After 5 years of living where I do (on a river), I finally decide to explore this small pond just upstream from my landing. Literally, a 5 minute paddle from my home. The thing is, the river has to be high enough (almost flood) to be able to get back into the pond from the river and avoid the only other put in, as the only other access to the pond is off of Shoestring Road and a crappy walk through poison ivy. My way is better, trust me.
Always having expectations of finding something to photograph, but usually returning with nothing to say for myself, today was the exception and not the rule, and it didn't disappoint. Matter of fact, it was one of my most productive days shooting wildlife from a canoe, in high water, in wind AND with a heavy lens. Yes folks, I'm bragging (with good reason) as I pulled off some pretty incredible shots today. Like this one.
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| Red Tail Hawk - 80-400mm lens |
My paddle was no more than a mile, but it wasn't measured in quantity, it was measured in quality. Putting in from my landing at 3:45pm, the sun was still high and the light still contrasty, but who cares, I'm in a boat and I have my camera and a four pack of beer. How much better can it be, right? Well, I'm not in this little pond more than 20 minutes and I spook a Red Tail Hawk from a tree top, as you see above.
So I'm thinking this is pretty cool and start ripping some shots. At 8 fps I start cranking through some memory on my card. Well, one thing leads to another and I hear a second screech, and not only do I have one Red Tail, I now have two, which I'm assuming are mates as I continued to share nature with them for the next two hours. Holy crap this is cool. Here, check this one out.
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| Not one, but two Red Tail Hawks |
The photo above capturing two Red Tails as they fly by one another was sheer luck, but regardless here's the photography tip of the day. The number one most important item about nature photography is putting yourself in the field. Get your ass out there, because if you're not there, you'll never capture the shot. The second most important tip is maintain your patience and pay attention to your surroundings. So remember folks, there is no substitute for showing up and being ready.
As I've said before, shooting in a canoe is a tough thing to do, especially with a big lens such as my Nikon 80-400, and even more difficult when having to maintain a shooting position in the wind. Now, the above shots were taken looking practically straight up with my camera set at f5.6 at 1/1000 second, ISO 400. Shutter speed was important here as the hawks were crossing the plane of the sensor (left to right and right to left) and I needed to freeze their motion. The consequence of a faster shutter speed is the shallow depth of field rendering the hawk in the background out of focus. Regardless, the shot is still a winner because of content and subject matter. Something I try and teach my students at PPSOP.
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| Great Blue Heron |
After shooting about 450 frames today, which I didn't expect to encounter, I do have some solid images to add to my portfolio and archive. And what you're looking at here is the best of the best today. A few more from today's encounter below.
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| Painted Turtles |
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| Painted Turtles - Same log, different turtles than above |
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| Great Blue Heron in flight |
