Wildlife Photography across the Water: Monday Blog

Monday, 16 April 2012

Monday Blog

Its been strange not having to come up with a new blog every couple of days, I have decided that i will post a new blog every Monday, That way there should be more and better content and having a schedule to work to will keep me on my toes,
Camera wise it seems that Canon has announced that there is a genuine problem with the 5D3 and is working on a fox, Not sure if that will be a recall which i think that it may be, Either way i would think that 5D3 sales have come to a halt, People in the Nikon camp are saying that the left hand AF points are not accurate when used with a F1.4 lens wide open, I don't have any lenses that fast so cant test it, I have seen various people prove it so i am guessing that may be a real problem for Nikon if it proves to be a badly aligned sensor-The joys of a new model, I did test out to see if there were hot pixels in a long exposure which i had heard was a problem, I went to Falls lake on a hot,windy day and put on a 10 stop and 3 stop filter to get a 30 second shutter speed-No problems what so ever
No Filter

With Filters

It was very windy as you can see by the trees in this crop

Once again i have been plagued by tics, I walked about 20 feet into the woodland at the bottom of my garden and within 10 minutes i had picked 6 tics off of me, A couple of days later i went into the woods to see if i could find the fox den and when i came out i went for a bath as in the woods it was hot and steamy and there was a large tic buried into my hip, I got the tic out but a few days later there is a red bump where the tic was so time to keep an eye on it just incase, What i did find in the woods was a nice red bellied woodpeckers nest so i set up and got a few images, I think that the woodies are on eggs as they stayed in the nest for 20 minutes at a time, Give it a couple of weeks and there should be little heads poking out of the hole and i will again be back for those images

I have managed a few sessions in the night for the garden critters, The fox,deer and opossum are regulars but i haven't seen the Raccoons for a while, I sat and watched the fox feed but still not got into the position that i want so i haven't pressed the shutter, The opossum on the other hand has been quite photogenic and i have plenty of new images

All images taken with the D800, I did try the video out one evening when waiting for the fox, The deer were coming and going, The video quality is excellent and i just need to work out a way to post it
So thats me for this week

Dave

2 comments:

Graham16 April 2012 at 23:28
The bug issue is one thing that we take for granted in UK - a mate just returned from Oz and was telling about all of the hazards and bugs he had to avoid in the bush there. Variety is one thing, but getting stung, bitten or eaten is another .....
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WPATW17 April 2012 at 18:38
Hi Graham
Its totally different here to Europe,Firstly i Europe you dont have to worry about treading on snakes, there are a few here, Mainly non venomous around my garden but there is a good chance of a copperhead which would be very nasty, I tend to walk looking down which is a pain but safer, I need to get some snake boots,Tics and mozzies are a real pain, I have now had 2 buried, Yesterday my wife extracted one from my calf and i was only gardening, The weather is getting hotter, today its around 85 and soon the humidity will start and then there will be lots of things that will want to bite you,Still prefer it to the UK
Dave
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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.