Category Archives: Birds

The Great Egret

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Great Egret

After a nice brunch on Lincoln Road after the first Sunday of the month bird walk with Brooklyn Birders Club in Prospect Park, we took a leisurely walk around the Lake. I was happy to be able to view this Great Egret feeding in the lake and got the capture as he was taking off.
It is is always difficult to get a good capture with the CANONEOS7D with alot of dark and light contrast. I did use the EV compensation to lessen the light in order to bring in the whites of the bird and not overexpose the feathers.

Tree Swallow Juvenile

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Tree Swallow Juvenile

Being in the presence of The Tree Swallows at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is among my most favorite visual experiences. The constant activity of these birds flitting around chasing insects and each other is totally delightful to me. And also watching the Tree Swallows go in and out of their nesting boxes and seeing their little heads peeking out.
And now a juvenile!
They also do stay still for a few moments to allow me to get some good captures. Again I was able to take my time to set up the camera settings properly and enjoy using my CanonEOS7D instead of feeling like I am in battle with it.
I started to focus with the manual focusing ring on the CanonEOS7D after the auto focus did its thing. I could see the image coming into clearer focus.

Spotted Sandpiper in breeding plumage

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Spotted Sandpiper breeding

When it is right – it is good! In my pursuit of trying to get the most out the CanonEOS7D I am so happy when I get a good capture. This lovely Spotted Sandpiper landed on this perfect perch in very nice light and stayed there for quite awhile so that I could work on the shot with the CanonEOS7D instead of my usual battle.
I was at one of the blinds in Jamaica Bay and had a nice cradle for the camera and Canon 100-400 mm lens. I set the CanonEOS7D focus mode to AF point expansion (manual selection) which I am starting to use more regularly and was able to use an ISO of 200 which helps so much with reducing the noise.

The practice of flight

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Herring Gull in flight

I am very lucky to be able to have meaningful conversations about photography with a colleague at work who has been a professional photographer for many years. I bring this up because he spoke about sculpting objects with photographs as opposed to presenting flat picture.
We could see that the pictures that I have been taking with the CanonEOS7D have more sculpting qualities because of all of the information I am able to work with.
This picture and the others in this series exemplify this quality which is very attractive to me especially since I am working basically with white on white. I pulled out alot of my photoshop skills to create this image but I feel it was well worth the time and effort.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

The picture of this Ruby-crowned Kinglet was taken in Prospect Park. In the past I would most likely have rejected this photo because of the motion blur on the wing, but this time around it was one of the main attractions for me. Since the head and most of the body of this little Ruby-crowned Kinglet are in focus, coupled with the fact the Ruby-crowned Kinglets are always in motion, this seemed like a good representation of what I see when I look at a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
I heard an interesting quote on NPR radio this morning on a report about Dorothea Lange – something like – the act of photography makes you see better when your not taking pictures.

White-throated Sparrow

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White-thoated Sparrow

Still feeling challenged by the CanonEOS7D, I am trying to be very diligent and attentive to my capture technique. The previous camera combination I used was the CanonEOS40D with the same Canon 100-400 lens. My keeper ratio was much higher. I had gotten to the point that I could correctly tell that i was “latched on” properly for the shot during the capture. I cannot yet judge the sharpness level at the time of capture with CanonEOS7D.
I had a passing thought to go back to using the CanonEOS40D. I went through previous pictures and crictically reviewed and compared shots between the two camera bodies.
My conclusion so far is that I like the 18 MP and utilizing the additional information of the capture. When I get a right on capture, I am way ahead with CanonEOS7D.

Herring Gull in flight

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Herring Gull in flight

In order to continue my attempt to improve my skills in shooting birds in flight with my Canon EOS7D, I have been going to where the Gulls are. This was taken just past the Verrazano Bridge off the Belt Parkway on the perfect day. It was overcast and windy when we pulled into the parking lot. I noticed the spot where the Gulls were stalled in the air by wind and I got as close as i could to the gulls and started clicking away.
Once again I came home with a bunch of noisy pictures from my Canon EOS7D but I did some serious work in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and came up with a few pictures I am very pleased with.
Inherently I am the type of person that likes to break rules. The one here of not having the whole bird in the shot I think works really well. I worked on other pictures where the bird was cut out of the frame that I would have normally deleted and I am reallly liking the sense of movement that is being created.

House Sparrow with a feather in his cap

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House Sparrow with Gull feather

While in my Gulls-in-flight practice shooting mode zone ( oops I forgot that I was going to post my special Gull in flight picture today )this little feathery friend happened in my field of camera sight. I believe his purpose was to bring this feather to his nest and I caugt a moment. A Tree Sparrow has a very lowly status as these things go in the human treatise of birds. I actually get to see Tree Sparrows more than any other bird becuase I live in the heart of Manhattan.
The questioin I ask myself is should I even post a Tree Sparrow? One of the most critical parts of my photography process is deciding which pictures to work with, delete, post, etc. I am trying to develop a voice in this genre – so there are many unanswered questions at the moment. My decisions are based on my personal emotional reaction to a picture.
This can be easily overridden by a “great” technical capture.
It is a process.

American Robin

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American Robin

On Friday it looked like rain, so we decided to do a little exploring in Brooklyn and not stray too far from the car. The first stop was Owl’s Head Park in Brooklyn. Not too many birds except for this beautiful American Robin just waiting to have its picture took.
No worry about awkward shadows on this overcast day – just soft transitions on the Robin red breast. By moving just a couple of feet around the Robin, I was able to capture a lovely background and still get a good angle.
After this we pulled off at a rest stop just past the Verrazano Bridge where I was happy to be able to continue my practice of shooting Gulls in flight. Perhaps that will be tomorrow’s bird of the day.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet male

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet Male

The picture of this Ruby-crowned Kinglet was taken in Prospect Park on a very cloudy dark day. I started experimenting more with the Canon Speedlite 580 EXII that I have attached to my Canon EOS7D. I would not have had a decent image of this Kinglet without using the flash this Saturday. The challenge was to choose the correct setting. I pretty much went with +2. I had not thought about the fact that when using continuous shooting mode, the flash worked on only the first shot.
It is a process and i am loving it!