The birds of Shoreline wetlands

jfriend · May 9, 2008

Spent some mornings out at our local wetlands (Shoreline park in Mountain View, CA) this week with my D2X and 200-400. It's mating season for the snowy white egrets so there are a few of them around. Here are a few captures. C&C welcome.

#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

#7:

#8:

Thanks for looking.

Gallery here.

Andy · May 9, 2008

Well Done, John! Well shot and great color, processing.

#1 love the reflection. Really.

#3 I'm very jealous, I *love* the white pelis and to get one in mid-air p00p well,

#4 I love just because it'll make Harry jealous

#7 nice "catch"

#8 see, so much better than just a BIF... you got two in flight, gives me so much more to look at and be interested in.

Awesome set.

BBiggs · May 9, 2008

Excellent shots!!!! I really enjoy # 8!

jfriend · May 10, 2008

Andy wrote:

Well Done, John! Well shot and great color, processing.

#1 love the reflection. Really.

#3 I'm very jealous, I *love* the white pelis and to get one in mid-air p00p well,

#4 I love just because it'll make Harry jealous

#7 nice "catch"

#8 see, so much better than just a BIF... you got two in flight, gives me so much more to look at and be interested in.

Awesome set.

Thanks Andy. I appreciate the kind words. These were fun.

I'm hoping to keep track of what species are in the baylands at any given time and go over there every once in awhile when new birds arrive. I was there last fall when the white pelicans where there by the thousands (now there are only a handful). There are almost no ducks right now and they are apparently due in June. Ducks are hard for me to get in flight (they're so fast) so they're on my challenge list. I've seen hawks hunting out there too and I'd love to get one of them with something in it's claws.

I've only done this kind of shooting a few times before, so I went out three early mornings this week, reviewed the shots from each day, learned some things and applied them the next day. It's amazing how much you can learn in a few practiced sessions like that. I should do that in some of my other kinds of shooting.

All of the post on these was done in LR with nothing more than 3-4 sliders and appropriate cropping, much less post than I used to do. Maybe I'm getting better captures to start with now.

Andy · May 10, 2008

jfriend wrote:

All of the post on these was done in LR with nothing more than 3-4 sliders and appropriate cropping, much less post than I used to do. Maybe I'm getting better captures to start with now.

Sure enough, it starts in-camera, and then I'm so now in the "less is more" camp wrt post-processing.

dbaker1221 · May 10, 2008

sensational series:ivar :ivar

PrescottPhotog · May 10, 2008

jfriend wrote:

Spent some mornings out at our local wetlands (Shoreline park in Mountain View, CA) this week with my D2X and 200-400. It's mating season for the snowy white egrets so there are a few of them around. Here are a few captures. C&C welcome.

Excellent series John.. #1, 5 and 6 are my choice. #6 is my favorite, I haven't seen a Pheasant in many years. Beautiful colors.

jfriend · May 11, 2008

PrescottPhotog wrote:

Excellent series John.. #1, 5 and 6 are my choice. #6 is my favorite, I haven't seen a Pheasant in many years. Beautiful colors.

I had heard a rumor that there was at least one pheasant around, but when I finally saw him he's very skiddish. The first time I saw him I could never get him out of the brush and when I went into the brush to try to flush him out, he flew away.

The second time, I could never get him to turn toward me, but I was at least patient enough for him to walk out of the brush where I could see him. I'd love to get a close-up of his head at a better angle sometime.

Maestro · May 11, 2008

Awesome series!

saurora · May 11, 2008

These are all just amazing, but #1, 3 & 8 just blow me away!!!

jfriend · May 20, 2008

saurora wrote:

These are all just amazing, but #1, 3 & 8 just blow me away!!!

Thanks all for the kind words. I showed these to my mom who was here visiting and she said she wants prints of #1 and #8 for a wall at home. That's cool!

dlplumer · May 21, 2008

Inspiring!

What did you use for #1?

Thanks

jfriend · May 21, 2008

dlplumer wrote:

Inspiring!

What did you use for #1?

Thanks

Nikon D2Xs, 200-400, 1/2000th, f/4, 400mm, ISO 220, 7:30am lighting.

Harryb · May 23, 2008

Outstanding ste of images John.

Jack'll do · May 23, 2008

Love them all, especially #1,5,and 7 just wonderful.

Arvan · May 23, 2008

You are very good in what you do! Keep it up!

clap

riddim_maker · May 24, 2008

All winners

hard to pick a favorite.

[Deleted User] · May 24, 2008

What they said but No.1 is the top shot of the set

Well done

Tim

dlplumer · May 24, 2008

jfriend wrote:

Nikon D2Xs, 200-400, 1/2000th, f/4, 400mm, ISO 220, 7:30am lighting.

How did you get a reflection like that?? It is incredible in my eyes.

jfriend · May 24, 2008

dlplumer wrote:

How did you get a reflection like that?? It is incredible in my eyes.

It was a little after dawn. Not a breath of wind so very still water. The egrets are so bright white that when they are in the sun and you expose for them, it darkens the background and darkens the water which accentuates their reflection. The only PP on this one was tweaking a few sliders in Lightroom to adjust the brightness and the contrast. Nothing special done to the reflection.

I was walking along the bank of a waterway. I had seen this egret up the waterway a bit and he was fishing along my side of the bank. The bank is such that when I get close to him along the bank I couldn't see him anymore because of the shape of the bank.

I was hoping to sneak up on him a little up-light on the bank and get some shots of him fishing along the bank. After taking a long time to try to sneak up on him, he must have heard me coming because he popped up his head, saw me and flew off. I snapped as many as I could as he was flying away.

I was bummed because I normally don't get great shots when they are flying away from me, but I thought that I had the camera on him pretty quickly after he took off so maybe I got something good. I discovered this result when I got home. There are a couple others from the same sequence, but this one has the wings in the best position and he's lower to the water. I was happy that center weighted metering and my exposure settings protected the highlights which is often a problem when shooting egrets in the sunlight.

I've come to the conclusion that my best bird shots all involve some sort of luck, but I'm starting to learn how to put myself in a position where I might get lucky. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

The pelican dumping his load was also luck. Certainly not something that can be planned. But, I'd been watching their take-off and landing pattern and tried to position myself in a good position relative to their pattern and relative to the light and then just waited for them to go by. There weren't very many out that day, so I had to wait quite awhile but I was still able to get a few good ones.

The double egret in flight was also certainly luck that they were so synchronized, but I saw them both coming from a ways away and purposely tried to get them both in the frame. With a little more thought, I might have stopped down to try to get more depth of field, but the way it is is unique too.

Thanks all for the kind words. This is something I'm just starting to get the hang of. This wetlands is only about 15 minutes from my house so I'm hoping to get out there many more times this summer, particularly when some new types of birds arrive. There are only a few mornings when the conditions are right (no morning fog, no low clouds blocking the sunrise, blue sky for a background, I can drag myself out of bed) and I have the time so I can get out there early for a couple hours.

dlplumer · May 25, 2008

jfriend wrote:

It was a little after dawn. Not a breath of wind so very still water. The egrets are so bright white that when they are in the sun and you expose for them, it darkens the background and darkens the water which accentuates their reflection. The only PP on this one was tweaking a few sliders in Lightroom to adjust the brightness and the contrast. Nothing special done to the reflection.

I was walking along the bank of a waterway. I had seen this egret up the waterway a bit and he was fishing along my side of the bank. The bank is such that when I get close to him along the bank I couldn't see him anymore because of the shape of the bank.

I was hoping to sneak up on him a little up-light on the bank and get some shots of him fishing along the bank. After taking a long time to try to sneak up on him, he must have heard me coming because he popped up his head, saw me and flew off. I snapped as many as I could as he was flying away.

I was bummed because I normally don't get great shots when they are flying away from me, but I thought that I had the camera on him pretty quickly after he took off so maybe I got something good. I discovered this result when I got home. There are a couple others from the same sequence, but this one has the wings in the best position and he's lower to the water. I was happy that center weighted metering and my exposure settings protected the highlights which is often a problem when shooting egrets in the sunlight.

I've come to the conclusion that my best bird shots all involve some sort of luck, but I'm starting to learn how to put myself in a position where I might get lucky. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

The pelican dumping his load was also luck. Certainly not something that can be planned. But, I'd been watching their take-off and landing pattern and tried to position myself in a good position relative to their pattern and relative to the light and then just waited for them to go by. There weren't very many out that day, so I had to wait quite awhile but I was still able to get a few good ones.

The double egret in flight was also certainly luck that they were so synchronized, but I saw them both coming from a ways away and purposely tried to get them both in the frame. With a little more thought, I might have stopped down to try to get more depth of field, but the way it is is unique too.

Thanks all for the kind words. This is something I'm just starting to get the hang of. This wetlands is only about 15 minutes from my house so I'm hoping to get out there many more times this summer, particularly when some new types of birds arrive. There are only a few mornings when the conditions are right (no morning fog, no low clouds blocking the sunrise, blue sky for a background, I can drag myself out of bed) and I have the time so I can get out there early for a couple hours.

Thanks John. Great story of a fantastic photo.

coscorrosa · May 25, 2008

An *awesome* set. The first and last are outstanding! Great pose on #2 too.

Dee · May 26, 2008

Morning huh? Rats! I was afraid that was the secret!

An absolutely fantastic set of photos! I'm quite envious!

Awais Yaqub · May 26, 2008

these are amazing
weldone

The birds of Shoreline wetlands

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