Photography

[JohnG]

I may have just found a great deal on an EF 17-40 f/4L  definitely exceeding my hobby budget this month, but oh well!

I do some occasional photography for work projects, and this will be good for those. 

 

[JohnG]

I’ve recently found new interest in taking pictures of the Navy planes that fly over our house. Unfortunately it’s often the same angle, but occasionally I can catch them in a steep banked turn. 

[wtnhighlander]

Are they as close as they seem, or are you using a serious telephoto lens?

[Chestnut]

Those plane shots are cool. Different times of day and wind conditions could get some different opportunities.

I got a good shot of a pheasant in my yard. It came to visit my feeder after the snow.

[JohnG]

9 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Are they as close as they seem, or are you using a serious telephoto lens?

They are pretty close. The airport is not far from our house and they were going in for a landing. 300mm lens on full frame body, uncropped. 

14 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

Those plane shots are cool. Different times of day and wind conditions could get some different opportunities.

I got a good shot of a pheasant in my yard. It came to visit my feeder after the snow.

Thanks. In the full res version of the 2nd shot you can read the pilot’s name and slogan under the cockpit window. On the 2nd I intentionally timed it to get some of the near foliage in the shot for some added interest. That day was very clear, but some different weather conditions would be nice. Those E-2s fly over all the time, so I have unintentionally started a collection of their fleet.

Now I want to catch the jets when they fly over. Never have my camera close when they do, though the sound does give a pretty good heads up!

Now that the weather has turned nice, I spend a lot of time in the back yard with my daughter so it’s easy to keep the camera nearby. 2 year old and dog running around kills the bird opportunities though. 

Nice shot! Snow gives a good backdrop. We only got a light dusting of snow this year, if you could even call it that. The grass and sweet gum balls seem to be a little too busy of a backdrop for birds on the ground in my yard. 

[Chestnut]

I've gotten a few interesting pictures of birds at my feeder. Blah blah blah feeder shots...

I have no idea what kind of bird this is.

No one ever takes pictures of the Female Cardnals So i snapped one of her doing the hard work in the rain eating from a very sad looking bird feeder that needed finish. It was a test to see if the birds would feed from it without see through sides But it's got handcut dovetails!!!!

[JohnG]

Nice shots. I’m sure the birds don’t care whether the sides are clear or not, but that it’s more of a marketing thing. Like hummingbird food being red. Or so it’s easy to tell when to refill it.

We were visiting my mother a couple weeks ago and her neighbor spotted a coyote in their yard, which isn’t common for the area. I spent some time hoping to spot it over the next few days, but didn’t have any luck. 

And to keep the photos going, here’s a raccoon that was wondering around behind our yard.

[wtnhighlander]

Nothing fancy, junior shot this with his B500 today. I inhanced the contrast a little, as it was a bright daylight image. Thought it looked pretty cool.

[Byrdie]

5 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I've gotten a few interesting pictures of birds at my feeder. Blah blah blah feeder shots...

I have no idea what kind of bird this is.

Here in MN most people call that first bird a "house finch."  Out West, we called them "red headed finches" although the female will look quite plain.

Yup, there's an origin to the name "Byrdie."

[Gary Beasley]

Nice evening shot in Harlosh, Isle of Skye, Scotland last night.

[JohnG]

Last night I was catching up on importing and reviewing photos and was a little discouraged at the quality of my recent shots. Composure aside, they just didn't seem quite as crisp as I had expected, especially when cropping. They seemed a bit noisy at ISOs that are usually fine. I looked at the file size and they were about half the size of what I'm used to... At some point my camera got switched to shooting in Raw-Small   Looking back through my photos, it seems to have happened a couple months ago when I was visiting family. Not sure if someone helped themselves to playing with it or if I left it on in my bag and some button kung fu happened.

The quality is still more than good enough for my purposes and I can touch it up to improve it, just frustrating not knowing how the setting was changed and what else may have been changed. I'll go through the other settings tonight to see if anything else is unusual.

[drzaius]

I've had the same thing happen to me. Very frustrating.

[Tom King]

I never had that problem when controls were: shutter speed knob on top, and f-stop ring on the lens.

[JohnG]

8 minutes ago, Tom King said:

I never had that problem when controls were: shutter speed knob on top, and f-stop ring on the lens.

But with that you had the problem of forgetting to change ISO based on roll of film, risk of light leaks, film jams, and a whole lot of additional time and mess. I’ll take digital photography over film any day. 

[Tom King]

Change ISO?   There was a shutter speed knob, an f-stop ring on the lens, and a focus ring on the lens.  You had to remember what speed film you were using, and either guess at exposure, which you got pretty good at, but later forgot mostly after using automatic cameras, or used a light meter.

I agree on digital though.  I haven't used film since sometime in the '80's.

[Gary Beasley]

I still use film and do my own processing, but its for medium and large format only. I quit 35mm when digital got good enough you couldnt tell the difference between the two. I shoot film for fun.

[Tpt life]

I am hitting 500-1000 shots a day right now documenting neighborhood and migratory birds. With orioles nesting at school, I did my best to do daily check-ins on progress. I would guess she laid eggs today or yesterday by the activity. 

[Coop]

How cool! I’ve never seen a live oriole. Explain the orange and what looks like a bell hanging from it. 

[JohnG]

3 hours ago, Tpt life said:

I am hitting 500-1000 shots a day right now documenting neighborhood and migratory birds. With orioles nesting at school, I did my best to do daily check-ins on progress. I would guess she laid eggs today or yesterday by the activity. 

That’s quite a few! Personal hobby/project or part of a bigger project?

[Tpt life]

@K Cooper the orange will draw Orioles. They eat the flesh for the sweet juice. The bell shape is just the roof of a feeder. 

@JohnG I guess my answer is mixed. I started out to gain practice to develop the skill for a few personal reasons. I teach urban middle school students and have traveled to places that some will never go. This all started trying to help them see what’s out there that is accessible to a simple person like me. It really has morphed right now because I came upon a local birding group and am trying to just help them know what’s around during the peak of migration activity. I hear things like “The Orioles have vanished” and set out to see if I am seeing the same pair over and over or several birds. That will slow down here soon. Beyond that, I got the bug to not just document, but to capture artistically. That’s kicking my butt some days as I say things like “I wonder if I can get that super fast bird in flight on this heavily clouded day ten minutes before sundown?” I shot it, but know I need to get lower to the water in better light to get any clarity without grain on the bird. 

Beyond this, I am seeing some truly crazy things. The Catbirds found my orange and showed in force. The Orioles visited my front step. 

[JohnG]

3 hours ago, Tpt life said:

@JohnG I guess my answer is mixed... [shortened]

Very very cool!

[Immortan D]

On 4/26/2019 at 8:58 PM, JohnG said:

I’ve recently found new interest in taking pictures of the Navy planes that fly over our house. Unfortunately it’s often the same angle, but occasionally I can catch them in a steep banked turn. 

 

 

Send a drone for better pics!

Oh wait, wait, I don't think that's a good idea haha

Nice pics all of you.

[Chestnut]

I love catching wildlife doing weird things. They aren't the best pictures but dang they entertain me.

My yard must be a good dating spot for mallards because every other day there has been a pair running around. I caught this hen doing some yoga or something. It wasn't a quick stretch as i watched her stand like this for a few min.

Her Drake was on the roof.

I hope there was consent here. Seems like it from my point of view.

These 2 visit my feeder every day multiple times. One usually watches while the other eats so it's rare to see them on the feeder at the same time. It's even more rare to see the on the same side. Usually if they are on the feeder they take opposite sides.

@Byrdie I Can't figure out this one.

[Tpt life]

Hey Drew, you caught a Great Crested Flycatcher. 

[Byrdie]

10 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I love catching wildlife doing weird things. They aren't the best pictures but dang they entertain me.

@Byrdie I Can't figure out this one.

Hey @Chestnut

A few possibilities on this one.  The Crested Flycatcher is a very good guess and highly likely for this area.  It looks most like a Kirtland's Warbler but it could be an immature Goldfinch or one of the many varieties of Tits. (I didn't make up the name!)  The Kirtland's isn't supposed to get this far West but it does get into Northern WI so it's possible you got a stray.