Redneck Grebe with meal

Dennis Kaczor

Here is a Redneck Grebe with a meal this was taken back in early April. This bird was so close that I could only capture a head shot of it...

ScottW

Great shot and nice lighting.

Netgarden

Great get, ohh how wonderful to be close! Looks a little too bright [oversaturated] on my screen .

dlplumer

Superb, Dennis. clap

peargrin

Gorgeous capture! Must have been great to be so close to this cool bird! Cheers, pear

Ric Grupe

Did you have your SCUBA gear on for this one, Dennis?

Nice.

Dennis Kaczor

ScottW wrote: »

Great shot and nice lighting.

Thanks Scott for your comments.

Dennis Kaczor

Netgarden wrote: »

Great get, ohh how wonderful to be close! Looks a little too bright [oversaturated] on my screen .

Thanks for the comments. Looks OK from this end.

Dennis Kaczor

dlplumer wrote: »

Superb, Dennis. clap

Thanks very much Dan for the comments.

Dennis Kaczor

peargrin wrote: »

Gorgeous capture! Must have been great to be so close to this cool bird! Cheers, pear

Thanks very much, and I just sat there and up the bird popped right in front of me. These birds are sure neat, and love when they dance with each other.

Dennis Kaczor

Ric Grupe wrote: »

Did you have your SCUBA gear on for this one, Dennis?

Nice.

No, but was pretty close to the water on the boat ramp and was thinking getting into the shallow part but the water was darn cold at the time this was taken. A good reason to buy Hip waders OK make that chest waders.

PeterBird

Excellent portrait of this beautiful Grebe, Dennis. Beautiful light, too. Was that late afternoon?
Peter

jwear

very nice color and focus

puzzledpaul

'Tis always a bonus when such as these 'pop up' so close - and one's quick enough to take advantage - as you did

Dennis Kaczor wrote: »

A good reason to buy Hip waders OK make that chest waders.

Curious as to how you'd actually employ either of these to get lower / as low as possible to the water surface - and what other kit (if any) you'd use?

pp

Dennis Kaczor

PeterBird wrote: »

Excellent portrait of this beautiful Grebe, Dennis. Beautiful light, too. Was that late afternoon?
Peter

Thanks Peter. This was taken in the early morning and again this bird ID was wrong and this is really a Horned Grebe.

Dennis Kaczor

jwear wrote: »

very nice color and focus

Thanks very much Jeff for the comments.

Dennis Kaczor

puzzledpaul wrote: »

'Tis always a bonus when such as these 'pop up' so close - and one's quick enough to take advantage - as you did



Curious as to how you'd actually employ either of these to get lower / as low as possible to the water surface - and what other kit (if any) you'd use?

pp

I agree that it was a bonus with this Grebe when it popped up close, got lucky that it was just in min range of the 500mm lens.

The boat ramp angles towards the water and I went as low as I can get without getting my feet wet. Next sat down, and opened the tripod and extended the legs so as to get the camera to my eye level. The tripod head is a Wimberly head and allows me movement of the lens and camera.

The other used is a bean bag taht I carry in the car and bring and use that as well to get nice and low. Hope this is what you are looking for.

Harryb

Beautiful capture Dennis.

puzzledpaul

Dennis - Thanks for the info, but in my #14 (2nd bit) I was mainly interested in how you'd go about getting (low level) pics using either of the 2 types of waders you mentioned.

I have both types, but only use them when necessary, for various reasons (mainly that I can't get the cam low enough using them with std kit) - so I wondered if you'd worked out / got a better way of using such items than myself ?

pp

Dennis Kaczor

Harryb wrote: »

Beautiful capture Dennis.

Thanks very much Harry.

Dennis Kaczor

puzzledpaul wrote: »

Dennis - Thanks for the info, but in my #14 (2nd bit) I was mainly interested in how you'd go about getting (low level) pics using either of the 2 types of waders you mentioned.

I have both types, but only use them when necessary, for various reasons (mainly that I can't get the cam low enough using them with std kit) - so I wondered if you'd worked out / got a better way of using such items than myself ?

pp

Paul, I thought I was clear on my reply but I guess not.

Lets bypass the waders and see if I can explian this better for you.

With the bean bag method I place the bean bag on a Frisbee to allow me to slide the bag and lens into position well laying down flat on my tummy, this works very well and better when photographing birds on the mud flats and gives those nice low angle shots, and a bit wet on top of that.

The preferred method for me is to extend the legs of the tripod out wide which I can get down to a foot or so off the ground with the Gitzo tripod.

This is how I manage this, but the question to you Paul is you mentioned with a standard Kit, does your tripod allow you to open the legs wide to allow a lower angle? On the Gitzo there are 3 position's for the legs, but not knowing if this is possible with yours. What tripod are you using?

Let me know if you have any questions

puzzledpaul

Dennis - apols for taking your time for probably not putting things over as well as they could've been.

Yes, I have an old 5 series ali Gitzo tripod with relatively short legs ... and often remove all the leg sections, just leaving the largest diameter top ones when it's being used for low down stuff.
This also has 3 leg angles - and is often used with a Libec H50 fluid head + (generally) an angle finder (so I'm kneeling / crouching etc)
However, this combo doesn't go low enough, so I sometimes remove the H50 and place a simple home made turnable (1/4 ply + lazy susan) in the clamp ring + beanbag.

For even lower (on ground or water's edge), I do something similar to your frisbee / beanbag - and just use the turntable (approx 3/4in thick) + beanbag (or just beanbag)

Some of this gear is shown on the linked pics, being used with something else I made that can be 'plugged into' a riverbank - or even placed on a ramp (as it's variable angle) as there are also boating lakes near me too

With this rig, when set up correctly (which it's not in pics), the green perspex plinth is level with the water ... putting between 1 > 2 inch of daylight between the lens hood and water surface(depending on water conditions etc) ...the end of a central ali leg lies on the riverbed, providing the third support point, btw.

However, the reasons I was asking about kit used with waders etc is that - in my limited experience of using same - then there's some additional issues - and I wondered about how someone as experienced as yourself might have dealt with these issues

Again, apols if am being a pita.

pp


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/pppix/bankside.jpg

Dennis Kaczor

puzzledpaul wrote: »

Dennis - apols for taking your time for probably not putting things over as well as they could've been.

Yes, I have an old 5 series ali Gitzo tripod with relatively short legs ... and often remove all the leg sections, just leaving the largest diameter top ones when it's being used for low down stuff.
This also has 3 leg angles - and is often used with a Libec H50 fluid head + (generally) an angle finder (so I'm kneeling / crouching etc)
However, this combo doesn't go low enough, so I sometimes remove the H50 and place a simple home made turnable (1/4 ply + lazy susan) in the clamp ring + beanbag.

For even lower (on ground or water's edge), I do something similar to your frisbee / beanbag - and just use the turntable (approx 3/4in thick) + beanbag (or just beanbag)

Some of this gear is shown on the linked pics, being used with something else I made that can be 'plugged into' a riverbank - or even placed on a ramp (as it's variable angle) as there are also boating lakes near me too

With this rig, when set up correctly (which it's not in pics), the green perspex plinth is level with the water ... putting between 1 > 2 inch of daylight between the lens hood and water surface(depending on water conditions etc) ...the end of a central ali leg lies on the riverbed, providing the third support point, btw.

However, the reasons I was asking about kit used with waders etc is that - in my limited experience of using same - then there's some additional issues - and I wondered about how someone as experienced as yourself might have dealt with these issues

Again, apols if am being a pita.

pp


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/pppix/bankside.jpg

Hi Paul, this is not a problem asking questions, I just need to better understand what you were trying to ask.

First of all, I really like your setup along the bank, that is really nice and low. With wanders and getting into the water is something that I really try to avoid as much as possible. If I need to get into the water I will go in without any gear in hand to make sure that my feet can be planted stable without any slippage from the rocks below.

I have done this a few times and the last time almost got all the gear wet and have decided that as far as I would go is up to my hips and no further anymore, just to much gear to replace. When I did this I just used the gear that I had and got as low as I felt comfortable with.

My prefered way is like your setup on the shoreline and on the waters edge and stay out of the water is less a risk factor of getting anything wet so up to my knees these days.

I have seen guys have an inner tube and wood on top that help make the gear stable another option to think about?

If I need to get close from the shore line I will use a converter for the extra reach these days, not worth loosing an expensive 500mm lens.

In all its about your comfort zone really and how far to push yourself and the risks involved in loosing camera gear...