Bird Smorgasbord

[Steve Cavigliano]

Hello All,
I ducked out of work early yesterday and went to the PA Baylands to see how the egrets and herons were fairing. Lots of shooters out again and I invited 2 of them to come join us. So be on the lookout for John and Marcus :thumb

Standing between the trees I got a couple of good BIFs of Egrets collecting sticks for their nests.

http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18765342-L.jpg

http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18765346-L.jpg

Kind of a slow afternoon. Maybe because I was so busy talking and missed lots of photo ops....LOL Got some Avocets sitting in the mud.

http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18765336-L.jpg


This one was a toughie :lol More like a sitting duck. Or more acurately, a sleeping duck....lol
http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18766027-L.jpg


Finished up watching people feed the gulls and ducks and tried for some shallow DOF gull shots, like this one.

http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18765349-L.jpg


I had fun and as usual met some very nice photographers.


Thanks for looking,
Steve

[wholenewlight]

Neat pictures but the final "gull shot" has a unique, mysterious look to it. Kind of a Hitchcock, The Birds, aggressiveness to the action and movement of the picture.

Cool.

[Allen]

All very good, but the last one just jumps out as special.
Al

[bfjr]

:thumb
2 BIF's :clap
the color on the sleeping ducks head amazing :thumb
and the gull does look quite aggressive
Thanks for sharing

[Khaos]

Great shots, the duck is excellent, captured the colors and textures beautifully. I love the gull shot. Generally they are boring, this one is exciting.:thumb :thumb

[tmlphoto]

Very nice set Steve. The gull shot is really unique.

[ehughes]

Steve, great shots, I do have to agree with everyone on the gull pic, that's a great capture :thumb

[Andy]

:thumb

save some birds for next thurs night, friday morning, eh :deal

somewhat disappointed in the thread title, you got me all drooly for nuttin'

:bad

[Steve Cavigliano]

Neat pictures but the final "gull shot" has a unique, mysterious look to it. Kind of a Hitchcock, The Birds, aggressiveness to the action and movement of the picture.

Cool.
Thanks John :D

I really liked that one when I chimped it :rofl As you mention, it has that "rabid gull" look to it....lol It's usually eerily similar to The Birds whenever someone starts tossing bread around the duck pond. The gulls were pretty quiet until this little guy got them going :rofl

http://www.pbase.com/image/41549655.jpg

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

All very good, but the last one just jumps out as special.
Al
Thanks Allen :D

One of the people I was shooting/talking with, was from Costa Rica and he was telling us about the 800+ species that are there at one time or another each year. One of the other shooters had just returned from Eucador and Galapagos Island and he was relating how many wildlife shooting ops he had there. With all the gulls around we started talking about how under-appreciated they were and how you could get very satisfying shots of gulls. Worst case, they're great practice for shooting other dark and light colored birds and to improve your bird tracking/panning skills. So there we were, 3 guys with Dslr's (2 of them with white lenses attached), ignoring the egrets and herons to shoot gulls :lol

As the gull pic illustrates, it wasn't all that crazy of an idea :thumb

Thanks for looking,
Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

:thumb
2 BIF's :clap
the color on the sleeping ducks head amazing :thumb
and the gull does look quite aggressive
Thanks for sharing
Thanks Ben :D

Yeah, I know the duck was a stationary subject and not too interesting, but I loved the colors and the feather detail on this guy. I just couldn't help myself....lol Besides, you can only shoot so many egrets/herons in a day :rolleyes (Don't tell Harry that I wrote that....lol)

That gull was aggressive. They get that look in there eyes. Sort of like the look Andy gets after he's taken a pitcha of his plate of food and is finally ready to dig in :lol4

Thanks for your comments,
Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

Great shots, the duck is excellent, captured the colors and textures beautifully. I love the gull shot. Generally they are boring, this one is exciting.:thumb :thumb
Thanks Khaos :D

I have to agree on the gull shot. They are so common that most gull shots are pretty boring :dunno But, occassionally you see some nice ones. I was lucky that I had very good light to work with for this one.

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

[davev]

I agree with the others, all very nice, but the gull is the pick of the bunch.

dave.

[jwear]

:clap the gull is totally amazing of all the gull shots over the past months you need to get the trophy hands down :thumb :thumb :thumb and you did not even offer him food:D like some :dunno JEFF

[Harryb]

Hey Steve,

You should duck out of work more often. Great shots. I really liked the avocets pic.

[Steve Cavigliano]

Very nice set Steve. The gull shot is really unique.
Thanks for looking and for the nice comments Thomas :D Glad you enjoyed them.


Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

Steve, great shots, I do have to agree with everyone on the gull pic, that's a great capture :thumb
Thanks Ed :D

In my mind I was picturing an Eagle shot that has been stuck there since I first viewed it. I'm normally a "get everything in focus" kind of shooter. But, when I first saw this pic http://www.pbase.com/norman/image/38466543 I fell in love with the idea of using a shallow DOF, or a slower shutter speed to convey the impression of wing motion.

So now, if I ever run into a Baldy (besides myself and the owner of Smugmug :rofl ) I'll be ready......lol


On a side note, I sure wish Norman would join in on the fun. He registered, but has yet to post :scratch

Anyhow Ed, thanks for the nice comments and for taking the time to look,
Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

:thumb

save some birds for next thurs night, friday morning, eh :deal

somewhat disappointed in the thread title, you got me all drooly for nuttin'

:bad
LOL Andy,
I knew if I used some trickery associated with food, I could lure you into my thread :lol

Not to worry about the birds. There are and will be plenty for this week's shoot. It should be fun and if we run outta subjects (or get tired of Egrets and Herons :rolleyes ) we can skip across the Bay (or drive over the bridge :lol4 )
and shoot Raptors at Coyote Park :thumb

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

I agree with the others, all very nice, but the gull is the pick of the bunch.

dave.
Thanks Dave :D

Glad you liked the Gull. It's always nice to have "old stand bys" who will always put on a show for you, when nothing else seems to be happening.

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

:clap the gull is totally amazing of all the gull shots over the past months you need to get the trophy hands down :thumb :thumb :thumb and you did not even offer him food:D like some :dunno JEFFThanks Jeff :D

Glad you liked the shot :thumb Well, I wasn't feeding him, but if you look back to my response to Wholenewlight, there was someone throwing bread around. I just took advantage of the "Feeding Frenzy" :lol

Thanks again,
Steve

[Steve Cavigliano]

Hey Steve,

You should duck out of work more often. Great shots. I really liked the avocets pic.
Thanks Harry :D

Sorry that my post caused you to use the "W" word :lol

I liked the Avocets alot too. They are cute little guys and I liked the reflections too.

Thanks for the nice comments,
Steve