Wildlife Photography across the Water: harlequin ducks

Monday, 18 January 2010

Trip Report-New Jersey-Harlequin Duck Gallery

I thought it might be better to split the trip into photo galleries as there were soo many good oppotunities with various species of duck and fox, The main reason for my trip was to shoot wintering Harlequin ducks so i will start there, All my shooting of sea birds was done in Manual mode, The reason for this is to get consistant exposures, Rolling/crashing waves will cause under and over exposure in any other mode due to to changing tones i.e white wave tips and then dark water will try and fool any cameras metering whereas the light falling on the birds is a constant, I was also shooting white long tailed ducks and black surf scoters again something that would cause exposure problems in an auto mode, There was a tower out at sea that was off white in colour and i would take a test shot of that and adjust my metering as needed, Mostly the setting was -1/3 to -2/3, I mainly used the D3 with a 1.4x or 1.7x extender with the 600VR lens, I also used the D300 with a 1.4x and 600VR as this allowed some extra crop and faster focusing over the D3 and 1.7x combo, The 1.7x does slow the AF alot so at all times when waiting for action i had the camera focused at distance so it would grab the bird flying towards me quicker, Getting good images of fast flying ducks takes alot of practice, By keeping the lens focused at distance and then following the bird flying towards me at distance gave the camera time to lock on and then track the bird allowing me to just pan as the birds flew nearby and take shots when it looked good in the view finder, The harlequins didnt fly as much as the other birds but i did get a few chances in which i converted a couple into good sharp images, Some images are full frame whilst a few are cropped

Dave

Saturday, 16 January 2010

A Great Trip-New Jersey 1

I arrived back from New Jersey after a boring 9 hr road trip, A big thankyou to Martin for keeping things ticking over whilst i was away and a big thankyou to Jim for the use of his beach house, I tried various places but just couldnt get any internet access so i will break down the trip over the next few blogs,
It wasnt until the other day that i realised that its been a while since i have been away on my own and i really enjoyed the freedom of coming and going where and when i wanted, I chopped and changed my plans as the week and conditions changed and i got some fantastic results, The weather was great but extremly cold, 14 degrees one morning with a high of 34, I was out from before light until dark, I shot a variety of birds from harlequin ducks, Red Breasted Merganser, Long Tailed Ducks, Surf Scoters,loons and waders to landscapes and even fox, I managed to find good places to shoot Robin and Waxwing as well, In the first 3 days i shot 44 gigs of images, I met lots of other photographers and some from forums that i use which was great, The new boots that i mentioned before worked great and although i was out 10 hours a day in freezing conditions i never once suffered from cold feet,So time to download and start processing, So heres a taster until next time

Dave

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.