Believe me, I didn't set out to, it just happened. After missing the chance with the foxes I don't leave the house without a camera any more. And what do you know - it paid off this morning! Of course, I have some laundry to do now...
(click images for larger view)
I ran into this guy just a few minutes into our morning walk. Sky was mixed haze and clouds, lighting was soft most of the time. My dogs and I had just crossed the street on the north end of the lake, and were turning west when I glanced down as saw him - just like you see him here.
I froze, whispered to the dogs to sit still (they didn't get it) and prayed the bird wouldn't fly away while I was getting the camera ready (note to self: 1st rule, bring your camera, 2nd rule: GET IT SET UP BEFORE YOU LEAVE).
First things first, get a shot "in the can" before it flies away. Quite the challenge cause one dog is pulling to go sniff the grass and the other is using my calf as a rubbing post to scratch his muzzle. Nice shot though, huh?!
I was afraid to move directly toward the bird just to get it's feet in the shot, and I knew there was a better angle anyway, so we moved ever so slowly down the grassy slope, angling away, and got lucky. He didn't move an inch.
I sat down in the grass to minimize my presence, but mostly to give myself a stable platform by propping my elbows on my knees. I got several shots of him just sitting the looking left, then right, then back left and back.... .... (sad, what I'll do for humor's sake, huh?!).Nice shots, but the one on the grassy knoll looked just as good, so I chose it for this post.
I'd shoot a few, scootch down a tad closer and shoot more of the same. I finally got close enough to bother him (her?), cause he turned and sauntered off. We followed (my dogs were doing great once they got the hang of it!) to see what would happen next.
I'm watching him through the viewfinder when movement to my left catches my eye. Another Heron (the tall skinny kind) swoops in and lands right next to this guy and starts fishing. Caught a great one of him, but things happened so fast I couldn't change camera settings to get both birds in focus. So I shot what I could, and as I'm trying to changes settings he takes off...
During the short time Big Bird was there, Little Bird is snubbing him. He didn't move, looking off to his right till Big Bird walked off around the corner and out of view.
Little Bird turns back toward the water and spends some time preening his feathers (or scratching an itch - who knows, I don't know birds):
I guess we moved in too close or too much. While I was resetting my position Little Bird flew away. I thought we were done, and we climbed up the hill and resumed our walk. Crossed a small bridge and what do you know, there he was on the other side. This is the closest I've been to him, and despite the fact he's partially hidden behind some tall grass I caught this shot:
I could have cropped this into a head shot, but I actually like the sense of hiding inside a pocket of foliage, so I kept it as I shot it.
Ok, so you've seen all these nice images, all nicely focused (except the 2-bird shot) yes? I shot these with my 100-400 Image Stabilizing (IS) lens so you'd expect them to be sharply focused. However, throughout the time working these birds I thought I must have the zitters cause I couldn't seem to hold the camera steady. I worried that none of these shots were going to turn out.
Half way through the remainder of the walk it hit me, so I checked. Sure enough, IS was turned off!! Geez, how could I have missed that?! (Rule 2B: be sure to check ALL your settings!!!).
I've mentioned to some that I'm struggling with this lens/body combination - seems to give me soft focus no matter what I do. Imagine my surprise to see that over 80% of these pictures were focused better than any images I've shot with IS on...
Hmmmm....... Well, I'll ponder that while I'm washing the grass stains outa my clothes...
Hope you enjoy.
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