The cleaning gal was coming so

[Harryb]

I did what any American male would do when faced with the prospect of being in the same house with two women in the middle of a cleaning frenzy - I grabbed my camera and my new 300mm/f4 lens and hightailed it out of there. I was impressed with the new lens. Here's a Great Blue Heron

[Harryb]

a snowy egret

[Harryb]

a Little Blue Heron. During Ron Reznick's workshop he told us how the herons would give their catch a flip before swallowing it. This is my first capture of a bird during the "Reznick Flip".

[Harryb]

found the bald eagle again

[gubbs]

Fantastic shots Harry, particularly the "Resnick Flip" perfect timimg! :thumb

Forgive my ignorance but how big is the bald eagle??

[Harryb]

Fantastic shots Harry, particularly the "Resnick Flip" perfect timimg! :thumb

Forgive my ignorance but how big is the bald eagle??
and I though everybody knew how big a bald eagle was:rofl

well I got out my bird guide and it tells me that the bald eagle has a body length of 34-43 inches and a wing span of 6-8 feet.

Harry

[Andy]

really nice, harry! :thumb

[Nir]

not much to add but my :thumb

[gubbs]

and I though everybody knew how big a bald eagle was:rofl

well I got out my bird guide and it tells me that the bald eagle has a body length of 34-43 inches and a wing span of 6-8 feet.

Harry You don't see too many bald eagles around Reading...... BIG then WOW :D

[lynnma]

Wonderful shots harry... love the snowy egret and the flipping bird..


So.... your wife has a cleaning lady????? humph... thats another thing to add to my list.. blue boxes... diamond pendent and cleaning ladies..:rofl

[ehughes]

Awesome Harry:thumb

[Ann McRae]

You are sure getting great sharpness and exposure.
I think the snowy egret is my favorite, although the bird flipping its lunch is pretty cool!
ann

[pathfinder]

I did what any American male would do when faced with the prospect of being in the same house with two women in the middle of a cleaning frenzy - I grabbed my camera and my new 300mm/f4 lens and hightailed it out of there. I was impressed with the new lens. Here's a Great Blue Heron


Harry - I am very impressed with your bird images - but if these were shot with a 300mm lens these birds must allow you much closer access than I have have been able to achieve here in Indiana.

Local great blue herons seem to have a safety radius of almost 100yards before they depart - and 300mm just won't get the close ups you are capturingat 100 yards. Indeed even with 400-500 mm the birds are just a small portion of my frame. I envy the proximity you seem to have readily available. I may need to come to Florida some time for bird photography.

Merry Christmas.

[Harryb]

really nice, harry! :thumb
Thank you very much. Now get your butt down here and I'll teach you how to get some wildlife shots. :D

Harry

[Harryb]

not much to add but my :thumb
Thanks Nir.

Harry

[Harryb]

Wonderful shots harry... love the snowy egret and the flipping bird..


So.... your wife has a cleaning lady????? humph... thats another thing to add to my list.. blue boxes... diamond pendent and cleaning ladies..:rofl
Glad you liked the shots.

My wife says that she never needed a cleaning lady until she married me. :dunno

Harry

[Harryb]

Awesome Harry:thumb
I really have to thank the birds. W/o their kind assistance none of these pics would have happened. :D

Harry

[jwear]

HARRY GREAT SHOTs AGAIN :clap are you feeding them and you show up they all come a running A ?, on the first shot is the birds neck in focus from head to body there is a line across on my screen ??? and that makes no sence to me

[jwear]

Glad you liked the shots.

My wife says that she never needed a cleaning lady until she married me. :dunno

Harrygood one mr h funny

[Harryb]

You are sure getting great sharpness and exposure.
I think the snowy egret is my favorite, although the bird flipping its lunch is pretty cool!
ann
Thanks ofr the kind comments. I am very happy with the new lens. The sharpness and contrast of the pics from it are excellent.

Harry

[Steve Cavigliano]

Great shots Harry :clap Super light and they are all razor sharp. I'm amazed you got these with a Nikon :lol That lens is definitely a keeper from the image quality point of view. How was the AF speed?


With this kind of results, let's hope the cleaning lady comes by more often :rofl


Steve

[Harryb]

Harry - I am very impressed with your bird images - but if these were shot with a 300mm lens these birds must allow you much closer access than I have have been able to achieve here in Indiana.

Local great blue herons seem to have a safety radius of almost 100yards before they depart - and 300mm just won't get the close ups you are capturingat 100 yards. Indeed even with 400-500 mm the birds are just a small portion of my frame. I envy the proximity you seem to have readily available. I may need to come to Florida some time for bird photography.

Merry Christmas.
Two of the shots (the little blue heron and the eagle) were with a 1.4 tele-extender. The Viera Wetlands are a marvelous place to get bird shots. You have a narrow one land road running along man-made ponds. The birds hunt along the edges of the ponds so you can get good shots from relatively short distances w/o leaving your car. Also some of the birds are used to humans. The GBH let me get within 6 feet of him. I had to step back because I was too close to frame him properly.

If you get down to Central Florida let me know and I will give you a tour of some of the wildlife hotspots.:D

Wishing you a great holiday.

Harry

[pathfinder]

Two of the shots (the little blue heron and the eagle) were with a 1.4 tele-extender. The Viera Wetlands are a marvelous place to get bird shots. You have a narrow one land road running along man-made ponds. The birds hunt along the edges of the ponds so you can get good shots from relatively short distances w/o leaving your car. Also some of the birds are used to humans. The GBH let me get within 6 feet of him. I had to step back because I was too close to frame him properly.

If you get down to Central Florida let me know and I will give you a tour of some of the wildlife hotspots.:D

Wishing you a great holiday.

Harry
Thanks Harry - You should not invite strangers - you never know who might show up on your doorstep :D

I enjoy reading about your retirement - I am contemplating that change for myself in the next few years or so.

[Harryb]

Thanks Harry - You should not invite strangers - you never know who might show up on your doorstep :D

I enjoy reading about your retirement - I am contemplating that change for myself in the next few years or so.
I shot with Andy for a good long time. It would be hard to get anyone stranger. :rofl

I also have certain tests for visitors. If they fail the test, well.... Lets just say that there's more to Florida than birds

Harry

[Harryb]

HARRY GREAT SHOTs AGAIN :clap are you feeding them and you show up they all come a running A ?, on the first shot is the birds neck in focus from head to body there is a line across on my screen ??? and that makes no sence to me
Thanks. I'm lucky that i have the Wetlands just a 15 minute drive from my house. Its a great place that lets you get closer to the birds than any other location I've seen so far.

That line is a combo of the shadows from the lighting and the GBH's streaks around he foreneck and the color difference where the wing meets the body.

Harry

[Harryb]

Great shots Harry :clap Super light and they are all razor sharp. I'm amazed you got these with a Nikon :lol That lens is definitely a keeper from the image quality point of view. How was the AF speed?


With this kind of results, let's hope the cleaning lady comes by more often :rofl


Steve
Thanks Steve. I'm going to take the high road and let the Nikon slide by. Its part of my be nice to Canonites policy. Poor folks get cross-eyed dealing with that inferior focusing system. :duel

I love that lens. :lust This wasn't even a serious shoot, I left my tripod home, so all shots were handheld. The AF is pretty good but not the fastest I've seen. It even worked well with my Sigma tele-extenders (the eagle and Reznick Flip pics). I can't wait until I get the Nikon tele-extenders and be able to use AF when I have an extender on.

Harry

Harry

[ian408]

All great shots! The eagle is a classic pose :thumb

I've been working on trying to get the egrets as they fish the sloughs. Caught in
their daily activity makes for great shots.

Ian

[Harryb]

All great shots! The eagle is a classic pose :thumb

I've been working on trying to get the egrets as they fish the sloughs. Caught in
their daily activity makes for great shots.

Ian
Yhank you. Shooting the egets while they fish is a great idea. You can get better shots than the standard ones and the birs have more character when they are in motion. Also they are less prone to be spooked because they are focused on their fishing.

Harry

[Ric Grupe]

...looks like money well spent.

A real quality shot...love the detail. :thumb

[John Mueller]

Harry,
Wow,your kicking a** on these birdies.
Dirty up the place more often :D
John

[Harryb]

...looks like money well spent.

A real quality shot...love the detail. :thumb
Thank you very much. I can't wait until I can do a real shoot with that lens. I'm very impresed so far.

Harry

[Harryb]

Harry,
Wow,your kicking a** on these birdies.
Dirty up the place more often :D
John
Between the Reznick workshop and that new lens I'm seeing some real improvement. :D

Telling me to dirty up the place is like telling Andy to have some ribs. :rofl

Harry

[aero-nut]

All I have to say is... Awesome! BTW, what shuttle speed were you using for the water shots?

[Harryb]

All I have to say is... Awesome! BTW, what shuttle speed were you using for the water shots?
Thank you. The shutter speed for the heron was 1/500 sec, ISO 200 ev adjustment -2/3; the little blue heron 1/640 sec, ISO 200, ev adjustment -2/3; the snowy egret 1/1000 sec, ISO 200, ev adjustment -1.7.

You can see that I had to make a rather drastic ev adjustment to avoid blowing out the white egret and that would explain the higher shutter speed.

Harry

[dkapp]

Great series with the new lens. I can see you are adjusting to a new climates and subjects very well.

What version of the lens do you have? I've been looking for the same focal length, but need to buy used & save some $$. I noticed there are two versions out there, the AF-S & non AF-S.

Thanks,
Dave

[Harryb]

Great series with the new lens. I can see you are adjusting to a new climates and subjects very well.

What version of the lens do you have? I've been looking for the same focal length, but need to buy used & save some $$. I noticed there are two versions out there, the AF-S & non AF-S.

Thanks,
DaveI have the AF-S version. I bought it now because there's a $2oo rebate from Nikon through the end of hte year

You find excellent reviews of both lenses here: http://bythom.com/nikon.htm

Harry

[dkapp]

I have the AF-S version. I bought it now because there's a $2oo rebate from Nikon through the end of hte year

You find excellent reviews of both lenses here: http://bythom.com/nikon.htm

Harry

Thanks for the link. I was actually looking for the older version used to save a little $$, but the new model is getting better reviews. I just bought the D2H this past weekend (love the price drop!) so I'll just have to save for the AF-S :)

I like the side by side picture (http://bythom.com/300AFSlens.htm). That new AF-S version is a fattie! It should feel right at home with me :D

Thanks,
Dave

[Harryb]

Thanks for the link. I was actually looking for the older version used to save a little $$, but the new model is getting better reviews. I just bought the D2H this past weekend (love the price drop!) so I'll just have to save for the AF-S :)

I like the side by side picture (http://bythom.com/300AFSlens.htm). That new AF-S version is a fattie! It should feel right at home with me :D

Thanks,
Dave
I think the AF-S version is worth the extra $. Keep an eye on e-bay and other places. There are quite a few Nikon users who are so outraged over the D2H price drop that they are moving over to Canon. You may see some used AF-S versions for sale.

Harry

[dkapp]

I think the AF-S version is worth the extra $. Keep an eye on e-bay and other places. There are quite a few Nikon users who are so outraged over the D2H price drop that they are moving over to Canon. You may see some used AF-S versions for sale.

Harry

I see a lot of people screaming about the big price drop, thats how I heard about it. The timing was actually perfect. My D70 shutter died Saturday night doing some 30 second night exposures. After the initial "OH CRAP" I started thinking about having a second body...enter stage left, D2H. I've never been happier. I love the speed & big viewfinder. The 4mp is excellent, and not limiting for what I do.

Thanks for your 300 f/4 input. I will wait for a good AF-S deal before I buy.

Dave

[ginger_55]

Harry, so that workshop kind of taught you to usually underexpose for lighter colored birds..........and maybe herons, too?

I screwed that up early fall, lost all the egrets, thought it was shake, thought on it all fall and figured out that shake or not, I would have been better off putting the darn exposure at minus 2 the whole time, if I were expecting any white birds. I was shooting RAW. So I could have gotten the dark parts back, but no way were those birds less than indistinguishable white blobs........no detail. In the area around them, yes (they kind of far away)

I took all that in my heart and pondered it. Amazing how things stick with you.

When the egrets come back from your land, and they roost here, I want to be ready.
We have so many birds here right now, but no egrets that I have seen. I had forgotten that they go south and others come down. I have saved a bird photo just for you.

Monday night, I was by myself, silence, end of the shrimp boat walkway, turned around. The bird on the end of the piling noticed me at the same time I noticed him. Scared the hell out of each other! I think my camera fired once, though it was a long time in coming. Did you know those birds can scream? I am going to stalk that bird for the rest of his natural life. He almost scared me into the creek! camera, aids and all.

So, Harry, I thought of you and hoped that maybe you could help me ID this little cutie. Thought maybe you had some matching shots or something.

(Well the bird was scared, poor thing)

http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/photos/13045629-L.jpg

g

At least I think that is the one who got away...........the bigger one, I mean. They all got away. It was not a good night for me and birds. Gotta remember that 1600 ISO when it turns to dark. On the other hand, got some nice shots with less grain............. I am going back, mark my words.

Did this guy tell you anything about shooting them as it gets dark, or finding them: I mean what was this giant doing on that piling?

[Trish323]

I did what any American male would do when faced with the prospect of being in the same house with two women in the middle of a cleaning frenzy - I grabbed my camera and my new 300mm/f4 lens and hightailed it out of there. I was impressed with the new lens. Here's a Great Blue Heron
Harry,
Whew! That Eagle was looking right at you! Great Shots out there!
That Damn gator! I see him everytime I go!

[Harryb]

Hi Ginger,:wave


When setting exposure on a bird shot you will usually be trying to underexpose a tad. Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets are very, very white so you will be underexposing anywhere from -0.7 to -1.7. I will usually take a quick pic before I make my approach and check the histogram. With birds you usually are exposing for the bird and not the whole scene. You want to avoid blown out details on the bird. You can recover shadows in PS but you can't recover blown out details.

I kind of like that shot. Sort of surreal feeling to it. As for IDing that bird I wll take a pass. I'm pretty good at IDing the suckers but this one is beyond my knowledge. :dunno I do have quite a few similar shots.

Yes, those birds can make some noise. You must have given the guy a scare. Birds have two prime goals in life - mating and feeding. They spend most of their day feeding so your guy was more than likely looking for food. They will hang around docks where folks and/or boats fish looking for scraps.

Here's a shot of a Great Egret taking off

[Andy]

... Birds have two prime goals in life - mating and feeding. They spend most of their day feeding....


http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/13051416-L.jpg

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/13051415-L.jpg

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/13051414-L.jpg

[lynnma]

You just made me eat a mince pie... in the middle of the day... during my "not eating mince pies time"...in fact... I think I may eat another one...:cry

[ginger_55]

Hey, you all, the "feeders", not the Fockers............I know a great piling rumored to be surrounded by wonderful FRESH seafood!

Please let me know when you all plan to be there, I will have my camera. In fact, Harry, maybe you can run up here and join me, since you are the expert at catching these creatures.

If I get this shot, of Andy and Lynn on my piling, do you suppose I would get POTD? If no camera shake, proper exposure and so on.........?

ginger

I can have ribs brought in. Just please don't screech like that other bird did!
We might all get wet!

[ginger_55]

Andy, did you notice that in those photos, the more you ate, the thinner and younger you got?

Would mince meat interfere with that process?

Love it!

The piling is empty now, but just before dark is best...............completely quiet, too, unless a bird decides to scream. Will not only provide ribs, with the seafood, I will make a pie, uh, make that buy a pie.

ginger

[Harryb]

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/13051416-L.jpg


I had a nice thread going on here discussing wildlife shooting and you start posting pics of yourself eating!:dunno

Hmmm. Nevermind. I see your point.

[Harryb]

Harry,
Whew! That Eagle was looking right at you! Great Shots out there!
That Damn gator! I see him everytime I go!
Its always a thrill to see an eagle. I was afraid I wouldn't get rhe shot. I had just put my Sigma tele-extender on which meant I had to use manual focus.

I used to like the gators but I've been down on them ever since one got one of the parent Black Belly Whistling Ducks. :cry

Harry