Post your best current shots

Yesterday afternoon I went to my favorite place by the sea for a moment of piece and quiet after a busy day at work. Of course I brought my camera. There were unusually many swans hanging around in the late afternoon sun and some of them were posing nicely.


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I was close to getting a really nice "swan heart" picture but they wouldn't cooperate all the way. This one is the closest I got. (Tempting to do a little PS cheating but it just wouldn't be the same.)


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Just around sunset I headed home and suddenly I heard the characteristic sound (quite loud) of a flying swan behind me. I turned around and saw it pass just a couple of meters on my left. Unfortunately I was too slow and only got a shot from behind of it heading asea.


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All photos taken with 500D/24-105 IS, uncropped except for some horizon levelling. Thanks for viewing!

Been super busy with stuff the last couple weeks and hardly have taken the camera out of the house. Here were a couple from the back yard the last day we had over 30 degrees.


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Taken with 7D, 70-200mm f4 IS, kenko 1.4x TC. Last one had 2 Kenko 1.4x TC stacked.

Doesn't happen very often. Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time.


They are very rare around here. TodayI managed to get a picture of the very rare wood duck.


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The bokeh was soft and creamy and dappled with soft light, I was pretty happy with this shot.


But why was I so lucky? Sure I was prepared, I had been waiting in my "hide" for ages. But why did he pick my back yard?


I'll never know, he just marched on in.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5097/...904059c4_b.jpg


Ya gotta love those marchin'boots on the old wood duck.


I know I probably should have posted this in the "best bird shots", but some of those guys wait for days to get a shot of a rare bird like this.[:D]


Thanks for viewing.


Steve

Jayson, what is the black and blue bird? looks fantastic, we dont get them over here, (UK), it's a bit like our jackdaw?


And Steve, you are lucky to be in the right place at the right time there, we get plent of wood pidgeons, but the duck is very elusive, well done!

Steve, I'm afraid you have misidentified your visitor. Wood ducks look like this (male on left, female on right). I have never seen one. You might have been referring to the Australian wood duck, which looks like this.

In either case, I think the features in your picture, especially the shape of the bill, the body size, the plumage and the footwear, rule out the possibility of it being any sort of "wood duck". I think what you captured was the remarkably common "wooden duck". If it has to wear those boots everywhere, it will soon become a lame duck.

Ade is right about wood pigeons, they are common visitors to British gardens. This one visited my garden yesterday. I couldn't get a clear shot through the kitchen window, but you only really need a clear shot for clay pigeons.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5110/...8aa67ee7_b.jpg
1D Mark IV, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 2000

Hit up Bryce Canyon on Thursday. I absolutely love the southwest! There are so many beautiful landscapes to capture! Also, while walking through Zion the other day I saw so many people with $1,000+ cameras and $1,000+ lenses and it was making me very jealous as I only had my T2i with the 18-55mm kit lens. Then I realized that they where all shooting in "Auto" mode with their little pop up flashes going off while they are trying to photograph something hundreds of yards away and it made me feel much better [:P]


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Impressive looking place there Baker, and a nice pic, just goes to show, its not what you got, its what you do with it! My only criticism would be, you should have used the pop up flash [:D]LOL.

@Baker, nice shot, majestic landscape you have there.


@Andy, now I "wooden" want to get in an argument about the provenance of my wood duck. Your pictures are impressive, I think my duck may be a little short of full winter plumage.


BTW, nice line about the clay pigeon. [:D]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ade

My only criticism would be, you should have used the pop up flash [img]/emoticons/emotion-2.gif[/img]LOL.

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Looking back I think it would have really helped fill in those shadows [;)]


And thanks for the kind words

Steve, loving those shots. Always wanted to visit Australia, never had the opportunity though.





Here are some shots you may be able to relate to more than most of the people who follow this thread. I play rugby at a high school level in Minnesota, and a few of my coaches are on St. Paul's team, the St. Paul Pigs, so I went to their match today and got some pretty good shots.





All of these were shot with a Canon T1i and my 70mm-210mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens.


Visit comalleyphotography.com for much more.


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