Project 365 - Day 177 - Seagull

Today I was back at Coronation Park in Oakville.  I wanted to get my summer shot of my tree, but the sky was just not right.  I noticed this guy sitting under the picnic shelter, and his friends were all walking around.  They were waiting for their dinner from nearby picnickers.

I threw on my 70-200mm and started shooting as I was walking towards him.  Eventually he did get up and fly away, but it was funny - he refused to make eye contact with me.  He even turned his head so I was coming up on his blind spot.  Very trusting I guess ...

Shot with my Sigma 70-200mm lens at 200mm.  ISO 400,f/6.3 and 1/80s shutter.  Hand held, but OS-1 on.

Project 365 - Day 174 - Supermoon

This is a shot from Coronation Park in Oakville tonight.  I used ND filters in front of the lens.  I used an ND6 and an ND9 to get the moon dark enough to see detail while retaining the reflection.  I had to also clone out a lot of artifacts which happens when you are shooting into a light source. I

Shot with my Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 at 1/640s shutter.  ISO400.

Project 365 - Day 170 - The Ugly Duckling...

I went down to Oakville Harbour today to watch the sailboats and maybe get a few shots in.  It was really busy on the pier with foot traffic and guys fishing.  I ended up getting some shots, but the sailboats were tearing down and coming in to dock so there are not a lot of usable ones.  What a beautiful day though.

While I was on the pier, a pair of swans swam right by me.  I had my 70-200mm lens on so I got a couple of shots off of these guys.  This swan was actually swimming toward shore with the sun in his face.  The sun lit him perfectly.  You can see his little black feet paddling along, these guys can move fast!

Sigma 70-200mm lens at 200mm and f/6.3  1/2000s shutter and the ISO is 800.

Project 365 - Day 167 - Turkey Vulture

Father's day picnic at Kelso today.  It's tradition on my wife's side, the whole family gets together at least this one time every year.  It was looking pretty crappy for most of the morning, but then we got word from family that lives in Milton that it was clearing up so we packed up the van and off we went.

We were a little late starting, but most of the family and in-laws of the family made it out.  It was a great day.  The annual soccer match broke out once again, and once again the younger kids showcased their moves and showed the older generation how it's done.  It was great weather and great fun with great company.

So the shot of the day is actually one that I have been wanting to get long before I got my long lens.  It's a turkey vulture that was flying around for the better part of the day.  There were 7 of these guys at one time, all circling an area beside our picnic area.  They weren't posing much of a threat to us, but man are they ever cool when they fly.

This is shot with my Sigma 70-200 at 185mm.  ISO is 800 and the shutter is 1/2000 at f/6.3.  I should have lowered the ISO, but I wanted to make sure the shutter was fast enough to stop the action.  You can see the bird's red head in this shot.  I was almost directly under the bird during this path.

I cropped this shot for content.  The sky was that colour and it was that clear.

Beauty day.

Project 365 - Day 165 - Shoot the moon

Over the past couple of nights the moon has been a sliver of itself.  I really wanted to get a shot of the quarter moon, or even smaller, but the clouds and life got in the way - mostly clouds though, those suckers move fast!

I had a shot in my pocket from earlier today that I got of a squirrel.  Mr squirrel only let me get one shot off before bolting away, but I at least had that one.  But then Sonia pointed out the nice clear skies and the fact that the moon was still in quarter-ish phase.  So I grabbed my camera with my trusty 70-200mm lens and shot away.

ISO400, Sigma 70-200mm lens at 200mm.  Shutter is 1/250 and aperture is f/2.8.  I love this lens...
In post, I cropped about 70% of the shot out to bring the moon closer.  I need a teleconverter for this lens.  Santa, are you listening?  :-)

Project 365 - Day 163 - Pink Flowers

I took the rest of this week off to get some yardwork done as our weekends seem to be chock full of other engagements.  Same thing every year.  I think Sonia does it on purpose to avoid helping out with the heavy lifting ... :-)

It was quite hot today, so I took a couple of water breaks in the shade in the backyard.  I have learned to have my camera nearby.  I saw this bumblebee buzzing around these pink flowers, and figured I would get a shot of that.  Well, he took off before I could get a clean shot, but I did take a couple of "set up" shots to make sure I had the focus right and the proper depth of field.  This is one of those set up shots.

I really like this lens ...

Shot with my 70-200mm lens at 200mm.  1/400s shutter at f/5.6  ISO is 800.  No flash, no tripod.

Project 365 - Day 158 - Rockin Robin

I was trying to figure out what to shoot today.  I opened the back door for inspiration and I saw a very cool looking robin bouncing around.  He was a big bird, not your typical robin.  He has a lot of grey on his breast and his feathers are very detailed in their colour scheme.  I have seen a lot of robins in my life, but this guy was by far the coolest.

I asked him to pose for me, he took this position in front of our lilies.  He would not look directly at the camera, nor would he face me.  I tried to get closer, but he ended up flying off.  Strange, robins aren't usually that shy of humans - and this guy seems to have been on the planet for a couple of years so he should be more used to us.  But then again, he might have been talking to that stinking cardinal ... :-)

 

Shot with my Sigma 70-200mm at 200mm.  f/4.5 and 1/40 of a sec.  OS is on, and I was hand holding this.  I only got off two shots before he flew away.

Project 365 - Day 157 - Japanese Maple

Also known as a bloodgood, this is one of my favourite trees.  It is slow growing, so you can plant it and leave it be for a long time without having to prune or cut it back.  We have two of these, and one is the centrepiece of our back garden.  He's the subject today.

As I was letting Brodie outside today, I was thinking about what to shoot.  I noticed the way that the seeds are hanging off the branches of this tree, and with the grey sky and light rain it looked really cool.  So I grabbed my camera and took some shots.

I used my 70-200mm lens as it has Image Stabilization and I can get a pretty big aperture on this guy to blur out the other goings-on in the backyard.

Here's the shot:

Sigma 70-200mm lens zoomed in to 200mm .  Aperture at f/4.5  ISO 1250 and the shutter is at 1/40s

Project 365 - Day 155 - Red Necked Grebes

So the birds that I was referring to yesterday are Red Necked Grebes.  They are duck-like birds.  I have never seen these guys before, and again this is another benefit of this project I have undertaken.  Click here to learn more about them.

When I got there today, I had company.  Along with the five other photographers, there were at least fourty Canadian Geese there as well, walking around the grass like they owned the place.  They are not afraid of humans, but I assume they would get cross if you approached.  I think they were jealous of the attention the grebes were getting - like my starling yesterday.

The birds I saw today are a nesting pair.  What I assume is the female is on the nest while the male is gathering parts for the nest.  But as in humans, the male kept getting distracted by shiny things in the water and swam off a couple of times while his mate tended the nest.

This shot was taken just as he was hightailing it back to the nest, but he had been swimming under the water just prior to this shot.

Shot with my 70-200 Sigma at 200mm and f/5.6  1/1000 shutter speed.  Hand held, with Optical Stabilization on.

Project 365 - Day 154 - Birdbath

Today, while trying to get some shots of another kind of bird, this little starling flew right in front of me and started taking a bath.  I was able to get a bunch of shots of him as he splashed around in the water among the rocks.  When he figured I had enough shots, he flew off.

Thank you Mr Starling.

Oh, and the other bird?  It's a type of duck that I have to look up.  I have to shoot it again as the light was not very nice.  It should be the subject of tomorrow's post - as long as I get a good shot of them.

ISO400, 70-200mm lens at 200mm.  Shutter was 1/125s and the aperture is f/5.6.

Project 365 - Day 152 - My new toy

At the Henry's Exposure show yesterday, I picked up a new toy.  It's a 70-200mm lens, a good long one.  It has a fixed max aperture of f/2.8, which means it's nice and fast.  It's the older cousin to my 24-70mm Nikon lens.

I went with the Sigma mainly because I liked the look and feel of the lens.  Also, it was lighter than the Nikon - but it's still very heavy.  Today when I went out I got to Oakville Harbour, there was a tonne of fog and no lgiht was making it's way through.  It was quite dark.  This lens had no problem focusing in on the birds as I was panning across.

I got this tern (common tern) this morning.  I have been to this spot twice now and watched these guys fish.  It's quite entertaining seeing how they fly around looking down at the water, then with a flick of the wing they are diving headlong into the water.  More often than not they come up empty, but every once in a while they come up with a little fish.

When I saw that I got the shot, I was giddy.  Then I zoomed in on the shot and noticed he had a fish.  Score!  :-)

70-200mm Sigma Lens zoomed right out to 200mm, no stabilization and handheld.  1/320 shutter at f/2.8  ISO was 800