11-JAN-2009
Cooper's Hawk
I purchased a flash unit for my camera, the Canon Speedlite 430EX and the Better Beamer fresnel flash extender.
This hawk let me drive right up to it while taking photos. The day was quite overcast and dreary (pretty typical in Oregon from November through March).
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Most of the flash photos I took seemed a bit over-flashed, so I think I need to turn down the flash 1/3 stop. However, I have now discovered the dreaded "white eye" (red eye for birds).
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Here's an example of white eye on a hummingbird:
http://www.pbase.com/gregbirder/image/98266213
06-SEP-2008
Dip Out
Birder's Jargon:
To dip out (or dip): To miss seeing a bird for which you were looking.
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Here birders in Portland, Oregon, scan way across the lake for a rare Little Blue Heron (in the white, immature plumage) that is hiding nearby behind a pile of logs.
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(Later the bird moved and they got good looks...)
09-AUG-2008
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel
One of my main topics for photos is seabirds. This tiny 8 inch long bird zig-zagging among the waves at 40-60 feet away would be difficult on its own. However, I am hand-holding from the unstable platform of a small boat bobbing on wild seas.
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My Canon XTi doesn't focus well on such a small image. Even if I can manage to hit the target with center focus, the camera often chooses to focus instead on the waves behind the bird. Using the 6 meter to infinity setting on my 400mm lens helps me not to "fall off" the bird as easily as the 1.5 meter to infinity setting, but still doesn't hit the focus as well as I would like.
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Then panning (setting 2) or regular (setting 1) on the Image Stabilization? Because lens settings are not transferred to the EXIF, I have trouble keeping track when I'm shooting off hundreds of shots.
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Finally, Partial or Matrix for the metering? Difficult shooting conditions when lighting is constantly changing and everything is in motion--subject, background, and camera!
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1/640s f/11.0 at 400.0mm iso400
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Any suggestions?
28-JUN-2008
7 of 7: Hermit Warbler
Fortunately, not all of my photos were duds this day. This was shot in RAW, exposure bumped up +0.50 stops, clarity 40, and luminance 100% for noise reduction in the background. I then used Elements to cut out the warbler on a new layer and used curves to brighten the shadows of just the bird, then sharpened, and made 90% opaque.
28-JUN-2008
6 of 7: Northern Pygmy-Owl
Of course, whistling my imitation of a pygmy owl call often brings in a real pygmy owl! It stayed in the tree tops, however, and didn't come down for a good photo. I'm guessing this photo was from about 60 feet shooting up against the sky--in fact, nearly into the sun. While I want the birds to be in the sun and me in the shade, it seems they know the same trick and won't cooperate! ISO 1600, 1/400s, +1-1/3 exposure compensation.
28-JUN-2008
5 of 7: Swainson's Thrush in the shade
I was able to nestle down into some ferns in the shade of a 12 foot tall fir and get this photo of this bird only about 10 feet away. Very secretive in behavior, they respond readily to an imitation of the whistled notes of pygmy owl, as do many other song birds, coming very close to investigate the "owl." ISO 1600, 1/500s, +1 exposure compensation against fairly strong backlight.
28-JUN-2008
4 of 7: Nothing to be done...
Under the forest canopy there is no hope without flash. Here, an American Robin was a nice easy target at 25 feet--a bit far for flash. ISO 1600, wide open at f/5.6, 400mm, 1/320s, and exposure compensation pushed +2. Nothing more I can do with natural light to get this shot.
28-JUN-2008
3 of 7: Forest... bright sun, deep shadow
The strong summer sun and harsh shadows play havoc on bird photography. As a bird moves from sun to shade, I'm switching from ISO 400 to ISO 1600, 1/1250 of a second to 1/320, negative exposure compensation to positive... bird (long) gone. And if part of the bird is in sun and part in shade... forget it.
28-JUN-2008
2 of 7: Dipper nest
Here's the basketball-sized mud and moss nest up under the bridge. I have Geo-tagged this... in case you want to know where to find a dipper in NW Oregon.
28-JUN-2008
1 of 7: American Dipper
Yesterday I went out with the goal of photographing the dipper, an unusual aquatic songbird. So I went up to the tiny hamlet of Timber about 30 miles west of Portland, Oregon. This bird's habitat of deeply-shaded canyons with rushing streams proved to make the photos disappointing. I did find a nest under a bridge where I used flash to get the photo presented here. Of course, with the built-in flash the shutter speed is automatically 1/200 seconds. At ISO 1600 it is quite grainy.
