1 Million Snow Geese and some hawks (7 pics)

J-N Design

I went up to Squaw Creek NWR one morning that I didn't have to work. The day before the snow goose count was over one million. I seemed to have missed them by 24 hrs. I don't have an official count for the day but I'd guess there were only a few hundred thousand. Still a good morning and an impressive show.

All these photos are hand held with a 70-300mm lens

[EDIT: After posting I noticed that I left out the sharpening step in my PP. I've reposted the fixed photos]











Also hanging out were some red tail hawks and some bald eagles










And to end it all a beaver shot

dbaker1221

that must have been something to see all them in the air

Harryb

Awesome sight :wow The captures appear a tad soft though.

J-N Design

Thank you for the comments.

Yes they are softer than I'd like. "Need" to get better glass. My 70-300 G lens is great for a kit lens but I'd love more reach and VR.

This was my first real attempt at wildlife photography. Learning the hard way to turn off the car engine and wait. I almost missed the bald eagle in my impatience. I'm still used to zoo photography which is more of a canned hunt.

BTW this was my second wild bald eagle and the first photo op. Pics may not be that great but the personal emotional high was reason to post.

Harryb

J-N Design wrote:

Thank you for the comments.

Yes they are softer than I'd like. "Need" to get better glass. My 70-300 G lens is great for a kit lens but I'd love more reach and VR.

This was my first real attempt at wildlife photography. Learning the hard way to turn off the car engine and wait. I almost missed the bald eagle in my impatience. I'm still used to zoo photography which is more of a canned hunt.

BTW this was my second wild bald eagle and the first photo op. Pics may not be that great but the personal emotional high was reason to post.

Its always a thrill to get an eagle capture. I've seen good shots from the 70-300 so with a little bit of experience with the lens you should start seeing some improvement. What were your camera setting for these images?

J-N Design

Harryb wrote:

Its always a thrill to get an eagle capture. I've seen good shots from the 70-300 so with a little bit of experience with the lens you should start seeing some improvement. What were your camera setting for these images?

I started the day with ISO 800 and F6.3-7.1, shutter speed was about 1/2400. I've been shooting program mode out doors recently. After the sun came up more. I droped the ISO and had shutter speeds in the high hundreds. I shot a mix of RAW and JPG and honestly didn't see a diffrence. Most of these are heavy crops, some near 100% which doesn't help the sharpness.

[SHARPNESS- dang it I knew I forgot something. I forgot to sharpen the photos. Ok editing photos and reposting later.]

I took all these from the auto tour loop so it was drive, stop for the bird, shoot from the window hand held, and move on. Having observed some of the regulars to the reffuge I now know to find a spot and camp out for a while, engine off, with a tripod.