Shooting with Hawkman

Steve Cavigliano

Hello All,

Well it's another Friday and I just had to duck out of work early It was a nice sunny day, so I decided to go shoot birds at the Baylands. Pretty shocking huh? :lol

When I got to the Duck Pond, I saw another guy shooting with a 400mm F5.6. I shot a few shots and then struck up a conversation with him (also shocking.....lol). I introduced myself and he said his name was Gene (didn't ring a bell yet :rolleyes ). I asked him if he shoots the Baylands much and he said he was just visiting from Chicago. So we went to check out some nests by the Ranger's Station and I told him about some nice Baylands shots I had seen in the Canon Forum on DPR. He said, yeah he saw those too. I said I'm SMC2002 over there. He said that he was Hawkman :uhoh WOW!! I mean I have admired this man's work ever since I got into birds. Here he was, standing right there shooting birds with me......lol

I told him about our little community here. So hopefully, he will drop by and maybe even become a regular contributor :clap :clap Here's a link to his impressive galleries: http://www.pbase.com/gaocus/

Come on Gene, we could use a birder of your ability here :thumb Especially one who mainly posts birds other than Egrets and Herons :lol4

Anyhow, a few Birds :rolleyes

I need Andy's "add some sky" tutorial for this one :lol




Great Egret from 20 feet away and @ 500mm's :uhoh




Please make Gene feel welcome if he shows up. We had a good time trying to fit these guys into the frame....lol He was stuck at 400mm's (620mm FOV) focal length and you already know how I love to overzoom :lol3


Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy the looking as much as I did taking them,

Steve

Dee

Wow, that closeup!

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

[img]http:// Great Egret from 20 feet away and @ 500mm's :uhoh[/img]
Steve

Incredible! Love the green, his eye is so sharp too!

windoze

nice series but what i really wanted to say is Hawkman is awesome!!! Ive follwed his work for along time! He takes some seriously striking images! it would be wonderful to see him post on here. Anyway, it late here in NY but I just wanted to be one of the 1st to help coax Hawkman to this forum.....




troy

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Hello All,



Come on Gene, we could use a birder of your ability here Especially one who mainly posts birds other than Egrets and Herons :lol4


Please make Gene feel welcome if he shows up. We had a good time trying to fit these guys into the frame....lol He was stuck at 400mm's (620mm FOV) focal length and you already know how I love to overzoom


Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy the looking as much as I did taking them,

Steve

Andy

wtg on the piccies and the recruitment

ya did ok, and i wasn't even there with ya.... :uhoh

bfjr

Hi Ya Steve :cool
BIF's Rock
Close up ain't shabby either, curious yours is green around eye, but I see that most of mine have orange there, wonder if that's male/female difference?
Went to Gene's Gallery (great work) needs to be here, so I told him!

Khaos

Nice pics and thanks for the link. I love his stuff. Inspiring.

Harryb

ho-hum more egret shots. Don't you ever get tired of shooting all those egrets Steve? :haha

Good ones and I hope the Hawkman pays us a visit.

ehughes

Hey Steve, that last shot is awesome.. Love it

Steve Cavigliano

Dee wrote:

Incredible! Love the green, his eye is so sharp too!

Thanks Dee

There are soooooooo many birds in the palms now, they get very close to the fence. You can fill the frame with the head and shoulders of big ones like the Greats (@500mm's). Even though this guy was in the shadows, the light was decent.


Thanks for looking,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

windoze wrote:

nice series but what i really wanted to say is Hawkman is awesome!!! Ive follwed his work for along time! He takes some seriously striking images! it would be wonderful to see him post on here. Anyway, it late here in NY but I just wanted to be one of the 1st to help coax Hawkman to this forum.....




troy

Thanks Troy

Yep, I agree about Gene. He's very talented and I made sure I spelled out the url for him. He is traveling back to IL today, maybe we'll hear from him tomorrow :


Steve

Steve Cavigliano

andy wrote:

wtg on the piccies and the recruitment

ya did ok, and i wasn't even there with ya.... :uhoh

Thanks Andy

You were there in spirit

I was so bummed on hearing about your 200mm F1.8, I just had to go shoot to take my mind off of it.....

I had to stop early though. The Night Herons were picking off little ducklings and I saw some stuff I would rather have missed :uhoh Definitely rated for mature audiences :yikes I may be old, but I'm not too mature, so I excused myself :lol


http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/gallery/393334/3/19797046/Large

This one was tame Forgive the softness, it was shot with the Bigma at 500mm and 1/40, handheld



Thanks again and see you in a few weeks

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

bfjr wrote:

Hi Ya Steve :cool
BIF's Rock
Close up ain't shabby either, curious yours is green around eye, but I see that most of mine have orange there, wonder if that's male/female difference?
Went to Gene's Gallery (great work) needs to be here, so I told him!

Thanks Ben

From what I see, Great Egrets have green around the eyes, and Snowy Egrets have orange or red there instead. Good for you, inviting Gene to join us


Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Khaos wrote:

Nice pics and thanks for the link. I love his stuff. Inspiring.

Thanks Khaos

I'm glad you enjoyed Gene's work He told me that he shoots many of his eagles along the Miss River. Said he was out there a few months ago in -10 degree weather :uhoh That sounds more like work than fun to me...lol I'll take my egrets and herons and 70 degree temps, thank you :lol

Thanks for commenting,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Harryb wrote:

ho-hum more egret shots. Don't you ever get tired of shooting all those egrets Steve? :haha

Good ones and I hope the Hawkman pays us a visit.

Thanks Harry

Actually, I do get tired of shooting egrets, but as Gene pointed out "Wow, this place is great. The biggest problem I have is picking one subject, from among all these opportunities" Like your swamp, the Baylands is a target rich enviornment :lol I can shoot more keepers here in an hour than in a whole day at other places

Thanks for looking and MORE egrets please....lol

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ehughes wrote:

Hey Steve, that last shot is awesome.. Love it

Thanks Ed

This guy was sort of shaded. I wonder how badly I would have blown him out if he was in the sunlight?... I know it would have taken a toll on the green color.


Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

GREAPER

I'm told that the green is part of the breeding plumage and will go away when mating season is over.

Hawkman

GREAPER wrote:

I'm told that the green is part of the breeding plumage and will go away when mating season is over.

Yes, its on a part of their skin called lores, and only there during breeding season.

Hi All. Blush. Hi Steve. Was great fun shooting there, I just got back - they cancelled my flight and I was stuck at the airport last night.

Agree, I was overwhelemed with thenumbers there and didn't know what to shoot at - paralysis! I only experienced that once before with a collection of Eagles this last winter.

Hope there isn't a size limit. I'll check before next time.

Harryb

Welcome Hawkman Good pic, can't wait to see some more.

pathfinder

Hawkman wrote:

Yes, its on a part of their skin called lores, and only there during breeding season.

Hi All. Blush. Hi Steve. Was great fun shooting there, I just got back - they cancelled my flight and I was stuck at the airport last night.

Agree, I was overwhelemed with thenumbers there and didn't know what to shoot at - paralysis! I only experienced that once before with a collection of Eagles this last winter.

Hope there isn't a size limit. I'll check before next time.

Welcome to dgrin, Hawkman. You have a lovely collection of work. As a midwesterner, I must explore the upper Mississippi River more than I have. I was not really aware of the avian opportunities there.

Markjay

Number two is bingo for me.....
NIce work, Steve. Didn't know you were a bird man :-)

Number two is the realy winner for me. The first images is just slightly too tight a crop but, number two is really nice and you can see the bone structure in the birds' wings... the sign of great backlighting on the wings.

Thanks for sharing,
Markjay

Steve Cavigliano

Hawkman wrote:

Yes, its on a part of their skin called lores, and only there during breeding season.

Hi All. Blush. Hi Steve. Was great fun shooting there, I just got back - they cancelled my flight and I was stuck at the airport last night.

Agree, I was overwhelemed with thenumbers there and didn't know what to shoot at - paralysis! I only experienced that once before with a collection of Eagles this last winter.

Hope there isn't a size limit. I'll check before next time.

Hi Gene and welcome to Dgrin

Sorry to hear about the flight problems I commented over at DPR that you might have missed your return flight on purpose....lol You looked like you were enjoying yourself so much, I figured that maybe you just wanted to squeeze in another day of shooting the Baylands

Very nice job on that snowy

If you saw my BIF shots, they barely fit into the frame..... I'm working on lowering the amount of zoom I use, but I'm a slow learner....lol (now that I look at them, they look a little soft too )

Anyhow, it's super to see you here and I look forward to seeing some of your fine Mid-Western bird shots posted here in the future

I had lots of fun shooting pics and the breeze with you. Hopefully, all that talking didn't give you a headache :lol


Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Markjay wrote:

NIce work, Steve. Didn't know you were a bird man :-)

Number two is the realy winner for me. The first images is just slightly too tight a crop but, number two is really nice and you can see the bone structure in the birds' wings... the sign of great backlighting on the wings.

Thanks for sharing,
Markjay

Thanks Mark

Yeah, I have come to really enjoy birding (it's all Harry's fault :lol ) They can be so beautiful and no two shots are the same. Plus, my lack of creativity doesn't enter into the equation. Birds seem to be creative enough for both of us :lol4 I've really got to try shooting this place in the morning (maybe tomorrow morning ). That late afternoon light is nice, but sort of harsh and I can only shoot towards the East. I have seen some excellent shots taken in the morning light (by bobby, garrett and brianz over at DPR)

For example:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=13118764

Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to comment,

Steve

Markjay

Those are nice steve but.....
Regarding the link to those DPR images you directed me to:

I think your egret shots are more dramtic. The first shot in the DPR link is well..... I find the light to be rather flat and boring on the bird in that first shot. The last shot the light is far too harsh. Some of the images in between were quite nice!

Don't always be afraid of the harsh light, Steve. There ARE times when it serves a purpose. When I find an image in my own gallery that represents one of those moments, I"ll gladly share with you. K?

As for me, I never get bored photographing shorebirds......
they are very beautiful and, if you are patient you can usually catch one really dramatic image.

What I do get bored with, only on occasion, is the beach itself. That's why I'm heading up to NYC in 3 or 4 weeks..... and I just can't wait!!! My hometown growing up.

Markjay

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Thanks Mark

Yeah, I have come to really enjoy birding (it's all Harry's fault :lol ) They can be so beautiful and no two shots are the same. Plus, my lack of creativity doesn't enter into the equation. Birds seem to be creative enough for both of us :lol4 I've really got to try shooting this place in the morning (maybe tomorrow morning ). That late afternoon light is nice, but sort of harsh and I can only shoot towards the East. I have seen some excellent shots taken in the morning light (by bobby, garrett and brianz over at DPR)

For example:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=13118764

Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to comment,

Steve