Post Your Best Nature Shots!

[George Slusher]

I finally put up some bird feeders in December. The feeders are right outside my office window so that I can see them by turning my head to the right. I keep a Canon S3 IS (superzoom point-and-shoot) on the desk. I recently got a used 50D that has become my primary DSLR, so I put my 70-200mm f/4L IS on my 30D and keep it by the desk, as well.


Most of the visitors are the standard bunch--goldfinches, house finches
& chickadees at the tube feeder, bushtits and chickadees on the
suet feeder, juncos and various sparrow species (song, chipping,
savannah, and house) at the ground feeder, with the occasional scrub
jay. (The jays actually try to use the tube feeder, as well, without
much success. I have seen a junco on the tube feeder perch, but most
are too big/fat and can't turn their heads enough to get into the
feeder. I've even seen one starling attempt to get food out of the
tube.) I've seen one bird of prey--may have been a merlin--and a hummingbird (one species, Anna's, winters here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon), but they've not stayed long enough for a photo. These two guys (both are males) did stick around long enough. The first two photos are of a Varied Thrush, a rather colorful bird.








This was taken in the morning, but it was overcast. Auto WB turned out a bit blue and the photo was a bit dark, so I used DIgital Photo Professional to work on the RAW image. I pumped up the exposure 0.5 and chose "Cloudy" WB. The picture style was "Landscape," with saturation at +2 and sharpness at 4. (This is my standard setting for nature shots.) I then clicked on "Tone Curve Assist" in the RGB tab. I cropped in DPP and saved as a JPEG, then used Graphic Converter to scale to 750 pixels wide and applied a little bit of unsharp mask--a good idea when scaling down. Canon 30D, Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS @ 200mm, ISO 400, f/4, 1/160 sec.











This was taken today in better light, so I left the exposure and WB alone. All I did was crop and scale to 750 pixels wide with a bit of unsharp mask. Canon 30D, Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS @ 200mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, style Lanscape with Sat +2, sharpness 4.


The next is an Evening Grosbeak, taken with the Canon S3 IS @ 67.4mm (35mm equiv 404mm), ISO 200 (the S3 isn't as good at higher ISO as the 30D), f/3.5, 1/125 sec. Only processing was to crop and scale.














These suffer a bit from being taken through a double-paned insulated window that's a bit dirty on the outside, thanks in part to an industrious spider.

[Rocco]

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1/100 sec. f /16 ISO-100; 300mm -- Taken with my Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SP Di VC on a Rebel XT body.

[bob williams]

Ok, No where near my best, not even good, infact its a lousy shot, but one I have been trying to get for 3 years---So I had to share it.


These guys are tough to get. This is about a 100% crop Canon 7D, 100-400L

[HDNitehawk]

Bob


Congratz finally getting a pic of one, I know how hard these guys are even to see. Did you call him in or was it a chance encounter. Will they allow you to set up a blind and call where you take pictures?


Rick

[bob williams]

---This was a chance encounter. They are supposed to be pretty common in the Bosque, but this is only the second time I have seen one in 3 years. However, yopu commonly see sign where they have found dinner--such as pieces of bird or rabbit on the trail. As far as a blind, there is no specific exclusion as long as you are on or near an authorized trail. In fact, I have a couple of spots picked out that I do plan on setting up when it gets a little warmer---But I have to be careful when useing a predator call:


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Although, the photog in me says go for it---I would love to get one of these guys. Infact I had even thought about baiting with a rabbit and a predator call, but I think there is somekind photography ethics I would be violating ---So I'll just set up the blind, use a predator call and hope one doesn't see the rustling in the blind and mistake it for dinner. Mountain lion hunting is legal in this state and several of my friends have offered to take me on a hunt where they use dogs to tree the cat---But I put down my rifle a long time ago and now have a real distaste for that sort of thing--So I have passed on those offers.


Bob

[dsiegel5151]

Looks like a Bobcat to me. Look at his/her ears (i.e., black pointed tips). Plus his face looks patterned, flat, he/she doesn

[bob williams]

Looks like a Bobcat to me. Look at his/her ears (i.e., black pointed tips). Plus his face looks patterned, flat, he/she doesn't have the white muzzle, and has white highlights around the eyes. In my opinion, a much cooler siting than a mountain lion. I've only ever seen one.
<div style="CLEAR: both"]</div>

Yep---Is a bobcat---He/she was skirting along a shrub line when I saw it, got out of the truck as quiet as I could and followed it for a few seconds, and it decided to take cover and watch me---This was shot about 40-50 Yards away--

[HDNitehawk]

<div>Bob</div>


I was thinking bobcat to. I am not sure I would want to try and call in a mountain lion. Although a mountain lion might come to the call it creates several problems:

1. The most obvious problem is that you just called a mountain lion to you
2. You have just taught the mountain lion to equate wounded prey with a human
3. Calling one in would be difficult as their range covers hundreds and hundreds of square miles.

Another option would be this, some areas allow you to use the dogs to hunt when its not the legal time of year to take one. You could go on a catch and release hunt, however to me the pictures brought back wouldn't be as good as if you found one undisturbed doing what a mountain lion does (which is hopefully not eating you). I am thinking the new 600mm lens with the 2x extender for 1200mm would be the appropriate focal length.


I was thinking bobcat, whose area is just several square miles. I had one on my property for a number of years and saw him on a regular basis. It would have been possible to have some luck calling him in because daily he was going to pass the area.


Rick

[bob williams]

1. The most obvious problem is that you just called a mountain lion to you
2. You have just taught the mountain lion to equate wounded prey with a human
3. Calling one in would be difficult as their range covers hundreds and hundreds of square miles.

Rick, Solid points. I have given this much thought and your points valid---especially #1. Regarding #2, this is where the hunter/photographer has to take some responsibility, and I have considered it. I wouldn't seek to call lions, in a tourist area such as the BDA---but might consider it in the mountains where human traffic is limited. #3---this is the real problem, and I don't really have a plan for this----Just do a lot of research and hope for a little luck---and as always, be prepared to sit quietly for hours.


To maintain distance I have been looking at some remotely operated electronic calls--This way I can maintain distance from the source of the sound and set up for best view and lighting.----Of course an 800 with an extender would be optimal[:P]


Thanks for the input


Bob

[ddt0725]

Caught this little guy eyeing the bird feeders I just put out ...it sure doesn't take them long to come investigating!