Walkin the Perc Ponds with Ian408-LARGE pics
Steve Cavigliano
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Hello All,
I got a chance to shoot with fellow Dgriner Ian408, this morning. He wanted to hand off a book on Yosemite and we figured if we're going to meet, why not do it where we can shoot too
: So we got to gether at 8 this morning at the Los Gatos Creek Perculation Ponds. We had seen some dynamite shots of an Osprey with it's catch and a waxwing, taken there last week. Unfortunately, most of the birds must have taken today off :cry We spent a good 2 1/2 hours walkin, talkin and shootin. I sure enjoyed it, but we didn't come home with a "big one".
But we got some poppies a poppin with dew
and a flycaster a castin in the pool
and a duck, duckin outta the way
and shooters with BIG white lenses, looking for something to shoot :cry
So what did we come home with? I hope Ian did better than me on the flying honkers and the Great Egret (for Fish ....lol) :uhoh I got some flyin Goose butts, he might have gotten a frontal shot. The only decent shot I got was of a sitting duck. OK, so it's a Green Heron, not a duck...lol
I was trying to get Ian to scare him into flying towards me, but he took off in the opposite direction (the Heron, not Ian....lol) :rolleyes Too bad I didn't have the Better Beamer attached :-(
Like fishing, sometimes you beat the fish, sometimes he beats you. No great shots today, but I had a real good time anyway. I look forward to shooting with Ian again :thumb
Thanks for looking and I hope this post doesn't take too long to load :dunno
Steve
FWIW, all pics shot with the Bigma and 20D
I got a chance to shoot with fellow Dgriner Ian408, this morning. He wanted to hand off a book on Yosemite and we figured if we're going to meet, why not do it where we can shoot too
: So we got to gether at 8 this morning at the Los Gatos Creek Perculation Ponds. We had seen some dynamite shots of an Osprey with it's catch and a waxwing, taken there last week. Unfortunately, most of the birds must have taken today off :cry We spent a good 2 1/2 hours walkin, talkin and shootin. I sure enjoyed it, but we didn't come home with a "big one".But we got some poppies a poppin with dew
and a flycaster a castin in the pool
and a duck, duckin outta the way
and shooters with BIG white lenses, looking for something to shoot :cry
So what did we come home with? I hope Ian did better than me on the flying honkers and the Great Egret (for Fish ....lol) :uhoh I got some flyin Goose butts, he might have gotten a frontal shot. The only decent shot I got was of a sitting duck. OK, so it's a Green Heron, not a duck...lol
I was trying to get Ian to scare him into flying towards me, but he took off in the opposite direction (the Heron, not Ian....lol) :rolleyes Too bad I didn't have the Better Beamer attached :-(
Like fishing, sometimes you beat the fish, sometimes he beats you. No great shots today, but I had a real good time anyway. I look forward to shooting with Ian again :thumb
Thanks for looking and I hope this post doesn't take too long to load :dunno
Steve
FWIW, all pics shot with the Bigma and 20D
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WOW!!!!.
You got a flight shot of a green heron! That is a very difficult shot to get. I've been trying for 6 months wiith no luck. I'm beginning to dislike you Steve.
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
where's the :eat ????
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that,s some nice shots very good
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Hi Andy,
Steve was headed off for breaky and I, for a ride. I went to Pacifica for
surfers and got fog
Bakery (sorry, little short on short lenses--no pix). More fog.
After all that riding, I was HUNGRY so I stopped at Thai Basil #1 for some
Panang Neua--hot as hades. Again, no food quality lenses. I do recommend
the place.
Steve, it was great to see you again and to shoot at the ponds. My shoes
are still wet
All I have to offer is this egret...
and a poppy...
Ian
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Great shot of a Green Heron in flight - I am envious!!
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Well, I got some dirty ibris es and a pretty little blue heron. Someday I will get a flight photo..............well I did. I have crows and seagulls. My lens was having trouble focusing, and I was having trouble finding the bird, if I found it, the lens was 5 mins behind in focusing.
Sorry you two didn't come up with more, but, as you said, you had fun, talked, etc.
ginger
Fantastic shot Steve.
Moti
Hey, all I got was a wing and a head. I knew I should have hooked up the Better Beamer, but I was afraid I'd nuke any small birds I shot
Don't dislike me Harry. We're on the same side. Us mature folks versus those young whippersnappers :lol
Thanks for the comments,
Steve
Thanks for looking,
Steve
#4 is a candid I took of some Canon shooter
Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve
We had walked around these ponds a couple of times and would have missed this little fella if not for some young lady stopping in front of us to check him out with binoculars
Thanks for looking,
Steve
These came out well
I enjoyed our walk and talk too. We've got to do it again, before Yosemite
Steve
It was one of the last shots we took. So I guess it goes to show that if you haven't gotten a good pic yet, don't give up. That next shot may be a keeper
Thanks for your comments,
Steve
I didn't mean to infer that we were disappointed, just that we had some really high expectations (as I usually do when shooting). We didn't see the waterfowl/raptors we were looking for, so we shot what was there. Not to worry about the troubles you had. I could post quite a few shots I took yesterday that were blown exposures or oof :cry Not to mention bird butt shots.....lol But, we did get some nice ones and as I wrote, the companionship and chat were dynamite
The 2 things I find with flight shots, is 1) you need to be prepared and 2) you need to be lucky. Take this Heron shot. My camera was set up for taking pics of him sitting on the bank (F9 AV mode). That I caught him against the blue water was luck. If he would have taken off higher so that the sky was in the BG, I would have under exposed him badly. For dark birds against a light sky you need to dial in at least +1EV of comp. I wouldn't have had time to do this. The preparation comes in where you are waiting for a bird to take flight. If you think he'll take off against the sky, dial in your EV comp, or manual set your settings. Also, sky flight shots work well with all focus points active.
Because I was using a long focal length I had troubles with AF speed too. If the subject was too close, I'd hunt and maybe lose the shot opportunity. No biggie, stuff happens and you move on to the next oppportunity
Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to comment Ginger and as I said the other day, hang in there and try to have fun, it does get better and easier
Steve
fixed it for ya, steve.
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should collaborate on a book specifically for shooting birds. Harry can plagierize all he has learned in workshops and you can....well, write.
I didn't know that about +EC when shooting a dark bird into the sky.
There are so many photo books about photoshop, at all levels, but so few on how to shoot, specifically on specifics. One I wanted my husband said was too fundamental for me. It would have helped I am sure. I would buy a recently published book on digital bird photography, at a discount, in a heartbeat.
I am going to a workshop, a one day one, in April, didn't think at the time I handed over my 150.00, I won't be able to hear much at all. Reading material is valuable for me. And lots of people with money, as seniors, they have trouble hearing, too. As that great group photo of seniors showed. They have lens money, want birds, need I say more.
So that is two books now that I have thought of.
Photography jargon in the new Digital Age............
Photographing birds in the wild in the new Digital Age............
ginger
Or are you going to make me copy all these posts and hope I can file them before I lose them, but not take them with me on a shoot, too unwieldy.
Off to call the library re art books on minimalism. Maybe see something not yet done in photography.:lol4
So you were looking for bigger stuff, and you really weren't spoofing us. I was sure you were spoofing us!
You and Ian got great stuff.
g
The best part of the day was having someone to talk to while shooting. I don't mind shooting alone, but it is so much nicer having someone else to bounce ideas off of
Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve
Andy,
People have seen pics of you. You may be able to get by with "young", but do you really think they're gonna buy "sprightly"?
Steve
An old photography guru once told me (actually, he had to tell me many times...lol) "For dark subjects against a light background, dial in +1 EV of compensation and for light subjects against a dark background (like your Egrets), dial in -1 EV of compensation" Then check the histogram and see if you need further adjustments.
The meter is easy to fool. Like taking pics in snow. The meter tricks you into wanting to make the snow gray, which will cause any subject darker than the snow, to be under exposed. This is a case of shooting a dark subj against a light background, so you'd dial in at least +1 EV of compensation
This is some of what I was talking about, in your thread the other day. Once you get a grasp on what settings you need to get a good exposure, then it just becomes focusing and composition
OK, end of today's lesson
Steve
This was the post that got us excited.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=12434116
We had hoped to get some shots like those
I am satisfied with what we came home with and we'll just have to go capture those other birds another day
Steve
But we got some poppies a poppin with dew
I was trying to get Ian to scare him into flying towards me, but he took off in the opposite direction (the Heron, not Ian....lol)
[/QUOTE]
Saturday at the coast was beautiful! Only what traffic jams!
Sunday at the coast was iffy, some sun south of Pillar Point Harbor, then the fog rolled in, typical summer pattern. Still lots of traffic jams!
I once got a great photo of a sea gull taking off from the rail of the Pacifica Pier, only his leading wing was cut off.
I went back to the Pier with some assistants and spent about an hour having them scare the gulls, but the all took off down instead of at eye level.
Assistants are very helpful to get birds to take off, aren't they?
Anyway congrats on the lovely poppy (I was going to shoot some on Sunday, but lost the light due to the fog) and especially the little heron in flight, that back wing is absolutely gorgeous as well as the head of the bird in such sharp detail!
You'll probably never get another chance at a shot like that, so I'd duplicate and back up that file in several places!
I did get a coromont on a rock drying its wings, surrounded by sea gulls at what I think I learned is Fisherman's creek at the harbor, but too much fog, everything was gray. I'm going to post one or two later on. Have a few things to do first.
Congrats again! And a huge thank you to Ian for getting the bird to take off!
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And I think Andy looks good with red nose.
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Sunday at the coast was iffy, some sun south of Pillar Point Harbor, then the fog rolled in, typical summer pattern. Still lots of traffic jams!
I once got a great photo of a sea gull taking off from the rail of the Pacifica Pier, only his leading wing was cut off.
I went back to the Pier with some assistants and spent about an hour having them scare the gulls, but the all took off down instead of at eye level.
Assistants are very helpful to get birds to take off, aren't they?
Anyway congrats on the lovely poppy (I was going to shoot some on Sunday, but lost the light due to the fog) and especially the little heron in flight, that back wing is absolutely gorgeous as well as the head of the bird in such sharp detail!
You'll probably never get another chance at a shot like that, so I'd duplicate and back up that file in several places!
I did get a coromont on a rock drying its wings, surrounded by sea gulls at what I think I learned is Fisherman's creek at the harbor, but too much fog, everything was gray. I'm going to post one or two later on. Have a few things to do first.
Congrats again! And a huge thank you to Ian for getting the bird to take off![/QUOTE]
Dee, Thanks for the nice comments
The weather was so nice Sunday morning, I actually worked up a sweat walking around the ponds
We lamented that neither of us were able to get over to Mavericks for the Big Wave contest, last week :cry But, Ian said you needed 500mm's + a 2X TC to get decent shots, and since I don't have a 2X TC, I did wind up feeling a bit better. But, IMHO, that definitely would have been worth calling in sick for
For seagull shots, have your assistants throw some stale bread into the air. You can get some awesome "in flight" shots that way. Or, you can just stalk them like Andy does :lol Here's Andy trying to convince a California gull that he really is a famous photographer from New York :haha OK, say "Ribs"...lol
Yep, I was thankful Ian got the Green Heron to take flight. Plus, you can't even see the rock he tossed within the frame.....
Those commorants drying their wings are really kewl. Hope you got some keepers of that. Thanks for the kind words on the poppy. Lots of wildflowers starting to bloom. The hills are going to be awesome in another few weeks
Thanks for the comments about the Heron flight pic. I have the RAW file and the originals which I will be burning to DVD this week
Again, thanks for the nice comments Dee and for taking the time to respond :-)
Steve
Ian and I wound up with wet sneakers from this hike through the brush, but it was worth it
I totally agree about the red nose
Thanks for the comments Sid :-)
Steve
As always I look forward to your next posting.
Tim
I appreciate your comments
Thanks for taking the time to respond,
Steve