Category Archives: Birds

Swans and Ducks

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Swans and Eggs

Swans and Eggs - D700, 70-200mm

At the local lake we have a pair of nesting swans, I have been going over every day or so checking on the eggs. There are ten last time I got a good look at them. Every so often the swans get up and turn the eggs and ten is what I saw…honest. Hoping to get some good shots of the young ones when they arrive. While I was waiting and watching at the swans nest I grabbed a shot of some ducklings getting a swimming lesson from mom…

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Mom with Ducklings

Mom with Ducklings - D700, 70-200mm

A Spot in the Sun

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Geese and Bench - D700, 70-200mm

Geese and Bench - D700, 70-200mm

This tranquil setting is at a lake not far from our house, well worth a drive over just to sit on the bench for a bit. Shot this from the other side of the lake in mid afternoon, not the best of light usually but the reflections were calling to me…then the geese swam into the scene for a little bonus.

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A Day With IR Only

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Duck on Lake IR

Duck on Lake IR - D200, 18-35mm

Every so often I go out with just the IR converted camera, gets me looking at things in a different way. At the lake I found a duck taking a swim, the combination of textures caught my eye… I also took a ride to this commercial property nearby that I can access anytime. This is a two image stitch, hand held, the IR and a wide angle lens lets me hand hold almost anything at f/8 or f/11. I also did some IR pano tests with the tripod and RRS pan head; working on zeroing the pano technique in for when I need to work fast to get a pano image. May be some IR pano images in the future…

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Mansion House IR

Mansion House IR - D200, 18-35mm

Wooden Egret & Texture

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Wooden Egret

Wooden Egret - D700, Lensbaby Composer Pro

I was dreaming about the beach trip we never got to take this spring so I decided to create a little beach time right here… Shot an image of this wooden egret we got at the beach one year against a white wall, then blended it with a few textures using the excellent Flypaper Textures. I can hear the birds squawking with the surf in the background…well almost.

Texture Blending

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Texture Blend Birds

Texture Blend Birds

Mid winter has passed and it’s time to do some image experimenting. I have seen some great posts recently by Tony Sweet and John Barclay on their blogs doing some texture blending. Looked real interesting sooooo I thought I’d give it a shot. Now that I’ve done some experimenting I will have to keep this in mind when I’m out shooting, trying to visualize some final images.

Texture Blend Leaves

Texture Blend Leaves

Hungry Robin

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Hungry Robin - D700, Lensbaby Composer

Hungry Robin - D700, Lensbaby Composer

We were pruning the lilacs last week and noticed a robin’s nest in one of the bushes so we didn’t trim that one back. Went out last evening to see what’s going on and if we could NOW trim the lilac. Of course I took a camera along just in case there was some action. As you can see we’re not quite ready to take flight…and we are hungry too. I snapped two quick photos and let the little guy go back to waiting for his next meal.

Egret in Marshes – White on Blue

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White on Blue - D700, 70-200, ISO 800

White on Blue - D700, 70-200, ISO 800

On Sunday morning we went out at 5:30am to shoot on Driftwood Beach till the sun came up, then we moved to the marshes to shoot the front and sidelight. I was walking up the bike trail following a deer in the marsh when we saw this egret in the tree further down. I pushed the ISO up to 800 and hurried down the trail to get some shots. Must have taken about 50 – 70 shots with different framing and waiting for the egret to get in a better position to make the design of the image stronger. The front light was perfect and a little white cloud in the background doesn’t hurt either. I see it as a very oriental style image. All in all, a very good day of photography.

Bluebird Blues

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Males to the Right - Nikon D700

Males to the Right - Nikon D700

What a strange winter with the birds at the house. Most of the winter I got to see bluebirds at the birdbath and now with Spring here, they’re gone. Pairing up and starting to look for a nest I guess… I’m not complaining, after all I got to see more bluebirds this winter then ever before.