Landon Starnes Photography

Burrowing Owl III

2012-02-01T11:05:00.005-06:00

1/80 | f/8 | ISO 640 | Fill Flash

1/100 | f/8 | ISO 640 | Fill Flash

Yep, more of the burrowing owl! Went back to see it on Monday and was glad to find that it is doing well and survived the heavy rains we had last week. I went hoping that I would get some great evening light, but got heavy cloud cover instead. I took a few more images, but am still looking for some in better light and new settings or poses. I will hopefully get to go back again next week, until then here are two from Monday.

Click images to view larger size.

Burrowing Owl II

2012-01-28T11:37:00.004-06:00

Some more images of the burrowing owl from Dallas, had such a great time photographing it! I hope to go back to see it this coming week and get some more images in some better light.

I do not have the shooting techs right now, having issues with my computer, but I would guess that they are close to the same as the images in my last post.

Click images to view larger size.

Burrowing Owl

2012-01-23T17:04:00.006-06:00

1/800 | f/8 | ISO 200 | Fill Flash

On Monday morning my mom and I had the opportuinity to see the local celebrity Burrowing Owl. This owl has to be the most sought after and photographed bird in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. A rarity for this area, burrowing owls in Texas are usually only found in the Panhandle and never this far north (that I know of anyway). So when this individual was spotted along a country road about 10 miles outside of Downtown Dallas during the Christmas Bird Count every birder and bird photographer within 100 miles has been to see it since. It is a very cooperative bird, but has made it's home in a dangerous location. It sits literally inches off the road next to a hole in the ground, presumed to have already existed before the owls arrival, and although there is very minimal car traffic, numerous tractor trailer trucks whiz by every few minutes or so and the owl just sits there and watches barely flinching. It is not injured as it has been observed flying around, I guess it just likes living life on the edge, but I hope that it does not get hurt and will stay around for a while. Anyway, my mom and myself spent over one hour watching it and getting some images. It was a fantastic experience being so close to this bird and I hope that I will get the chance to go back for more images soon. The light was late morning sun diffused by some light cloud cover, so not the best, I used some fill flash to help out with any shadows and am pretty pleased with what I got. Here are a few images, I will post some more later on, so stay tuned.

Click images to view larger size.

Northern Harrier

2012-01-18T18:46:00.007-06:00

1/2000 | f/8 | ISO 400

1/3200 | f/8 | ISO 400

Just got back from a short trip to Connecticut (not for photography unfortunately) so, sorry for not posting anything lately. Here are a couple of images that I took of the Northern Harrier that I encountered when photographing the ducks seen in my last couple of posts. Nothing special, but I was very glad to add them to my portfolio anyway since I had nothing of this bird yet. I hope to get out soon for new images, for now though, I hope everyone enjoys these.

Click images to view larger size.

Some Gadwall's

2012-01-06T18:07:00.011-06:00

Some more images from Monday afternoon's fantastic shoot. The most cooperative ducks were the Gadwall and I got some shots that I am very happy with of both the male and female.

1/500 | f/8 | ISO 200

1/800 | f/8 | ISO 200

Of all the shots to happen on, my flash did not fire on this one leaving the female's head in a shadow. I managed to bring out a bit of detail though and make it presentable, the interaction is just too good not to share!

click images to view larger size!

*Note: having issues with Blogger, when trying to view the last image larger you may get the second image instead. Not sure what is going on, I will try and fix it soon. Sorry!

Green-Winged Teal

2012-01-04T10:57:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year Everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I had not been out shooting for a while due to the holidays, but was finally able to go on Monday to a lake close to my home and photograph some of the wintering resident ducks. I arrived at my previously scouted waiting spot among some reeds and got set up, threw some seed into the water in hopes of enticing some ducks that way, and then proceeded to cover myself in camo netting. I had not been waiting more than 10 minutes when I spotted a northern harrier on the other side of the lake (which is pretty small btw) that was making its way closer to where I was, I changed some settings in preparation and locked focus onto the bird. It was coming closer and closer and I began firing off, then it turned and started coming head on towards me about 10 feet off the ground. My 40D and 100-400 are a terrible combination for birds in flight as the focusing really stinks, but I got a few okay images as it flew right over my head. A really cool experience to start off the afternoon for sure! After that I waited for close to an hour before a flock of gadwall swam over and proceeded to get extremely close. They were soon joined by some northern pintail, green-winged teal, american coot and a female bufflehead. I got some decent images of all the mentioned species, and have yet to edit them all. I had almost one hour of good light before the sun set and the lake was covered in shadow. It was a exceptional and much better than expected afternoon and I was thrilled to get some nice images. Hoping for more, I will be heading back out this afternoon, this time with the 7D just in case of another harrier encounter. Here is one of the images I have processed of the green-winged teal, hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/500 | f/8 | ISO 200 | Fill Flash | Tripod

click image to view larger size.

White-Tailed Deer

2011-12-14T08:26:00.004-06:00

Another image from earlier this year that I have recently processed. While trying to photograph indigo buntings at the Fort Worth Nature Center back in May or June, I found this pair of white tailed deer feeding and got some images with the nice late afternoon light before they slowly made their way across the prairie. Enjoy.

Canon 7D | 100-400 | Fill Flash a possibility

* I do not have the exact shooting data right now because I am having issues with Lightroom, sorry! Click the image to view the larger size.

Great Egret in Habitat

2011-12-09T09:45:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the shortage of posts lately, I have not had any time for photography which is really disappointing since most of the wintering ducks and sparrows as well as the goldfinches have arrived here and I have been very anxious to get out, hopefully that will happen soon. For now here is a image from earlier this year that I took at the Fort Worth Nature Center and just processed last night. I cloned out a small line of water in the upper part of the frame and cropped to pano.

Image Data:

1/640 | f/8 | ISO 200

click image to view larger size.

Another Wood Duck

2011-11-17T14:47:00.005-06:00

Here is one more image of a wood duck that is probably one of my favorites I got a few weeks ago. There were about 3 wood ducks perched on this tree limb overhanging the pond at the botanic gardens and getting a clean image of one was a small challenge. This one turned out the best despite the not perfect head turn. I cloned out a small cluster of OOF (out of focus) leaves on the lower left corner and worked on the eye some as it suffered from steel eye caused by the flash. Hoping to get out for some duck photography very soon as I have just purchased a pair of chest waders that I am anxious to try out.

1/160. | F/8 | ISO 2000 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Another Wood Duck

2011-11-03T14:54:00.005-05:00

Here is another image from last Thursday. I was happy when this one wood duck hopped onto a small rock overhanging the pond that he and the other 4 or so ducks were in and posed there for about 10 minutes allowing me to get some images. Once again, I was limited to a slightly higher than desired shooting angle due to garden rules, but actually it worked out in my favor as the water colors make for a nice background, I think.

1/200 | f/8 | ISO 1250 | Fill Flash

Some More Wood Ducks

2011-10-31T12:00:00.003-05:00

1/50 | f/8 | ISO 800 | Fill Flash

On Thursday I returned to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens for some more wood duck images and this time I got some shots of them in the water. The lighting was difficult resulting in having to use slower shutter speeds than I would have liked on some of the images like the one above.

1/320 | f/8 | ISO 800 | Fill Flash

I think this one is probably my favorite so far despite being a little soft in the head area. I just love the color of the water and her pose. I will probably go back yet again sometime this week for more, cannot get enough of these great looking ducks especially when they are so cooperative!

Stay tuned for more to come.

Wood Duck

2011-10-27T10:28:00.002-05:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated this blog, I hope I still have a follower or two out there! After a busy summer where I had very little time for photography, it was great to get out and shoot for a bit yesterday. I went with my mom to the Botanical Gardens that are right on the outskirts of downtown Fort Worth, hoping to find some cooperative wood ducks and we were very pleased to find about 7 chilling out on a small island and very approachable. It was hard to get a perfectly clean shot since you are limited to where you can shoot from in the gardens, but I got a couple that I am pleased with. I am planning to go back very soon for some shots of them in the water. This one was taken while lying down on a concrete path with overcast skies.

Hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/60. | f/8 | ISO 800 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Black-chinned Hummingbird IV

2011-08-16T09:35:00.002-05:00

The Black-chinned Hummingbird series continues with this image featuring the same bird and plant as in my previous shots posted. I thought the pose here was interesting with the dangling feet and wings pointing forward. Taken a week or so ago in my backyard in the morning.

Image Data:

1/2500 | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Black-chinned Hummingbird III

2011-08-04T11:38:00.002-05:00

I am sorry once again for the long gap in posts, the extreme heat here in North Texas has made it difficult to get out for any photography, we are on our 34th consecutive day of 100+ degree temps, not fun! I have still been working on the black-chinned hummingbirds in my backyard though and have not been having a ton of success lately. This morning has been the best in a while, although I have been unsuccessful in getting the hummers to any other type of flower than their favorite, which is the Fire Bush (Flame Acanthus) pictured here. I will keep persisting though, 108 degrees and all! Hope you like this one from this mornings shoot.

Image Data:

1/2500s. | f/8 | ISO 500 | 580EX II + Better Beamer

click image to view larger size.

Black-chinned Hummingbird II

2011-07-19T10:40:00.002-05:00

Here is another shot from last Thursday of a female black-chinned hummingbird taken in my backyard. I spent a little more time this morning trying to get some more images, but the hummers were not cooperating. They spent the whole time I was out there chasing each other around, once one would get anywhere near my setup, the other would come swooping down from the tree and off they would go again. They are really fun to watch though, especially when they try to scare off the bigger yard birds.

Image Data:
1/2500s. | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash
click image to view larger size.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

2011-07-14T14:00:00.004-05:00

After a very busy June and equally the same first half of July, things are finally starting to slow down a bit and for the first time in over a month, I was able to get out with my camera yesterday morning in the backyard to work with the hummingbird visiting the garden. This female Black-chinned hummer has been coming to my hummingbird designated garden for about a month now and up until yesterday I have not had the time to try and photograph it. So, I was very happy to spend a little time working on a simple setup. I cut off a small branch from the hummingbirds favorite plant in the garden, which is a Fire Bush, and attached it to a old cheap tripod using techniques from Alan Murphy's Guide to Songbird Set-up Photography and placed it right next to the bush but where I could get a good clean background. When the hummingbird arrived at the garden my branch was the first one she visited and I was able to get some pretty good images. It is feels great to be photographing again!

Image Data:

1/2500s. | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Another Prothonotary Warbler

2011-06-08T14:00:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the recent lack of posts lately. I have been much too busy for any photography these last few weeks, but I am hopeful that that will change soon. Here is another image of the prothonotary warbler taken at the nature refuge last month, cropped from horizontal to eliminate some very distracting sticks.

I hope that I will have some new stuff to share soon!

Image Data:

1/200 | f/8 | ISO 500

click image to view larger size.

New Look

2011-06-02T14:04:00.002-05:00

How do you like it? I have wanted to redesign my blog for a while now, especially since the launch of my web portfolio earlier this year. I felt I needed a design that looked similar to my portfolio, so I just chose a new template from blogger and tweaked it to my liking. There is now a "share" gadget on the bottom of each post so you can share a post via Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and so on if you see something you like and want to share with others. Anyway, I hope you like the new look, and please feel free to comment on what you think about it!

Painted Bunting

2011-05-19T10:02:00.003-05:00

One of my main goals this summer is to get some good images of painted and indigo buntings at the nature refuge about 15 minutes from where I live and so far it looks like it will be a promising endeavor. In just over two weeks I have come across some very cooperative individuals of the painted bunting on multiple visits to the refuge and have encountered quite a few indigos as well. I have gotten some decent shots of the painted so far, like the ones above, but still have not gotten the shot that I have in mind. But seeing as it is only May, I think I will have many more chances in the coming 4 months or so to get the images I want. One of these was taken on a cloudy day last week and the other this past Wednesday afternoon under some difficult late afternoon light and it did not help matters that I did not have the flash settings right...

Image Data:

1st

1/160 | f/8 | ISO 200 | Fill Flash

2nd

| 1/160 | f/8 | ISO 400 | Fill Flash

click images to view larger size.

Prothonotary Warbler II

2011-05-18T19:49:00.002-05:00

Here is another image of the prothonotary warbler taken on the same day as my last post. This is a better looking perch than the one in the last image, but this is probably the best pose I got. I was out again this afternoon trying for some more images of this guy, the light was much better but the bird never gave me any good opportunities. I will for sure keep trying though. This was my last time out for about 10 days as I will be leaving for Connecticut on Saturday morning for a 5 day trip to visit family, I might post again before I leave though. For now I hope you enjoy this image.

Image Data:

1/160 | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Prothonotary Warbler

2011-05-14T09:54:00.004-05:00

My plan to visit the Fort Worth Nature Center on Wednesday was washed out thanks to some thunderstorms. So I changed plans and went on Thursday which was overcast and a little cooler. I had great success with the prothonotary warbler that can be found singing in the marsh along the boardwalk of the refuge every year. I love this little warbler and was happy to finally get some good images of it. There was also a indigo bunting along the marsh that was coming pretty close, but I had to leave and was not able to get any images of it. I will for sure be going back on Monday if the weather is good.

Image Data:

1/200 | F/8 | ISO 500

click image to view larger size.

Painted Bunting

2011-05-10T08:55:00.003-05:00

Here is a shot of a painted bunting taken at the nature center on the same day as my last post of the indigo. Again using the iBird app on my moms iPhone, we were able to call this guy over to us for me to get some images. I wanted him to choose a lower perch, but he did not oblige. I was still happy to get this one though. I think I might have over sharpened it a bit for the web and will have to go and tweak it later. I am hoping to go back out tomorrow to see if I can get some better images of both buntings on cleaner perches and surroundings, wish me luck!

Image Data:

1/200s. | f/8 | ISO 320 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Indigo Bunting

2011-05-06T17:37:00.006-05:00

Yesterday afternoon my mom and I went over to the Fort Worth Nature Center to see if we could locate the painted and indigo buntings that have just recently arrived for their summer stay. Last year we were able to get close looks of the painted but never got very near an indigo. So we were extremely excited when we found not only a few painted but also several indigos singing in the large prairie that borders a woodland. Using the iBird app on my moms iPhone, we were able to call a few individuals down from the trees and within photographing range for me to get some decent images. The lighting was not ideal and the birds were choosing bad perches, but I was just happy to get my first image of a indigo! I plan on going back soon when there is some better light to work with.

Image Data:

1/250 | f/8 | ISO 320 | Fill Flash

Click image to view larger size.

Red-Winged Blackbird II

2011-04-25T09:31:00.002-05:00

Here is the look back pose I promised to upload. Taken at the same time as my last post. I am hoping to go over to the FW Nature Center this week to look for some warblers and other spring migrants. I am particularly hoping to find northern parula and black and white warblers and photograph them if possible! For now though I hope you like this image!

Image Data:

1/400s. | f/8 | ISO 200

580EX II + Better Beamer

Click image to view larger size.

Red-Winged Blackbird

2011-04-20T13:47:00.004-05:00

I went to the reservoir on Monday evening in hopes of getting some coot or grebe images, but had no luck. Instead, I got some good shots of this juvenile (I am guessing) red-winged blackbird. I was happy to add a few images to my collection of this species, since I did not really have any great shots yet. I will post a look behind pose in a day or two. Spring migration is in full swing here with reports of painted buntings, dickcissel, warblers and shorebirds being seen around the metroplex, I hope I can get out to a few of the locations in the next week.

Image Data:

1/400s. | f/8 | ISO 400

580EX II + Better Beamer

click image to view larger size.

Pied-Billed Grebe

2011-04-08T14:04:00.003-05:00

This is another image taken on the same day as my last post. Among the ducks that came close to where I was positioned, a pied-billed grebe was one of them and I was very happy to get a few images of it as I did not have any decent ones before. I was really kicking myself for not having my flash with me to help deal with the bright afternoon light. I seem to learn lessons the hard way, always be prepared!

Image Data:

1/640s. | f/8 | ISO 400

Click image to view larger size.

Blue-Winged Teal

2011-04-05T09:00:00.002-05:00

I went over to the reservoir yesterday afternoon to photograph some of the ducks that are still around. I waded about 10 or so feet into the chilly water and positioned myself next to some reeds and covered myself with camo netting. I did not have to wait long before a flock of coots and some teal started to get close allowing me to get some images. Unfortunately the light was not at its best and by the time it was getting better, the ducks started moving to the other end of the lake. I got a couple of keeper images but want to go back and try again in some better light. Next time I will take some bread or corn to try and lure them close when the light is right.

Image Data:

1/800s. | f/8 | ISO 400

click image to view larger size.

Great Blue Heron Portrait

2011-03-15T09:35:00.004-05:00

Here is another image of the same great blue heron that I posted last week, this one a portrait. I have still not yet been able to return to the botanic gardens where this was taken to photograph the wood ducks. I think I will have to wait until spring break is over to avoid the crowds that usually come daily for picnics and other outdoor activities at the gardens before I can get back there to photograph the ducks. Hopefully I can return there next week.

For now, I hope you like this image!

Image Data:

1/250 | f/8 | ISO 500

Click image to view larger size.

Great Blue Heron

2011-03-07T13:54:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the recent lack in posts, I have been pretty busy and have not had much time for photography this past month. Thankfully, I was able on Friday to go to the Botanic Gardens in Fort Worth with my family, a spot I have been wanting to return to but have not been able to in over a year. I went mainly to scout out the best places within the gardens to photograph wood ducks. There are streams and small ponds throughout the 109 acre gardens and I found several pairs foraging in many of them. I plan to return this week or next to focus on the wood ducks and will hopefully get to go back many times throughout the year as it looks like a very promising location, I am excited for sure. For now, here is a photo of a very cooperative GB Heron in one of the ponds, who was not very successful in catching something to eat, so thus no food in beak images! I slightly blurred the background here to give the subject some pop. I like the sense of habitat in this shot. Hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/80s. | f/8 | ISO 500

Click image to view larger size.

Canon S95 Review

2011-02-14T19:30:00.004-06:00

I have wanted to do a review of the S95 for a while now but have not had the time to do it and to tell the truth I am just not good at writing reviews. So, check out this nice basic review of this fantastic little camera over at the blog of Bret Edge here.

It really is a terrific camera!

Goldfinch II - High Key

2011-02-09T09:14:00.006-06:00

It seems like we just cannot lose the winter weather here in north Texas! The temps are below freezing again with light snow and sleet falling as I write this post. So, I will share with you another image of a goldfinch taken last week during our other little winter storm. Since the skies were overcast, I went with a high key effect for this image. Once again, the goldfinch snubbed my perch for this drab tree branch, oh well.

Hoping to get out and make new images soon!

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Goldfinch

2011-02-04T18:32:00.002-06:00

Well, just a few days after the DFW area was covered in a sheet of ice about a quarter of a inch thick, we received a good blanketing of snow on top of that last night. For the most part driving has been impossible except for short drives up to the grocery store and stuff like that. So I have been in the house most of the day, aside from a snowball fight with my siblings for a hour or so at the park and a few drives around town. In part it has been good since it has forced me to go through some old photos and do a lot of deleting, organizing and editing. I have also taken a few images of the Goldfinches at their feeder outside of my bedroom window, like the one above. Unfortunately, they prefer the dead branches of a small tree instead of my nice natural, self selected perches that I have set up, go figure! It looks like we will get above the freezing mark for the first time this week tomorrow which should melt the worst of the ice, so I am looking forward to getting out for awhile!

Anyway, I hope you like this image taken this morning.

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 400

click image to view larger.

Web Portfolio Launched

2011-02-03T10:28:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone,

This week I have launched a web portfolio with some of my favorite images. I have been wanting to start up a website for a while now and just have been too lazy to build my own or pay for one to be created. My brother told me about a free website creator with templates and some good features, so I decided to give it a try. With a lot of help from my brother (thanks bro!), we got up a site that looks pretty decent. It is not a permanent site, but will suit my needs for now. I am still in the process of adding images and tweaking the site design, but please visit it and let me know what you think!

www.landonstarnesphotography.com

Brant

2011-02-02T10:14:00.003-06:00

The weather here is in the teens right now with ice covering everything. The bird feeders are very busy and I might try to force myself away from the fire indoors to the bone chilling weather outside and see if I can get some shots. Anyway, here is another image of a Brant taken last week at Sachuest Point NWR. I singled out one bird from the group and waited for a wave to raise it up to eye level. This is probably the best image I got of a Brant on the trip. I blurred the background just a bit here to try and make the bird stand out a little better.

Image Data:

1/500s. | f/8 | ISO 500

click image to view larger size.

Trip Report - Connecticut

2011-01-31T09:16:00.006-06:00

We arrived back in sunny DFW on Saturday from a 6 day trip in Connecticut where there was never ending snow, or so it seemed! I had planned stops at Hammonasset State Park, Sachuest Point NWR and Bluff Point State Park. On my second day in CT I went to Bluff Point on a pleasure hike with some family and did not take along the camera, I really regreted that! I came across several sparrows, a red-breasted nuthatch, and a bird I was unable to ID on that hike, all within easy photographing distance. I never made it back to Bluff Point. On our third day, the rental car would not start because of a dead battery. All morning was spent on the phone with the rental car company, who were really rude, and all afternoon spent waiting for a new car. Day three was wasted. The next couple of days we were limited to how far we could go due to the huge snowing that was taking place. Finally on our last full day in CT with the temps warmer ( 30's ), we made it out to Sachuest Point, my target location. I had high hopes of seeing and maybe photographing the harlequin ducks, but only caught sight of one male and a few females way off shore. That was very disapointing, where were they? Maybe I was in the wrong spot. There was a large flock of brant fairly close to shore though and I spent most of my time photographing them.

I also photographed this song sparrow along the path.

All in all the trip was not very productive, but fun anyway. I hope that it will not be long before I go back to Sachuest Point, it was a beautiful little location and bet it is great in the summer!

Virginia Opossum

2011-01-21T12:34:00.003-06:00

I went out to the Fort Worth Nature Center yesterday for a couple of hours. I saw a lot of white-throated sparrows on the riverbottom trail, but did not have any luck getting them in the open. I took this image of the captive opposum at the visitors center. I took this through a wire cage, and managed to keep the image clean except for it's right eye where it is noticeable a little. Tomorrow I leave with my mom and two of my sisters for a trip to Connecticut for a visit with some family. I plan on doing some shooting at Sachuest Point NWR in Rhode Island and Hammonasset State park if time. My main target species is the harlequin ducks and purple sandpipers and if lucky maybe a snowy owl. I will post when I get back and will give a trip report and hopefully have some photos to share as well.

Image Data:

1/30s. | f/8 | ISO 200

Click image to view larger size.

Yellowlegs

2011-01-14T14:41:00.002-06:00

I took this image back in December at VCDB in Arlington. This lone yellowlegs was feeding alone in a small pond, I liked the ripples in the water so I took a few images. I am debating on the right crop, maybe less on the bottom? Taken from the car in late afternoon light. I hope that you like it.

Image Data:

1/1000s. | f/8 | ISO 500

click image to view larger size.

American Coot

2011-01-06T10:45:00.002-06:00

Here is a image taken on a overcast Tuesday morning at a park. There is a large pond/small lake at this park that is host to a lot of scaup, shovelers and coots as well as geese and whistling ducks in spring. This particular coot jumped out of the water and walked around on the grass close to me, looking for bread handouts no doubt. I thought the grass was a great setting so I managed a few images of it before I got distracted with some gulls. I like the image except for the composition, I needed more room on the bottom and unfortunately I did not have any.

Note to self: compose in camera with more room all around!

Image Data:

1/160s. | f/8 | ISO 400 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Kestrel in Flight

2010-12-30T10:27:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! For my first post of 2011, here is a image taken last week at VCDB in Arlington. I have been trying to get some good flight shots of this kestrel lately, but have not been having much success, my flight photography skills are not good and that is a big reason for little images. It is something to work on in 2011 for sure. So here is the only half decent image I have taken so far, it is a pretty big crop so it lacks some detail.

Hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/4000s. | f/8 | ISO 800 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

My Favorite Image of 2010

2010-12-27T14:38:00.003-06:00

With the year coming to a close and a new one about to begin, I have gone back and looked at the images that I have taken through the year of 2010, which were not many I am afraid to say, and have decided to pick a favorite. The easy winner was this one of a Painted Bunting that I photographed at the nature center this summer. While not a winning shot by any means, this one is my favorite simply because it was my first good shot of this beautiful bird. I am in hopes that the new year will bring more days of being able to spend time photographing nature than I had in 2010.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Image Data:

1/100s. | f/5.6 | ISO 640 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Northern Pintail in Habitat

2010-12-22T08:41:00.003-06:00

I got this image at the reservoir last week. Ducks are extremely hard to shoot here which is a shame because there are so many species. So when this pintail floated by a hundred yards or so away, I decided to make a environment sort of image by including the reeds in the background and making the duck small in the frame. Maybe not a great shot for some, but a decent shot of a pintail is better than no shot of a pintail I say! Anyway, the weather here continues to jump from warm to cool, as Christmas approaches this weekend we should get down to the 40's and 50's, not near the temps we were seeing a year ago when we had all of that snow.

I hope that you enjoy this shot.

Image Data:

1/320th. | f/8 | ISO 200

click image to view larger.

note: I think it needs a bit of rotation, I will fix that later.

Nutria on Island

2010-12-15T08:51:00.006-06:00

Here is another image that I took at the Village Creek beds in Arlington last week. A family of Nutria live on this small island in the middle of one of the ponds. This is another image that I took and blurred the background a bit on in Photoshop. I think blurring the bg just a little helps make the subject pop more. It does not look perfect, but I was fairly happy with it. I wish that the small long was not in the image as it distracts some from the subject, but oh well. I hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/1000s. | f/8 | ISO 500

click image to view larger.

Great Blue Heron

2010-12-13T10:25:00.004-06:00

Here is another shot taken at the Village Creek Beds last week. This one of a great blue heron on a dead tree stump in one of the ponds. I liked the shot except for the busy background which my 100-400mm does not do a good job of blurring out from this range especially at f/8, so I did some Photoshop work and blurred the background just a bit and I think I got a natural look. What do you think? Hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 500

click image to view larger.

American Kestrel

2010-12-09T10:34:00.003-06:00

I made it out to the Village Creek Beds in Arlington yesterday with my mom. Activity there was very good, we saw hundreds of ducks, a lot of sparrows, and shorebirds. I spent a bit of time watching what I believe was a Marsh Wren and hoping to get a good shot of it, which I didn't. I was very happy to get pretty close to this Kestrel as he was perched next to the road. It is my first good shot of a kestrel, so I was pretty excited to get this one. I wanted to spend more time with him and see if I could get some flight shots, but the gates were about to be locked so we had to leave. We might go back tomorrow, and I hope to get some more shots of him.

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger

Happy December

2010-12-04T18:28:00.004-06:00

Sorry for the recent lack of posts everyone. Truth is that I haven't been out shooting in a couple of weeks, or at least it seems that long. I have been pretty busy getting some of my photos ready for the FW Nature Center. They will be displaying them in their visitors center during the month of December, which is pretty neat. I do hope to get out this week as I have been very restless to go and shoot somewhere. For now, here is a photo that I took back in January, which I know that I posted then but have since re-processed it. This was taken during the second of the two snowstorms that we had last winter. Two snowfalls in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in winter is very rare, we are more familiar with sleet which is not as fun as the white stuff! Hard to imagine that it is already December, the year has certainly flown by. Anyway, Happy December to all and I hope to be posting a lot more this month than I have been recently.

White-Throated Sparrow

2010-11-19T18:29:00.003-06:00

Here is a image from yesterday of a white-throated sparrow taken at the nature center. My mom and I were just about to leave after a slow photography day ( plenty of birds but none close enough ) when we came upon a flock of white-throats making a lot of noise as they foraged through the leaves on the ground. They were very easy to approach, but were hard to get a good clear view of in the growth that they were in. They finally all took to a tree and went up and down the trunk looking for food and I was able to get a few shots. While the perch is not ideal, I was just plain happy to get a decent shot of one. Now that I know where to find them, maybe next time I will be able to get a better image with one on a good perch. For now, I hope that you enjoy this image.

Image Data:

1/1250 | f/5.6 | ISO 1000 | Fill Flash + Better Beamer

click image to view larger.

Least Sandpiper

2010-11-18T09:18:00.005-06:00

I got this image on Sunday at the reservoir. I was not having any luck with the sparrows, so I turned to the reliable least sandpipers! I love the water color and the pose on this one. Taken at last light. I had to shoot wide open and at 800 ISO which on the 40D does not look great, so I used Topaz DeNoise 5 to reduce the noise here, works wonders!

Hope you enjoy it.

Image Data:

1/250s. | f/5.6 | ISO 800

click image to view larger size.

Song Sparrow

2010-11-12T08:26:00.003-06:00

Here is a image from last weekend of a song sparrow that I took at the reservoir. I know that it is a bit busy, but it is pretty hard to get these guys to come into the open on a clean perch in this specific location, so I was pretty happy to just get this shot! Hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 400

Thanks to Josh for correcting me on the ID, this is a song sparrow, not a savannah.

click image to view larger.

Great Egret in Tree

2010-11-08T12:36:00.004-06:00

Here is a image I took a few weeks ago at the nature center. I saw the great egret perched in this tree which was probably about 100 yards away from where I was on the boardwalk. Since I could not get closer, I thought I would go for a wider shot showing the surroundings of the bird. How does it look?

On a side note, I went to the reservoir yesterday and was glad to see more winter residences had arrived. There were some pintails, shovelers and wigeon that have joined the coots in the lake. The numbers of sparrows have increased. The least sandpipers are still around. I spent a good part of my time stalking a wilson's snipe, it came very close at one point then I lost it in the grass and never saw it again, nuts! Anyway, I had a good time just observing the new arrivals even if I did not get any good images.

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 400

click image to view larger.

Least Sandpiper II

2010-11-03T09:18:00.004-05:00

Here is another image of a least sandpiper that I took on the same day as my last post. I really like the colors in this one. I do not know if these guys are still hanging around the reservoir or not, I might go and check later this afternoon.

Hope you like this one!

Image Data:

1/800s. | f/8 | ISO 400

click image to view larger.

Least Sandpiper

2010-11-01T14:01:00.004-05:00

Here is a image I got a couple of weeks ago of a least sandpiper. I arrived at the reservoir and was glad to see that about 10 least's were feeding in the shallow stream that flows into the lake. The light was wonderful, but the birds were not quite cooperating; they finally came within range of my lens as the sun was just about to disappear over the horizon and I got a few shots that I really like. This particular bird was standing on the edge of a small waterfall feeding. Of coarse I wish that the feet were visible here, but the light and mood in this image is just so nice that I am going to forget it here!

Image Data:

1/200s. | f/8 | ISO 400 | Flash + Better Beamer

click image to view larger size.

Osprey II

2010-10-25T15:04:00.005-05:00

Here is another shot of the osprey that I saw at the nature center last week. I like the pose here, but if you see the large version, you can see very visible noise as a result of over sharpening. I went in to re-sharpen it and discovered that I lost the original raw because of a weird crash to the hard drive that lost all of my images, none of the rest of the files on the drive were missing, only my files! After using a recovery software to get the images back, all but the raw's of my osprey images were recovered which is really odd. Maybe I can find them some day, but for now I hope that you like this one anyway.

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 400

Fill Flash + Better Beamer

Osprey

2010-10-22T09:39:00.005-05:00

Yesterday my mom and I went to the Fort Worth Nature Center to bird and for me to photograph. We spent a few hours there in the afternoon until closing. We did not see much, I saw a group of White-Throated Sparrows but was unable to get them to come into the open for a clear image. We also saw the usual belted kingfishers and wading birds as well as a few grebes. The highlight of the day though was seeing a pair of ospreys circling over the river and I was very happy to get a few decent shots of them for the first time. If I had a kayak I think I would have been able to get some better images. I very much look forward to all of the other winter migrants that will be arriving and hopefully I will be able to rev up my photography.

Hope you like this one.

Image Data:

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 400

Flash + Better Beamer

Yellow Leaf on Moss

2010-10-20T18:53:00.004-05:00

Here is another shot taken in Connecticut. I got this one at Devils Hopyard State Park ( interesting name ) . Taken with the S95, this leaf was perfectly placed on a patch of moss and stood out to me, so I used the macro feature on the camera and grabbed the shot. The S95 continued to impress me on my trip and I am very happy that I made the purchase. I edited this on a laptop and am not sure how it looks, let me know if there is anything wrong with it.

Hope you like.

Image Data:

1/60s. | f/4.5 | ISO 400

Canon S95

Click image to view larger size.

Herring Gull in Environment

2010-10-13T15:09:00.003-05:00

Continuing with the series of gull images! This is the last one actually, and I think my favorite. I took this one at some beach, I do not know the name if it even had one. This guy kept walking around and it seemed like he was just begging to have his picture taken, so I took it. This is probably a 75% crop from the original. I like the way the image shows this gull's common environment and the slightly foggy ocean. Now if only I would have had some dramatic light, oh well can't have it all I guess!

Hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/320s. | f/4.9 | ISO 80

Canon S95

click image to view larger size.

Backlit Gull

2010-10-11T14:13:00.003-05:00

Here is another image from my trip up to Connecticut. This was taken at the same time as my previous post. This gull ( a juvenile herring? ) was on a different post with the sun behind it. I liked the way the light was shining through the edges of it's feathers and beak, so I decided to practice exposing backlit subjects. I was really wishing that I had brought my polarizer along, it would have been helpful to make the sky in the background better looking. I still like this image as it is my most successful backlit image yet.

I hope you like it!

Image Data:

1/250s. | f/8 | ISO 400

click image to view larger size.

Herring Gull Portrait

2010-10-09T09:04:00.003-05:00

I got back from Connecticut on Wednesday where I and my mom and two sisters visited some family that have recently moved there. The weather was really nice, but we were just a little early for the best fall colors. I was able to take some photos, mostly with my new S95. I was happy with the performance and quality of the images I got from it. I will share some of the photos I took as soon as I am able to process them, Lightroom does not support the RAW files from the S95 yet, so I am having to edit them in Canon's DPP software, which takes me a little longer to use. But for now here is a image from the trip of a very cooperative gull perched on the dock in the back of my relatives home taken with the 40D. Hope you like it.

Image Data:

1/200s. | f/8 | ISO 400

click image to view larger size.

A New Post, Finally!

2010-09-29T15:58:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lack of post's recently, I have had a very busy September and thus have not been out for any photography. There is hope though, as I will be traveling to Mystic, Connecticut this weekend to visit some family that have recently moved there from North Carolina. I hope that I will be able to capture some nice Fall colors while I am there. I have purchased the new Canon S95 in hopes that I will be inspired to shoot more if I have a camera that I can carry around with me wherever I go and not having to lug a dslr, it is a great little camera loaded with features like RAW shooting and full manual controls and it has amazing image quality. I will be taking this with me on my trip and look forward to giving it a real test. This image was taken this morning with the S95 of a large leaf from a plant in my mom's garden. I used backlighting to show the details in the "veins". I hope that you like it!

Image Data:

1/400s. | f/8 | ISO 80

Canon S95

click image to view larger size.

Giant Tortoise

2010-09-08T15:02:00.003-05:00

Here is another image from my trip to the zoo last week. I was thrilled to see these giant tortoises for the first time, they are huge! The zoo has a great 4500 square foot exhibit for these guys and is perfect for getting photos, I hope I can return soon to focus on getting some better images. I decided to get in close and focus on the cool patterns in their shells and later on in Photoshop I converted it to B&W. I was kicking myself afterwards for shooting this image at f/8 instead of at least f/11 to get out some better details, I will not forget next trip!

Hope you like this one anyway.

Image Data:

1/400s. | f/8 | ISO 500

click image to view larger size.

American Flamingo

2010-09-02T18:20:00.003-05:00

I went to the Fort Worth Zoo today with my mom and two nieces, I had not been in a while and decided to take my camera along. The weather was overcast and a bit humid, perfect for photography, the overcast skies that is not the humidity! Anyway, I had fun shooting the flamingo's, they are always so cooperative and I came away with a few decent images.

I hope that you like this one.

Image Data:

1/800s. | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash

Canon 7D

click image to view larger size.

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird II

2010-08-21T10:27:00.002-05:00

Here is another image of a female ruby throat in my backyard. I took this one this morning. I do not think I like this one as much as the one I posted before, but was glad to get one of her enjoying these flowers. I am going to try some new setups this weekend and will post each time I get a new image worth sharing. Until then, hope you like this one!

Image Data:

1/1000s. | f/8 | ISO 400 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size.

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird

2010-08-18T12:59:00.007-05:00

Sorry for the recent lack of images here! It has continued to be extremely hot here with the short rain showers this morning not helping matters, now it is hot and very humid! I did brave the humidity and took advantage of overcast skies this afternoon to get this shot of a female ruby throat. I have a couple of females that visit my hummingbird garden every day and I saw a male for the first time yesterday. I like the background in this shot and the wings up pose. Let me know what you think!

Image Data:
1/640s. | f/6.3 | ISO 1000 | Fill Flash
click image to view larger size.

Duckling

2010-08-03T18:19:00.002-05:00

Things are very slow photography wise for me right now. The temps are in the 100s right now and there is not very much bird activity going on. I am hoping to go out to the Village Creek beds in Arlington next week as a lot of reports from the local Audubon website are positive for flocks of shorebirds, buntings and dickcissel, a lot of species that I was hoping to have images of by summers end. So we will see! For now, here is a image from last year that I dug out of my files to rework in Photoshop cs5.

Image Details:
1/500s. | f/8 | ISO 400
Click image to view larger size.

Squirrel

2010-07-21T16:57:00.004-05:00

Here is a image of a common Squirrel that I took while at the Nature Center a couple of weeks ago. These squirrels may look cute, but put them in front of some bird feeders and they will clean them out really fast! I have a couple in my yard that I have to battle to keep off my feeders, very tough fight to fight. I have one hummingbird diligently visiting my yard every day now, so tomorrow morning I will try to get some shots. Stay tuned!

Image Data:
1/500s. | f/5.6 | ISO 640
click image to view larger size.

Red-Wing Blackbird

2010-07-13T10:12:00.003-05:00

Well, I did not make it back out to the Nature Center yesterday as I had hoped to get some more painted bunting images, hopefully I can get out very soon though. Here is a shot that I got at the reservoir last week. It was a unsuccessful trip, not much hanging around there right now. I did get this shot of a red wing blackbird who was being very noisy. He let me get very close and I was able to get these neat early evening clouds as a background. Hope you like it.

Image Data;

1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 400 | Fill Flash

click image to view larger size

Painted Bunting

2010-07-09T09:36:00.001-05:00

Here is a shot from yesterday afternoon, taken at the Fort Worth Nature Center of a Painted Bunting. This is my first decent image of a painted so I am very pleased! There were about 4 painted buntings visiting the birdwatching courtyard, 2 males and 2 females, and they came very close. I am anticipating many more images of them this summer. Unfortunately, there is only one decent perch in range of my lens that they land on ( the one pictured ), and I wish there were a few more. Anyway, hope you like this one.

Image Data:

1/100s. | f/5.6 | ISO 640 | Fill Flash

Calling Killdeer

2010-06-14T16:15:00.005-05:00

Here is a image that I took a month or two ago. Origially I didn't bother to process it because there was a shadow across the side of the face, but I came across it again today and did some processing in CS5 ( new toy, I mean tool! ) and got it to look a bit better, I think. How does it look to you? I received my copies of Natures Best Photography magazine, which features my image from the Birds in Focus competition and all of the other winners, pretty neat!

Image Data:
1/1000s. | f/6.3 | ISO 200
click image to view larger.

Prothonotary Warbler

2010-06-05T20:09:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Here is probably the best shot I got last month of this Prothonotary warbler, or of any warbler actually, sad I know... It was a overcast day and rain showers soon came. While the image is a bit noisy, I think it is still decent, especially since it is my first of this beautiful species. Every year "proth's" warblers nest in a swampy area of the Fort Worth Nature Center on the lake and can be seen singing along the boardwalk making them fairly easy to photograph. Maybe I will be able to get some other shots of them during the summer. I am very determined to photograph Painted and Indigo Buntings at the nature refuge this summer since they are my top local bird favorites, the key will be finding them ( especially the Indigo ) close to the ground. Hopefully with some research and a lot of luck I can get some good images. Unfortunaley, I will have an extremely busy June, but hope to get out as much as possible.
Anyway, sorry for the longish post! I hope you like this image.

Image Data:
1/60th. | f/8 | ISO 500 | Fill Flash
Canon 7D

I'm Still Around!

2010-06-02T16:21:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Just a quick post to let you know that I am still here. While I did do a bit of shooting a few times last month, I came home with very little. I missed the peak warbler shooting due to some rainy days and being just plain busy. My last few times out to the Nature Refuge I have seen Painted and Indigo Buntings and am hoping that by summer's end I will have some decent images of them. I have made them my target birds to photograph this summer. The weather here is turning rather nasty. We will be in the 100's Fahrenheit by the weekend and that will make photography even harder since most birds are going to choose not to be out until very late or very early. I am hoping to turn things around here and try to do a bit more shooting and produce some decent images, heat and all!

Will try to post again soon!

Dickcissel

2010-05-06T11:32:00.002-05:00

I managed to make it out to the reservoir yesterday evening to spend more time shooting the sandpipers, which were very uncooperative! As I made my way back to the car I heard some calling and approached where it was coming from and sitting on a barbed wire fence was this Dickcissel. This was my first time to ever see one up close and I was pretty excited. He/she was calling to about 2 other Dicksiccel along the fence.
Hopefully I can get some images of them on a better perch next time.

Image Data:
1/1000s. | f/8 | ISO 200
Canon 7D

White-Rumped Sandpiper

2010-05-04T08:44:00.003-05:00

Here is a quick one before I head out for the the day. This was taken last week, same day as my two previous posts, at the reservoir. I got a lot of great photos of these guys and hope to get back for more before they move on. Hope you like it!

Image Data:
1/1000s. | f/6.3 | ISO 200
Canon 40D
Click image to see larger size!

Lesser Yellowlegs

2010-05-01T10:45:00.003-05:00

Here is another shot from the reservoir. I took this one on Thursday afternoon. There were two Lesser Yellowlegs foraging, this one was very cooperative! I am glad to see the shorebirds back and look forward to spending a lot of time photographing them this year.
Hope you like this one.

Image Data:
1/1250s. | f/6.3 | ISO 200
Canon 40D

Good to be out Shooting Again

2010-04-29T10:17:00.004-05:00

I received my telephoto lens from Canon on Tuesday from being repaired and went out to the reservoir last evening to see if the shorebirds have arrived and they have! There were about 4-5 Sandpipers, like the one pictured, which I am having a hard time identifying. I think that they are Pectoral's, but am not 100% sure. There were also 2 Greater Yellowlegs and about 10 Dowitchers that flew overhead multiple times but I could never find them on the ground.
I am hoping to get out there again a couple more times this weeekend. I also will try to get out to the Village Creek beds and Nature Center next week. Hope you like this one.

Image Data:
1/250s. | f/8 | ISO 250 | Flash EV-2 1/3
Canon 7D

Maple Leaf on Bark

2010-04-21T15:00:00.002-05:00

Going through some files from my trip to Acadia NP last October, and came across this one that I previously didn't pay much attention to at first but has grown on me.
Hope you like it!

Image Data:
1/100s. | f/2.8 | ISO 400
Canon EF-S 60mm

Leaves in Brook

2010-04-19T15:03:00.002-05:00

Here is one from last fall when my family and I visited Acadia National Park in Maine. It took 6 months for me to decide that I like this image! I took it at a brook that was near the cottage we were staying at. Tell me what you think! Also, I thought I would mention that one of my images has been featured on the Natures Best Photography Blog. If you want, you can see it here.

Image Data:
1 sec. | f/13 | ISO 100 | Circular Polarizer
Canon 40D | 17-55mm

Mallard + More Gear Problems

2010-04-13T17:48:00.002-05:00

I went out to the reservoir yesterday evening hoping to see and even more hopeful to photograph the small flock of Wilson's Snipe that I flushed last time I was there. See them I did, photograph them I did not. They flew over head and to a distant marshy area, I made my way over there but they flew off before I was even close enough to be the culprit of scaring them, so not sure what did. So I had to content myself with this cooperative Mallard. I love how the evening light really brings out the green on his head. This is probably the last bird photo I will take for awhile due to having problems with my 100-400mm zoom. It is extremely hard to zoom and am told it is a out of round barrel, a very common problem with this lens and will have to be fixed by Canon. All of this camera repair is delaying my shooting of the spring bird activity.
Oh well, hopefully it will not take too long and I can have it back soon and it won't cost a bundle. That's hoping anyway...

Image Data:
1/500s. | f8 | ISO 200
Canon 7D
Click image for larger size.

Savannah Sparrow

2010-04-06T18:46:00.002-05:00

Glad to have my 40D back with me and working correctly, I headed out to the reservoir on Friday to see if any spring migrants have shown up. I did not see much except the swallows that are back occupying their nests under the freeway bridge. I did flush about 10 Dowitchers ( I think ) and was pretty upset about that! I will try to find them again next time. I decided to see if I could get some photos of the sparrows that are still around and was glad to get this somewhat cooperative Savannah Sparrow. Since I could not get any closer, I tried to get some shots including the environment. I am not overly happy with this one and am anxious to get back there and see if I can get some better ones. I will hopefully go out tomorrow for some shooting but am not sure where yet.
Stay tuned!

Image Data:
1/800s. | f/8 | ISO 200
Canon 40D

Canada Goose

2010-04-01T13:07:00.002-05:00

Here is another shot taken with the new 7D that arrived on Tuesday. My brothers and I were driving past the city park yesterday when I noticed a pair of Canada Geese wandering around. I didn't have time to stop and get any photos but decided to come back today and see if they were still there. Sure enough, they were foraging not far from the playground. I was able to easily approach them and get some nice portraits. The 7D continues to impress, AF is very acurate and makes my slow 100-400mm lens a tad faster. Hopefully the geese will stick around and I can get some more interesting images. Hope you like this one.

Image Data:
1/2000s. | f/8 | ISO 400
Canon 7D | 100-400mm

Cedar Waxing - New Canon 7D!

2010-03-31T18:48:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Two pieces of great news; First, I received a e-mail from Canon today saying that they have shipped my repaired 40D and it should get here tomorrow! 2nd, in the meantime I have purchased a Canon 7D with my brothers for our video business and will also get to use it for photography some! This photo of a Cedar Waxing was taken in my backyard with the 7D. I have not had a lot of time to spend with it yet, but am very impressed so far. The ISO performance is very good, as well as the AF, and there are a lot of new features that are really nice. The video is fantastic and I am thinking about making a few short films taken at the places I like to photograph birds. Speaking of which, I am hoping to get out to the reservoir on Friday to see if any shorebirds are back. And am planning to go shooting at the Nature Center on Monday so stay tuned!

Image Data:
1/500s. | f/8 | ISO 500 | cropped some branches out.
Canon 7D | 100-400mmL

No Camera

2010-03-18T18:20:00.004-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Just a quick post to let you know that I will not be posting much or any at all here for a couple of weeks or so due to my camera breaking down on me. A quick overview of the issue I am having: As I was taking the camera out of the bag this morning, I noticed the "direct print" light was blinking, I tried switching on the camera but it wouldn't power on. I replaced the battery and tried again, this time it turned on but when I tried to take a photo it would make a quiet click and shut off. I asked the great people on Naturescapes.net for some help and after trying some ideas, have been advised to send it off to Canon for repair. I will package it up and send it off tomorrow and hopefully have it back before the month is over. So, I am really going to miss shooting, the weather has been perfect lately, but hopefully I will have my camera back in time for the spring migrants which should be arriving very soon.
So long for now!

Rainbow

2010-03-13T10:07:00.002-06:00

Here is a fun shot that I thought I would share. We had a rain shower on Thursday and there was a period when the clouds moved away from the sun providing some beautiful evening light while it was still raining and created this rainbow. I had my telephoto attached to my camera and did not want to change to my wide angle fearing the rainbow would disappear, and I like the effect the telephoto gave anyway. I snapped a few shots from the front porch before it faded away. Hope you like it.

Image Data:
1/320s. | f/8 | ISO 400

Downy Woodpecker

2010-03-05T09:03:00.005-06:00

Made another trip out to the Fort Worth Nature Center yesterday. I spent most of my time once again trying to get a good Kingfisher shot, which did not happen. I decided on a new plan for the kingfisher which I hope works, so stay tuned! I walked the Riverbottom trail and came across this cute Downy. He was very approachable, but never came down to eye level. Not a fantastic shot, but I liked the pose here. Anyway, hope you like it.

Image Data:
1/400s. | f/8 | ISO 200 | Fill Flash EV - 1. 1/3

click image for larger size.

Cormorants flying past Moon

2010-02-27T19:04:00.004-06:00

Here is another shot taken at the FW Nature Center on Wednesday. Late in the afternoon hundreds of Double Crested Cormorants leave the nature center and fly South for the night to some other location ( not sure why ). I was looking for a better formation but am pretty happy with this one. Hope you like it as well!

Image Data:
1/500s. | f/8 | ISO 200 | cloned out straggling bird :)
click image for larger size.

Yellow Rumped Warbler

2010-02-25T11:46:00.006-06:00

I made it out to the Fort Worth Nature Center yesterday to see if I could get any photos of the Belted Kingfisher that hangs around the bird blind along the river. I did see him but he never came close enough for a good shot, maybe next time! I am hoping to purchase a kayak soon, I just need to decide which one. Cannot wait to paddle around the nature center. After having little luck with the kingfisher I decided to hike along the Riverbottom trail. I didn't see many ducks nor the Grebe that I saw earlier this week. I did see a lot of cormorants, sparrows, chickadees and this Yellow Rumped Warbler ( I think that is what it is ). Not a fantastic image, but I was happy to add this species to my list. Every month the nature center displays photos that photographers have made at the refuge, I will be displaying in December, this months are excellent and I invite you to check out the guy's website here. A lot of his bird images were taken at the refuge and around my area. Enjoy!

Image Data:
1/800s. | f/8 | ISO 200 | Fill Flash

Lesser Scaup

2010-02-17T18:35:00.003-06:00

I will lay off of the Goldfinch images for a bit, just so you know that I do shoot other species! This image was taken yesterday at a park next to where I have my guitar lesson. There are an abundance of Lesser Scaup as well as a handful of Northern Shovelers, what I think were Black Bellied Whistling Ducks, Mallards, Canada Goose, Coots and probably some others that I just didn't see. I am going to try and focus on this location whenever I can, I think there will be some great opportunities presented. For now I hope that you like this one. I wish for a lower angle and better light here, but will do better next time!

Image Data: 1/1250th. | f/8 | ISO 250
click image to see larger size.

American Goldfinch - High Key

2010-02-13T12:30:00.003-06:00

Sorry for all of the Goldfinch images lately, they are extremely easy to photograph! Here is one from Thursday, I was testing out my new flash and love it so far, but cannot wait to try it out at the Nature Center hopefully on Monday. All of the snow is melting at a good pace, sad to see it go so soon, but that is Texas.
Hope you like this shot.

Image Data:
1/250s. | f/8 | ISO 320 | Fill Flash -3EV

Snowy Woods - Record Day for North Texas

2010-02-12T18:08:00.004-06:00

Thursday, February 11, 2010 was a historic day here in North Texas. For 24 hours it snowed non-stop starting early on Thursday morning and as a result we are left with almost 1ft. of snow, more in some places! It probably does not sound like much especially to those in the east, but it is huge here! Never does North Texas see snow twice in less than 2 months and rarely in a year at that. All that to say it was very exciting! We went to the Nature Center hoping to get some landscapes but arrived too late as they closed early. I took this on the side of the road at the Nature Center gate, nothing special but it does give the feel of what we had. Hope you like it.

Image Data:
1/160s. | f/11 | ISO 400
EF-S 17-55mm at 17mm
Click image to view larger size.

American Goldfinch 3

2010-02-08T16:57:00.005-06:00

Here is American Goldfinch image number three taken in my backyard on Saturday. This is probably my favorite AG shot taken so far. I hope that you too like it! The weather here has turned rainy again, there might be a break tomorrow, but it will stay cloudy until Friday. I ordered an external flash and Better Beamer today and cannot wait to get them and try them out.

Image Data:
1/640th. | f/8 | ISO 250
Click image to view larger size.

American Goldfinch 2

2010-02-06T10:42:00.005-06:00

Here is another bird image taken in my backyard, this one from this morning. This morning has been my most productive morning of trying to get good shots of the American Goldfinches
that visit my yard daily. I got shots of them on two different perches. I hope that I can get some even better ones now that they are cooperating with me! What do you think of this one?

Image Data:
1/500s. | f/8 | ISO 250

Important! Click image for full view, blogger is not showing the whole image for some reason!

Greater Yellowlegs in Habitat

2010-02-04T10:38:00.003-06:00

It has been cloudy and wet most of this week, so not a lot of shooting has been done. The sun did come out Tuesday afternoon so I headed over to the reservoir for a couple of hours. I did not see much aside from the usual's, except for this Greater Yellowlegs. I was was waiting for some Savannah sparrow's to come out of some high grass ( they never did ) when I heard the yellowlegs calling overhead. I watched him land about 50-80 yards away from where I was. I started to slowly approach him using the high grasses as cover when I could. I got to within about 20 yards from him and took a few photos, this is one of them. I took a few more steps and that spooked him. Next time, now that I know he is around, I will wait at one of the pools of water or the creek and see if I cannot get a better shot. As disappointed as I was for failing to get a more frame filling image, I still like this image showing the birds surroundings.
Let me know what you think.

Image Data:
1/800s. | f/8 | ISO 400
Click image to see larger size

American Goldfinch

2010-01-27T13:11:00.004-06:00

Here is another photo from my " Backyard Bird Series " I have decided to start. This one of a American Goldfinch. I now have up to 10 goldfinches at my feeders every morning and the numbers are slowly growing week by week. I wish for a better background here, I actually have a great setup for them, but they have not used it yet. I have a new setup for the Junco's as well and they have used it, but the weather has not cooperated, hopefully I will get a chance when the sun supposedly will re-appear on Saturday. Hope you like this one!

Image Data:
1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 250
Click image for larger size!

Dark - Eyed Junco

2010-01-21T19:21:00.003-06:00

Here is a image taken this morning in my backyard. I have anywhere from 5 to 10 Dark-Eyed Juncos in my backyard every morning. I have been trying to find good perches and ways to get them on the perches for a couple of weeks now and have finally succeeded. While I am still looking for better perches I am glad that they are at least using the ones I have up! This was taken in the shade, so I added some fill flash to try and bring out some detail. I am hoping to get some sunlight for the next ones tomorrow. So, I hope you like it.

Image Data:
1/100s. | f/8 | ISO 200| Fill Flash
Click image to see larger size.

Rock on Beach - Acadia National Park, Maine

2010-01-14T14:17:00.003-06:00

Here is an image taken back in October from my trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. This one was taken at Sand Beach. I am not sure if many will like it so I would love to hear your thoughts. I like it, but would like it even more, I think, if I had placed the rock more in the lower right corner. I converted it to B&W since the color version was boring. I made it out to the Fort Worth Nature Center on Monday to see what was around. I saw a lot of Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, some Goldfinches and I spent about an hour with some Cedar Waxwings waiting for them to perch in a good spot where I could get a clear photo of them, but did not have any luck. I saw very few ducks due to the lake still being frozen over from the arctic blast we had last week. The only species I saw were some Northern Shoveler's and I think some Pintail that were flying overhead. The weather is warmer and all ice has melted, so I am hoping to get back out there on Monday and see if I can find the Bobcat.
Anyway, I hope you like this image.

Image Data: 1/8's | f/22 | ISO 125
EF-S 17-55mm

I am a winner!

2009-12-31T23:17:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone, I am very proud to announce that my photo of a Least Sandpiper has been selected as the Youth winner in the first ever Audubon Magazine Photography Competition!
I entered the competition never thinking I would get to the finals let alone win. You have most likely seen the photo since I have posted it here more than once. But if you haven't, then you can view it here. I hope that everyone has a very Happy New Year!

White Christmas

2009-12-28T14:45:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone,
I hope everyone had a great Christmas, I certainly did. What made this Christmas a very unique and special one is the fact that for the first time in my life I experienced a White Christmas! A blizzard in fact. I have lived in North Texas my whole life ( just 17 years, but still this was big ) and never before had I seen snow, much less inches of the stuff on this Holiday. I have seen it on Valentines Day and other times in between December and April but never on Christmas. It started on Christmas Eve and snowed non stop all day. There are still patches and a few small drifts left over which is also amazing since snow around here never lasts more than 24 hours and it has been 4 days since it began! There is talk of more snow on Tuesday, but I know it will be nothing like the previous event. Anyway, I took this image from the car at the park near my house. I did not really get to spend much time on this shot, but I was really pleased in the way it turned out when I loaded it onto the computer. I converted it to B&W and like the result, but would love to hear your opinions. Hope you like it!

Image Data:
1/100s. | f/11 | ISO 200
17-55mm @ 55mm
Click image for larger size.

White Tail Buck

2009-12-14T11:45:00.004-06:00

Here is another image taken at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge last week. This one of a White Tail Deer. We were driving out of the refuge when this big fella started walking across the road about 50 yards in front of us. We slowly approached him as he took refuge in the high grasses along the side of the road. I took several shots from the car and this was probably the best. As we were stopped he decided to cross again to the other side in front of the car and joined a doe waiting in some brush for him. Something was playing tricks on my camera and I was getting some weird readings hince the odd exposure specs. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Image Data: 1/125s. | f/8 | ISO 320
Click image to see larger size.

American Bison

2009-12-09T19:03:00.005-06:00

I finally made it out for some shooting today at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge with my mom. The refuge is about 15 minutes from my house. The weather was very chilly and got cloudy when I arrived, so not much was photographed, go figure. There was a lot of activity and most birds were fairly easy to get close to. I cannot wait to get back out there on a sunny day, hopefully Monday. As we were driving out past the Bison range the sun peeked out between some clouds for all of one minute, enough for me to get a few snaps of this Bison. I like the light here with the dark clouds in the background. Only nit for me were the stems of grass in his face, I have got to look for these things when composing the image! I hope you like it anyway.

Data: 1/200s. | f/8 | ISO 200 | Full Frame
Click image for larger size!

American Wigeon

2009-12-04T13:46:00.004-06:00

Hello All,
Longtime no post! Sorry. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I still have yet to get out for some shooting this week. The weather here has turned winter'ish, very chilly temps and even an inch of snow on Wednesday! That usually does not happen this early here in north Texas. I need to enjoy while it lasts. The Dark-Eyed Juncos have returned to my backyard, so I hope to get some images of them soon. For now here is a image of some American Wigeon taken at the reservoir back in October. I cloned out some parts of other flying Wigeon that that were poking out from behind these three. I liked the pose's of this trio, especially the one in front with its mouth open. Let me know what you think! Hopefully I will have some new images to share soon.

Image Data: 1/1250s. | f/8 | ISO 250
Click image for larger size!

Portrait of a Swan Goose

2009-11-19T11:31:00.005-06:00

I have not been out lately for any photography, I have had a busy week so far. But here is the promised Swan Goose image taken at White Rock Lake last week. There were a lot of these geese and it was very hard to get a photo of one without including another in the frame. I finally was able to get some of this individual who wandered away from the others to preen. I am really hoping to get back there soon for some more serious photography. Hopefully I can get out to the reservoir this weekend for some shooting before some family arrives from out of town for Thanksgiving.
Anyway, hope you like this one.

Image Data: 1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 400

American White Pelican

2009-11-11T13:39:00.002-06:00

I was able to get over to White Rock Lake yesterday, but was only there for less than an hour. It was basically a scouting trip to see what species are at the lake right now. I saw ton's of American White Pelicans as well as Snow Geese and hundreds of American Coots. I also saw two American Kestrels and some Ruddy Ducks sleeping. This shot of the Pelican along with a portrait of the Goose were the only images that are worth sharing, I will share the Goose one later. I am hoping to get out there again soon at a better time when there is some better light.

Image Data: 1/3200s | f/8 | ISO 400