ahsanford said:...And the high I got for finally capturing a bald eagle in the wild last year wasn't that much of a high. Landscapes, candids, travel, etc. get me going much much more.
unfocused said:What am I doing here at 5 a.m. sitting in a blind with $20,000 worth of camera equipment waiting for a damn bird?
unfocused said:ahsanford said:...And the high I got for finally capturing a bald eagle in the wild last year wasn't that much of a high. Landscapes, candids, travel, etc. get me going much much more.
The progression of a bird photographer:
unfocused said:ahsanford said:...And the high I got for finally capturing a bald eagle in the wild last year wasn't that much of a high. Landscapes, candids, travel, etc. get me going much much more.
The progression of a bird photographer:
Oh that's a pretty bird. I think I'll take a picture of it.
I've never seen that kind of a bird before. Let me snap a picture of it and look it up.
I'd like to get a sharp picture of that bird.
That bird is pretty far away. I wish I had a longer lens.
Yay! I got a sharp picture of that bird sitting on a branch!
I'm tired of pictures of birds just sitting there. I'd like to get one flying.
Dang! All my flying pictures are soft. I need a camera that focuses faster and shoots more frames.
Yay! I got a picture of a flying bird and it's in focus.
Maybe I need to go somewhere where there are different birds.
Yay! look at all these new birds. Now if I can just get a good one of that bird in flight.
If only I could get a picture of a bird with a fish in its mouth.
Wouldn't it be cool to get a picture of a bird feeding it's young in the nest?
What am I doing here at 5 a.m. sitting in a blind with $20,000 worth of camera equipment waiting for a damn bird?
unfocused said:ahsanford said:...And the high I got for finally capturing a bald eagle in the wild last year wasn't that much of a high. Landscapes, candids, travel, etc. get me going much much more.
The progression of a bird photographer:
Oh that's a pretty bird. I think I'll take a picture of it.
I've never seen that kind of a bird before. Let me snap a picture of it and look it up.
I'd like to get a sharp picture of that bird.
That bird is pretty far away. I wish I had a longer lens.
Yay! I got a sharp picture of that bird sitting on a branch!
I'm tired of pictures of birds just sitting there. I'd like to get one flying.
Dang! All my flying pictures are soft. I need a camera that focuses faster and shoots more frames.
Yay! I got a picture of a flying bird and it's in focus.
Maybe I need to go somewhere where there are different birds.
Yay! look at all these new birds. Now if I can just get a good one of that bird in flight.
If only I could get a picture of a bird with a fish in its mouth.
Wouldn't it be cool to get a picture of a bird feeding it's young in the nest?
What am I doing here at 5 a.m. sitting in a blind with $20,000 worth of camera equipment waiting for a damn bird?
And a few that you may have missed.Don Haines said:unfocused said:ahsanford said:...And the high I got for finally capturing a bald eagle in the wild last year wasn't that much of a high. Landscapes, candids, travel, etc. get me going much much more.
The progression of a bird photographer:
Oh that's a pretty bird. I think I'll take a picture of it.
I've never seen that kind of a bird before. Let me snap a picture of it and look it up.
I'd like to get a sharp picture of that bird.
That bird is pretty far away. I wish I had a longer lens.
Yay! I got a sharp picture of that bird sitting on a branch!
I'm tired of pictures of birds just sitting there. I'd like to get one flying.
Dang! All my flying pictures are soft. I need a camera that focuses faster and shoots more frames.
Yay! I got a picture of a flying bird and it's in focus.
Maybe I need to go somewhere where there are different birds.
Yay! look at all these new birds. Now if I can just get a good one of that bird in flight.
If only I could get a picture of a bird with a fish in its mouth.
Wouldn't it be cool to get a picture of a bird feeding it's young in the nest?
What am I doing here at 5 a.m. sitting in a blind with $20,000 worth of camera equipment waiting for a damn bird?
You forgot a few.....
Why are there 13,853 RAW pictures of a chickadee on my hard drive?
I went on a three week trip to Costa Rica and I have no pictures of the wife and kids, but 62,356 pictures of a parrot...
My wife left me, she took the kids, but left the 62,356 pictures of the parrot....
ethanz said:Sorry to hear that Don. Maybe start paying attention to your wife before that happens.
Don Haines said:ethanz said:Sorry to hear that Don. Maybe start paying attention to your wife before that happens.
I'm in a far better situation than that... She is the better photographer.... and will let me borrow the studio flash but to be fair about things, I'm pretty sure that she only wants me for my body (carrying stuff) and I could be replaced with a luggage cart with wheels......
All sounds good here AH Sanfordahsanford said:Was sitting on the back porch today and a decent sized raptor of some sort swooped by. Brown and tan for the most part, a healthy 4'+ wingspan, relatively small head and beak. I got a few lazy gliding circles not twenty feet from me and off it went.
I checked my local source:
https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/conservation/birds/raptors
It had the mottled breast/belly of the peregrine shown on this page in the top right, but the head looked different. It looked most like an adult Merlin of the birds I cross-referenced from above at my alma mater's ornithology website, but it was considerably bigger than the Merlin dimensions of a 2' wingspan listed there.
Any ideas of what it is?
I don't bird or plan to get into birding, but I wouldn't mind capturing this one or others that might swoop by. We're on the top of a hill and it's not uncommon to see this, so I thought I'd leave my 5D3 + 70-200 f/2.8L IS II ready to go with a custom mode just for this if I spot one again.
My plan:
- AI Servo + Center AF '+' cluster
- 6 fps
- I generally shoot Av, f/3.5 or so (plenty of light, no need to shoot wide open)
- Will set ISO to get at least 1/2000s (when I saw this one ISO 400, was fine for this).
- Usually blue skies here, so a CPL is probably going to be used.
Any changes you'd recommend? I have a 2x T/C but I honestly didn't need it given how close it came this time.
- A
Have you considered getting a canoe?I live by a river where there are lots of eagles, osprey, herons, etc. It seems they're always on the side opposite me, so I'm saving to buy a really long lens. I can see them from my deck.
Point being, like Stevelee says above, you don't even need to leave your house to get bird fever.
From the house today, looking at the feeder in the yard...….I live by a river where there are lots of eagles, osprey, herons, etc. It seems they're always on the side opposite me, so I'm saving to buy a really long lens. I can see them from my deck.
Point being, like Stevelee says above, you don't even need to leave your house to get bird fever.
I couldn't canoe this river, too many rapids (Roaring Fork in Colorado).Have you considered getting a canoe?
I couldn't canoe this river, too many rapids (Roaring Fork in Colorado).
I actually have a Nikon, but for some reason just prefer the Canon ergonomics and colors. I'm going to sell the Nikon and buy a 200-400 lens. I think it will go nicely with my 7DMII. I tend to take more wildlife shots (bears, ungulates, etc.) than birds because of where I live. My river is more for rafting and flyfishing. Not too many water birds in this part of the country unless they're migrating through. You sound like you live in birder heaven.Pity! I'm just outside Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. There are rivers and lakes everywhere up here and a canoe allows me to get a lot closer to wildlife than I normally would. Zooming with your legs (or canoe) beats a big lens, but only when you can.
I'll probably get flamed for saying this, but have you tried a Nikon P900? Several people in the local camera club seem to like them....