Many of us who enjoy photographing birds in flight focus our efforts on specific bird behaviours including hunting/fishing, taking off, and landing. It is always a special moment when we can capture a subject bird doing something other than a typical fly-by. This article shares a selection of seven consecutive images and discusses landing postures that create anticipation in our bird photographs.
Importance of Buffer Management
Mother Nature recently gave me opportunities to capture images of two different osprey catching fish within a half hour of each other. This article shares a selection of images of one of those osprey fishing, and discusses the importance of buffer management.
Successful Fishing Strike at 60FPS
Due to very high water levels in Lake Ontario, shore birds and wading birds have been avoiding their usual fishing spots this spring. About 10 days ago I spotted my first Great Blue Heron at Hendrie Valley. It put on quite a show for me. This article shares a series of 20 consecutive images of a successful fishing strike at 60 FPS. Continue reading Successful Fishing Strike at 60FPS
Goose Chase at Hendrie Valley
In the spring many bird species are migrating and finding mates. This can create some aggressive bird behaviour. During a recent visit to Hendrie Valley I had the opportunity to photograph a goose chase. This article shares a selection of eleven consecutive images.
Watching Tern Tail Feathers
Many bird photographers enjoy photographing terns. These quick, small birds can be a challenge to photograph, especially if one focuses on them fishing. Terns can also be quite aerobatic in their flight patterns. This can also yield some interesting images. Watching tern tail feathers can signal potential aerobatic flight moves or fishing behaviour.
Waterford Crystal Factory Tour
During a recent trip to Ireland my wife and I participated in the House of Waterford Crystal factory group tour. This hour long tour reviews the history of the company. It then walks participants through the company’s manufacturing facility in Waterford, Ireland. Even though my wife and I do not collect Waterford Crystal, we both enjoyed the informative tour.
All of the images in this article were captured hand-held while the tour was in progress. I used a Nikon 1 J5 and a 1 Nikkor 10-100 mm f/4-5.6 zoom lens.
Mute Swan In Flight At 60 FPS
This article features a series of 12 photographs of a mute swan in flight at 60 fps. After doing some experimentation last year, using this frame rate has become one of my favourite settings for bird photography.
Goose Taking Off From Water at 30 FPS
As a follow up to my article Geese In Flight at 30 FPS, this new posting shares a collection of 9 images of a goose taking off from water at 30 fps. All images were captured hand-held with a Nikon 1 V3 and a 1 Nikkor CX 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom lens. When shooting at 30 frames per second with Nikon 1 gear, the first frame locks exposure and auto-focus for the balance of an image run. All photographs in this article were captured at 138 mm (efov 372.6 mm), f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO-250.
After a Catastrophic Event
It can be a revealing exercise to consider a catastrophic event happening. Let’s define that as one that is photographic in nature. For example, imagine all of your camera gear getting lost, stolen or damaged beyond repair. Each of us would suddenly go from having our photographic needs met by our current gear… to having to start over and build a new kit from scratch. Deciding what we would do after a catastrophic event isn’t as easy as it first appears. A number of factors come into play when starting from ‘ground zero’ again.
Geese in Flight at 30 FPS
In late March I had a bit of time to experiment photographing geese in flight at 30 fps. I haven’t used this frame rate very much in the past, deciding it was time I spent an entire outing shooting at 30 frames per second.