Cooper's Hawk - Get Out Of My Way
This juvenile Cooper's Hawk leaves its perch to try his luck with a nearby squirrel.
Canon 5D Mark III with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/640, f/4, ISO 400, +2 exposure compensation.
The overall lighting was terrible because of the high trees blocking the light.
Cropped to fit an 8 x 16 format. Some blurring of the background to soften the edges of the bright circles.
Cheers,
Mike
Lights, Action, Camera!
It's all about the light with this flying duck shot, taken with the evening sun to its back and to the left - that's why the water isn't blue!
Canon 5D Mark III with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, +1 exposure compensation. Cropped for composition purposes.
Cheers,
Mike
Osprey Dive Bomber
Earlier this spring, this Osprey went into a classic steep dive before hitting the water to capture its fish prey.
Canon 7D with the 500L f/4 lens with 1.4 Extender II handheld @ 1/1000, f/8, ISO 400, +1 exposure compensation.
Cropped vertically.
Cheers,
Mike
Cooper's Hawk On The Move
And now for something a little bit more serious than my previous offering.
This juvenile Cooper's Hawk gives me the high five as it takes off after a parent who delivered a freshly-captured meal.
Canon 5D III with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/500, f4, ISO 1600, +3 1/3 exposure compensation. I don't do this often, but I threw in a bit of Gaussian blur for the background.
The low-light capabilities of the 5D III is superb as compared to my 7D.
Cheers,
Mike
The Exorcist Linda Blair Head Spin - Cooper's Hawk Version
It's summetime, so it's time for some foolishness!
This Cooper's Hawk seems to be giving us the old Linda Blair head spin from the movie The Exorcist.
The bird was feeding on a dead bird and suddenly began vomiting. While vomiting, the bird shook its head violently. With a very slow shutter speed due to a very low light situation, the body stayed in focus while the head gave us this effect.
Certainly not one for exposition purposes, but funny nonetheless!
Canon 5D Mark III with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/160, f4, ISO 800, +2 2/3 exposure compensation. Very slight crop.
Cheers,
Mike
It's All Mine! Juvenile Cooper's Hawk With Breakfast
There's not much light early morninbg in a tall stand of trees with branches.
This young Cooper's Hawk just received breakfast delivered by a parent, and he is in no mood to share it with a sibling.
Canon 5D Mark lll with the 500L f4 lens handheld at 1/200, f/4, ISO 2000, +3 exposure compensation.
Slight crop for composition purposes. A small branch on the left clonned away. Saturation reduced a dull the green/yellow dominance.
This was my first day with my new 5D Mark lll, and the low-light handling is great.
Cheers,
Mike
Snack On The Run - Female American Kestrel
This female American Kestrel whizes by with a yummy snack in her beak.
A hello to good friends who were present!
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 400, +1 1/3 exposure compensation due to the light sky.
Small crop for composition purposes to frame at 12 x 16.
A bit of fill-in in post-processing to lighten up the bird.
Cheers,
Mike
Exposition tableaux et photos
Snowy Owl With Dancing Billowing Snow - Danse De Rafale De Neige
This Snowy Owl at dusk stands on guard in a wind-swept field with dancing billowing snow at its feet and a background formed by a far-off forest.
As you can tell by looking at my photos, I enjoy birds in dynamic poses. But once in a while, I break with my preferences to present a posed bird as a portrait.
This, and many more of my photos will be on exhibit, printed on canvas and framed in wooden frames next weekend the 6, 7 and 8th of July at the outdoor
"Village en arts" art symposium at St-Nicolas on the south shore near Quebec City. My wife, Louise Labbé will also exhibit her nature oil paitings.
Canon 7D with the 500L f/4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f/8, ISO 400, -2/3 exposure compensation. Very slight crop to format to a 12 x 16 frame.
EXPOSITION d'art champêtre: Village en arts, le 6, 7 et 8 juillet, 2012 sous les chapiteaux dans le parc Le Picart et rue De l'Entente du quartier Saint-Nicolas à Lévis.
Mon épouse Louise Labbé exposera aussi ses tableaux d'oiseaux.
Cheers,
Mike
Snowy Owl - A Backlit Male On The Go
This older male Snowy Owl leaves his perch with an early morning 9 o'clock sun behind him. This gives a minimalist colour shot with shadows and light the opposite of what is normally seen.
However, this type of lighting accents the transparency of the wings and legs of the bird. The backlight also gives a beautiful highlighted outline of the rest of the bird and specks of snow lifted off the perch. It also gives the image a nice soft pastel look.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1250, f8, ISO 400, no exposure compensation.
Slightly cropped to off-centre the Snowy.
This photo will be available printed on canvas as a 12 x 16 for my next exhibit the weekend of 6-7-8 July at St-Nicolas. When printing on paper or canvas, I don't leave any 255 pure white in the image, but reduce it from about 248 to 250 so as not to leave noticable white patches.
EXPOSITION d'art champêtre: Village en arts, le 6, 7 et 8 juillet, 2012 sous les chapiteaux dans le parc Le Picart et rue De l'Entente du quartier Saint-Nicolas à Lévis.
Cheers,
Mike
Visitor At The Crack Of Dawn
This Great Blue Heron was caught in the light at the crack of dawn. This kind of light provides a high-contrast image with perhaps, as a downside, more noise in the dark background as a trade-off.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens with 1.4II Extender on a monopod @ 1/1000, f5.6, ISO 400, +2 1/3 exposure compensation.
Cropped to decenter for composition purposes. The usual digital treatment of contrast, colour, sharpening, a bit of noise reduction for the background, etc.
Cheers,
Mike
Postscript
A congratulatory greeting is hereby sent to a friend and world-renowned nature photographer from across the Atlantic for his recent wedding. The old fart knows who he is! ;-)
EXPOSITION d'art champêtre: Village en arts, le 6, 7 et 8 juillet, 2012 sous les chapiteaux dans le parc Le Picart et rue De l'Entente du quartier Saint-Nicolas à Lévis.
This Is My Branch!
An osprey and a crow have a little dispute for the possession of the tree.
In this case, the crow eventually won.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens with the 1.4II Extender on a monopod @ 1/1250, f6.3, ISO 400, +1 1/3 exposure compensation.
Slight crop for composition purposes. Two branches behind the crow's beak and wing clonned away. Background despeckled after sharpening to reduce noise.
Cheers,
Mike
EXPOSITION d'art champêtre: Village en arts, le 6, 7 et 8 juillet, 2012 sous les chapiteaux dans le parc Le Picart et rue De l'Entente du quartier Saint-Nicolas à Lévis.
Spring Delight - Ring-Necked Ducks At Dawn
This flight of Ring-necked ducks was caught in an early morning spring light againts a complimentary background. They are not all that common in our area and are probably just briefly here on their migration run.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens with the 1.4 Extender II on a monopod @ 1/1000, f5.6, ISO 400, +2 2/3 exposure compensation.
Slight crop to de-centre the birds for composition purposes. Background despeckled following sharpeninng.
EXPOSITION d'art champêtre: Village en arts, le 6, 7 et 8 juillet, 2012 sous les chapiteaux dans le parc Le Picart et rue De l'Entente du quartier Saint-Nicolas à Lévis.
Cheers,
Mike
Reach For The Top - Osprey
This Osprey wants to make sure that the target is reached with this one-time effort.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens with 1.4II Extender on a monopod @ 1/1000, f5.6, ISO 400, + 3 exposure compensation. Taken eary in the morning. Cropped for composition purposes. Some halo caused by sharpening on the wings reduced by blurring.
Cheers,
Mike
CF-18 Fighter Replacement, and No, It's Not the F-35!
Look out below! What a blast!
This is my proposed replacement for the aging CF-18 fighter for the Canadian Armed Forces. I think you'll agree it's a lot cheaper than the proposed F-35 currently under consideration and is suitable for close air-to-ground support :-)
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens with the 1.4 II Extender on a monopod @ 1/1000, f5.6, ISO 400, +2 exposure compensation.
Slight crop for composition purposes. I had to up the contrast on the heron quite a bit and do some extra selective sharpening because the focus on the bird was not the best. The image was originally darker because of lack of light due to a late sunset. I figured the story told by this image was worth posting despite the lack of total sharpness of the heron.
This one will definitely not be printed for exhibit purposes :-)
Cheers,
Mike
A Parting Gift - Snowy Owl
This Snowy Owl gives me a parting gift just before takeoff.
Well, a little humour never hurts :-)
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens @ 1/1250, f10, ISO 400.
Cropped for composition purposes with about 25% of the image cropped away.
Cheers,
Mike
How Low Can You Go? Springboard Snowy Owl
I just love these unusual poses.
This Snowy Owl adopts a springboard position before takeoff.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1250, f10, ISO 400, no exposure compensation.
Slight crop to remove excess space above the bird.
Cheers,
Mike
Macho Male - Snowy Owl
This male Snowy Owl should be facing a setting sun when this photo was taken, but unfortunately the sky was overcast with clouds. One advantage in this situation is that we can see a little more detail in the feathers of the bird, details which may have been lost in a harsher light.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, + 2 2/3 exposure compensation.
Slight crop to de-centre the bird for composition purposes.
Cheers,
Mike
In Your Face - Juvenile Snowy Owl
Although I've been on an extreme-light kick lately for my Snowy Owls, there is nothing wrong with images taken in normal daylight, and I do have many on file.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld at 1/1250, f13, ISO 400, -2/3 exposure compensation.
Slight crop for composition purposes, one dust bunny clonned away, shadow from right eye removed/reduced, background despeckled to reduce noise.
The crop may be a little tight for some, but here, due to the uniform colour of the pale blue sky I wanted to present more of a portrait view of this great pose. I probably would have opened up the image if the background presented with a more diverse scenery and more colour.
Cheers,
Mike
A Saintly Snowy Owl - Eve Of Full Moon
With a full moon tonight, I figured I'd post this one of a Snowy Owl perched on a pole with the rising moon passing behind him. It sort of gives him a saintly angelic look.
Taken on the eve of a full moon with frontal lighting from a setting sun almost on the horizon, these types of shots present many challenges. Of course, the bird and the moon have to be in the right spot, the moon has to be visible in the sky and you only have a few minutes to act.
Another big problem is depth-of-field in trying to get both the owl and moon in focus. Because I was using my 500mm lens with the bird close and almost full-framed, there was not enough depth-of-field to capture the moon in focus.
One way around this is to create a montage by taking a second shot of the moon in focus and combining the two images together.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/400, f4, ISO 400, +2 1/3 exposure compensation.
Very slight crop to reduce the height of the sky above the owl and moon. This was not taken at noon, so I left the cool blue hue on the owl to reflect the time of day the image was taken.
The Snowy Owls will return to their homes in the arctic to mate towards the end of April.
Cheers,
Mike
31 March 2012
Last Quick Look - Snowy Owl
It was a great day with two good friends when this Snowy Owl gave us a quick look.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld at 1/1000, f11, ISO 400, no exposure compensation.
Very slight crop for composition purposes. I left the small dominance of magenta in the image to reflect the reality of the time of day. One dust bunny clonned away.
Cheers,
Mike
Nape-of-The-Earth Phantom Fighter - Snowy Owl
This male Snowy Owl hugs the earth during a swift early morning glide.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, + 2 1/3 exposure compensation.
Slight crop for composition purposes.
Cheers,
Mike
Watcha Looking At Buddy? Male Snowy Owl
With a setting sun, this male Snowy Owl takes a quick glance to make sure he's not being pursued.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1600, f4, ISO 400, -1/3 exposure compensation.
Cropped slightly for composition purposes.
Cheers,
Mike
Farewell For This Season - Snowy Owl
This Snowy Owl faces a setting sun on the horizon as it takes off.
This brings to an end my Snowy Owl season for 2011-12, and what a fantastic season it was, probably my best ever.
This doesn't mean I won't be posting more photos of my favourite bird - it's just that my photographic attention will be elsewhere in the coming weeks. The ground conditions are getting too difficult for my poor knees and the Snowys will soon be departing for their homes in the arctic.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, +2/3 exposure compensation.
Very slight crop to straighten image. A tiny spec of branch clonned away at the bottom centre of the image.
Cheers,
Mike
My Cold Domaine - Snowy Owl
This Snowy Owl shows off his frigid domaine at dusk with the setting sun long lost behind thick clouds.
The hint of light in the sky gives this otherwise cold image a touch of contrasting warmth.
The ice-covered fence and wire adds to the feeling of winter's harshness. And yet, the Snowy Owl is at home under such conditions.
Again, this type of shot is not for everyone in Quebec's bird photography circles, but it will be framwed and hanging during my next art exhibit in August.
Canon 7D with the 500L lens handheld at 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, +2 exposure conpensation. No crop and no unusual post-processing.
Thanks to Eric Martin who stuck it out with me to the bitter end of the day.
Cheers,
Mike
On Target At Dusk - Snowy Owl
Here we have en extreme light situation with this dramatic image of a Snowy Owl hitting the mark. This simply shows that an otherwise bad light situation can be saved with post-processing instead of finding its way to the trash bin.
The sun was practically below the horizon which created a poor light situation.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f4, ISO 640, +2 2/3 exposure compensation.
Very slight crop to level the horizon straight. I was lucky that the bird was white against a darker background. This permitted the sensor to squeeze a lot more image info on the white bird due to the extra over-exposture caused by the darker background - in normal daytime light, the white of the bird would have been blown out.
After sharpening, I used the despeckling filter to reduce noise, but it wasn't enough. I had trouble with a noticable halo effect around the fence post. My good friend Dom Cantin re-worked my sharpening technique with a much better result.
Cheers,
Mike
Snowy Owl - Extreme Sunset
This was taken a few weeks ago.
You just had to be there, I suppose!
The combination of cloud placement over a setting sun litterally on the horizon plus reflected light on other clouds above the Snowy gave us this unusual colour palette. It's a good thing for me that I had witnesses to the event. The patch of sky behind the Snowy was cloudless.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, +2 exposure compensation.
Because of the wingspan, I frammed to my preferred 8 x 16 for this kind of shot. The width is the same as the original image, it's just the excess top and/or bottom that was cropped away.
Although I don't mention it in my photo explanations, I take for granted that viewers understand that the usual standard digital formatting steps such as contrast, colour correction, sharpening etc. are applied.
Cheers,
Mike
Sunset Surprise - Backlit Snowy Owl
The gods have to be on our side to align bird, pose, sun and light for a shot like this.
I understand that not everone in Quebec's bird photography world enjoys this type of lighting, but after thousands of shots in standard light, it's fun to try something different and deviate from the norm. This kind of shot will probably be more appreciated by people in the arts community. I don't know how much longer my mangled knees will permit me to chase after these magic moments :-)
Also, I've been influenced by my painter wife and good friend and world-class wildlife photographer Andy Rouse the last couple of years.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld at 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, +1 1/3 exposure compensation. No crop.
I selectively enhanced the orangy colour from the sun (in the upper left of the image) in the sky that was slightly blown out by the sensor. Two small branches clonned away at the bottom centre of the image, but for the purist, they could have probably stayed without much distraction.
Cheers,
Mike
What's All This White Stuff? Young Snowy Owl
This young Snowy Owl seems to be at home perched during a snow fall.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f10, ISO 400, +1/3 exposure compensation.
Very slight crop for composition purposes.
I was lucky that the clouds with the snow fall were not the typically dark grey, so there was a tiny minimum of filtered diffused light.
Because the image out of the camera looks almost black and white, I simply upped the vibracy or saturation of the image to a point that my subjective brain remembered seeing in real life - it's surprising how much colour information your sensor captures.
What is important here to catch the snowflakes is to have a dark background, in this case, a very far-off tree line. This way, the snowflakes stand out. You can also play with the shutter speed faster or slower to change the effect of the snowflakes.
Then, of course, you have to have an immobile perched snowy owl that doesn't have a snowflake in front of his eyes!
Cheers,
Mike
Air Assault At Crack Of Dawn - Snowy Owl
With Snowy Owl photos,the colours at dawn or dusk may not be for everyone, but you've got to admit, they sure are unusual.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f4, ISO 400, +2 exposure compensation.
Slight crop for composition purposes. The horizon where snow and background meet could have been tilted a bit for leveling.
Cheers,
Mike
Pumped Up With Pride - Juvenile Snowy Owl
What a difference cloud cover can make on a scene!
Following my last end-of-day shot with high contrasty light, here is the same bird on a different day taken about the same time, but with cloud cover.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f5, ISO 400, +1 exposure compensation.
Slight crop for composition purposes - to decentre the bird. The blue of the background toned down to a more pastel colour - as was present when the pic was taken.
Cheers,
Mike
Oh, To Be Young Again! - Juvenile Snowy Owl
I'm back with another late afternoon shot, about 20-25 minutes before the sun touched the horizon.
My wife will probably use this one for a painting :-)
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens with the 1.4 II extender, handheld @ 1/1600, f7.1, ISO 400, - 1/3 exposure compensation.
I gave it the -1/3 exposure compensation due to the dark background so as not to blow out the whites of the owl. It wasn't enough, but by using the RAW format, I was able to adjust for a bit less exposure.
No crop.
Cheers,
Mike
Olympic Avian Pole Vaulter - Snowy Owl
This young Snowy Owl shows off a dynamic form at the pole vault event.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1250, f10, ISO 400, no exposure compensation.
Minimal crop to format to my usual 12 x 16 frame.
Cheers,
Mike
A Snowy Owl's Domain
With this late afternoon minimalist shot, I'm returning to a more scenic view where the bird compliments the environment instead of vise versa. The clouds add more depth than if there was a clear sky.
Canon 7D with 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1600, f8, ISO 400, no exposure compensation. About a 50% crop with no other special treatment.
Cheers,
Mike
We've Got Lift - Snowy Owl
Last time, I said that I would return to post a closeup. Here we go.
This Snowy Owl looks suspended in air as it takes off.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/4000, f8, ISO 400.
No crop, a small amount of far-off ochre bulrush clonned out fron the upper right corner.
Cheers,
Mike
Windy Sunset - Snowy Owl
I usual post closeup shots with dynamic movements. Here is a shot influenced by by wildlife painter wife, Louise. I'll return to my closeups next time.
The sun was setting and sidelit the young Snowy Owl as a swirling wind blew up a veil of dancing snow low to the ground. The luminous vegetation adds a certain depht to enhance the stalwart Snowy Owl's playground.
Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens handheld @ 1/1000, f6.3, ISO 400, +1/3 exposure compensation.
Cropped for proper composition purposes, and formatted to my usual 12 x 16 frame.
Cheers,
Mike