutter opens, or vice versa. I haven't played with this yet, but thinking I'll try with placing the top priority on achieving focus before the first photo. The difference might be insignificant, but something to try.

There are also AI SERVO Characteristics, with six pre-set cases, and I believe the option to set others. For example, Case 2 continues to track the subject and ignores possible obstacles; such as a bird I'm tracking flies behind a tree between me and him, reappearing on the other side. Case 3 will switch the focus off the subject if a new subject suddenly enters the selected AF area. Case 4 is for subjects that accelerate or decelerate quickly. Case 6 is for subjects that change speed and move erratically. I haven't played with this (yet) and so its just set at Case 1 which is a versatile multipe-purpose setting for any moving subject.

I don"t use back button focusing, but have recently been watching videos on it that seem to strongly suggest its use. When I tried pressing the back button, without setting it, it seemed awkward to me, as though y hand was a bit too small to comfortably reach the button with holding the camera steady and securely. I'll try again (after I'm freed of the cast) because it seems as though it would be beneficial.

All that rambling to say that I usually have my camera on AI SERVO with a small focus area, switching to ONE SHOT if I'm in a wooded area shooting still subjects. In the woods, there are so many branches that a clear shot of a bird in flight is unlikely.

Of course, the photo of the pileated woodpecker above shows why we never say never. Nothing seems in focus in that shot! Walking off the path in deep snow and suddenly seeing her overhead was not according to plan.

Any and all photography comments/suggestions/etc. are appreciated, Wink. I try to continually learn about my camera, photography and improve upon the results.

I asked only because it is so unusual to see an out of focus shot from you.

I think, if you try and then get used to it, that you will become a slave to back button focusing, as it allows you to shoot from the shutter button no matter what is in or out of focus, and with action shots, better to get ten shots with one in focus than no in focus shot at all.

I get ten shots per second, and with the back focus button changing the focus as the subject moves, I normally have the majority of my shots in good focus. Storage is cheap, so I leave the multi shot on almost always. I can delete anything I do not like in a hurry. I am reminded why when I look at one of the best photos I ever took of a duck on the ice, surrounded by a bunch of ducks, and I perfectly timed the shot to the white eyelid rather than the dark eye that would have made this a wall hanger shot. A short burst of even three shots would have given me an incredible shot rather than just a really good shot that still needs me to photoshop in a nice black eyeball...

If my subject(s) are coming in steadily, I will use a single focus point and always try for the eye. I am not nearly as good at this as I would like. I clearly need more practice. If they are twisting and dodging, I will use a small group focus point, but the number of shots with the eye in sharp focus is far less than I would like it to be.

I have been reading a lot from Steve Perry who also has a nice YouTube channel. He is the one I learned about back button focusing from. He sells a great book on Wildlife photography and has some rocking cool pics on his blog. If I recall correctly, the book is about $15.

I use the back button focus always now, even on the shot of the interesting rock that I posted the other day. I did have to go to manual focus on the Milky Way shots, as you my friend who was teaching me how to do it had me focus to infinity and then bring it back manually just a hair until the farthest away ridge line was in sharpest focus. Then I never touched the focus again for several hours from dusk to full dark and boat loads of thirty second exposures. My friend shoots over 40,000 pictures a year and is really fun to hang around with.

He and I went on a shoot at my duck club two years ago. Cameras only, no guns that day. I have a 300mm lens that I got with my camera. He has one that is huge and long and costs several of my house payments. We shot the same bird sitting on the same branch. I thought my picture was great. He showed me his. Oh my, what an incredible difference.

Wink

 

[december-fire]

I asked only because it is so unusual to see an out of focus shot from you.

Thank you, Wink! I've been trying to continually improve on getting sharper focus on moving subjects. So many factors can come into play - the main one being the object a few inches behind the viewfinder ... me!

I will definitely have to try and get used to using the back button.

Interesting that you mention Steve Perry. I recently attended some free talks at a local camera store; during the one on Wildlife Photography, the presenter mentioned Steve Perry and his book.

I've watched a number of videos by Tony Northrup. I got his book "Stunning Digital Photography" out of the Library but returned it unread due to too much going on at the time. I'll be getting it again and will read it! You might find some of his videos of interest: he's a good presenter and knows the technical stuff.

I also find these worth watching - from Canon on my specific camera. This is the one on AI SERVO.

I suspect all the manufacturers produce similar videos for the camera line.

I also get 10 shots per second and love it! I always have the camera set on continuous shooting. With fast moving subjects, more frames per second really makes a different.

I'm anxious to try night shots and know it will be a completely different environment requiring different settings.

Edited to add that, yes, there are some appealing lens out there, but they can be rather pricey.

 

[WinkHPD]

So, here is a duck I shot with my camera last summer, early in the morning. Lot of moss in the water so it actually was a yellowish green in the early light.



Wink