Wildlife Photography across the Water: D7000 Back to reality

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

D7000 Back to reality

Its all very well testing cameras and looking at the images at 100%, However its in the real world that interests me, Dont get me wrong its important to know that the IQ is good and that your focusing is spot on but for me thats where it ends, There are a lot of people better qualified than me to do the testing, It seems everybody these days has a blog and as soon as a new camera comes out there are a million tests done and most of them vary from one degree to another,
Last night i decided to get the flash gear out and set up in my garden and hope that a fox,raccoon or opposum would chance by, I have left a few morcels out every night to tempt them in, I thought that i would again use the D7000 as the shutter is soo quiet it would lend itself perfectly for this kind of work, Especially the Grey Fox that are extremely timid
I entered the hide around 6.45pm and at 7.30pm a fox ran into my garden from the farm next door and instantly ran out, I thought that maybe this wouldn't have to be a long session and that it would return soon as it has done in the past-wrong-i didn't see it again, I waited until 9pm and by now it was pretty cold and thought that i would maybe call it a day and go get some dinner when there was a commotion behind my hide and a deer came out of the wood and fed on some corn i had next to the hide, The deer was less than 6 feet from me and that meant i could not move or barely breathe without spooking it, I like to have deer around as their ears are always on the alert and are certainly better than mine, The deer stayed about 20 minutes eating the corn 1 or 2 pieces at a time, It kept looking up and to my right and i had a feeling something else was around when all of a sudden it bolted and a raccoon came into the garden and went straight to my baited area, I gave it a minute and then managed 2 images before a neighbour opened their door and let their dog out-The joys of living in a built up area and the reason our house is now on the market,
I have shot raccoon before with both the D3s and D300, The D7000 faired very well-lots of detail and i dont think anybody would be too upset with the end product
Full image

And a very big crop

Images taken with a D7000 with Nikon 200-400+1.4x on a Gitzo 1548 tripod with wimberley head and 3 Nikon SB600 flashguns (which maybe could have been better set up) Hide

Dave

4 comments:

mark wood2 November 2010 at 22:59
Dave, when you use your flash for these environments and they go off, do they stun the wildlife briefly or do they just bolt as soon as it fires?

Mark W
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Dave3 November 2010 at 14:47
Hi Mark
It depends on the animal,The opossums take no notice whatsoever unless you fire to many of at once, The raccoons seem to tolerate the flash as long as you give them some time to feed first but the fox jumps out of its skin every time the flash goes off and backs off but normally will carefully make its way back to the area, I tend to let them have a snack and relax before taking a shot, Once they know there is food there they normally tolerate the bright lights

Dave
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mark wood3 November 2010 at 18:47
Amazing Dave thanks for that really interesting.
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Unknown11 November 2010 at 13:31
Beautiful!
Can you shared the settings such as the f stop, and was this at the far end of the lens?
Is the reason for no red eye your 3 flash set up?
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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.