Wild life, bird watching and photography

[Raphael GolezParticipant @raphaelgolez]

Does anyone here do wildlife and bird photography or bird watching?

[Raphael GolezParticipant @raphaelgolez]

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Not bird watching in the true sense but do enjoy watching the birds that visit the bird feeder we have in the garden.

Edited By Derek Lane on 08/09/2021 15:30:48

[JAParticipant @ja]

Yes, in not too serious manner.

My avatar image is my own work. It is a drake Pintail in spring, breeding, plumage.

Enough said. This is hardly model engineering.

JA

[SaxalbyParticipant @saxalby]

Been known to lurk in the forests to get a few pics

[Raphael GolezParticipant @raphaelgolez]

Great to hear that you guys enjoy bird watching or wild life photography. I will share several of my photos here.

Curlew

Optics: 500mm f/4 P ED IF

Manual Focus and hand held panning

1/4000s, ISO 6400, f/6.3

Stunning bird, but I gather that they are threatened UK species.

[Raphael GolezParticipant @raphaelgolez]

Posted by Saxalby on 08/09/2021 16:49:53:

Been known to lurk in the forests to get a few pics

Beautiful Grey Heron Saxalby!

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Not a bird watcher but snap the odd interest… young woodpecker;

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Raphael, I'm not into bird watching or wildlife photography pre se, but if I get the chance to take a photo of something that I think is of interest, I will. These three photos I took with my Canon IXUS 170, the first two were on the Dove River near Marston on Dove (Burton on Trent) October 2016 when a workmate and myself were installing Dam-boards and their frames in a new Eel-pass that had been built there and the third one was taken on the shore of Lake Garda, between Garda and Bardolino, Italy on the 3rd September 2017 when I was on holiday there.

Regards Nick.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Yes, I'm spending more time out of doors than in the workshop at the moment.
Currently trying to learn how to capture dragons in flight; with not much success to be fair.
This is one of the more acceptable ones.

Lots of other stuff in my Flickr Account.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peak4/

Bill

[Raphael GolezParticipant @raphaelgolez]

Wow, brilliant shot Nicholas, the grey heron and little egret are just stunning!

Hi Bill, thats an amazing shot, wish I could have the same shot. Can you explain how did you managed this shot…I mean the process, settings and how did you time this? Looks like a southern hawker.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

See stuff with the dogs as we go here and there, the missus does the david bailey bits

Thats a cracking dragonfly photo

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by peak4 on 08/09/2021 23:55:11:

[…]

Currently trying to learn how to capture dragons in flight; …
This is one of the more acceptable ones.

.

Looks like you are succeeding, Bill

That’s a lovely composition

MichaelG.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Bill, have to agree that your dragon fly is really good.

Regards Nick.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Raphael, thanks for your comment on the heron and the little egret. The heron was a real point and shoot photo and was 15M to 20M away on the other side of the river from us and it flew off only a moment or so after I took the shot and I must admit, I was well chuffed at how good it turned out. I guess the little egret was more used to people as that was from 5M or so away.

Regards Nick.

[Raphael GolezParticipant @raphaelgolez]

Wow, just excellent photos gents!

pgk, lovely to see this photo. Thanks for sharing!

[Raphael GolezParticipant @raphaelgolez]

Some action shot I did capture with a 500mm f/4 lens.

Starling trying to fly away when a joggers passes by.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Raphael, that's a good action shoot and two for the price of one, if you get my drift.

Regards Nick.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by peak4 on 08/09/2021 23:55:11:

Lots of other stuff in my Flickr Account.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peak4/

Bill

Very enjoyable to look at, Bill. I especially liked the dipper and the fungi…and the two whitethroats sparring on a later page.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 09/09/2021 12:19:34

[Simon CollierParticipant @simoncollier74340]

I'm a bird watcher but a fairly passive one. I don't photograph them except to snap one with my phone, such as yesterday when a male King parrot was feeding in a bush just outside my workshop door. I should make a list of birds I have seen in our fairly small yard over the years. Quite a few.

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Some lovely photos! We used to plan holiday around looking for UK birds, we are lucky in that we live in a rural area so get to see most common wildlife locally on walks. This is a shot of a Little Owl I took sat on our wood pile last year:

This is a Roe deer taken through my rather grubby workshop window earlier this year:

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

We've been mostly chasing butterflies this year:

Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Silver Studded Blue

Purple Hairsteak

This chap spent last winter on our local marsh – Glossy Ibis

It's nice to get out from the workshop from time to time – looking for wildlife gives a bit of a focus about where to go.

Rod

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Raphael Golez on 09/09/2021 06:11:28:

………..

Hi Bill, thats an amazing shot, wish I could have the same shot. Can you explain how did you managed this shot…I mean the process, settings and how did you time this? Looks like a southern hawker.

Raphael, there is an awful lot of rejects in the "Deleted Items" folder; It's not something I could ever have achieved with film.
It's actually quite a heavy crop, so looks OK on here, but I'm sure wouldn't stand printing.

Camera is Olympus E-M1 Mk2 and the lens 40-150mm F2.8 + MC2.0 teleconverter, set at 100mm, so giving 200mm actual focal length.
The Olympus system is a half sized sensor, so EFL is 400mm in full frame terms.

exif says 1/1000 @ F8 iso 1000. It will have been electronic shutter set at 10 frames/second, and C/AF.

I think this is one where I was practicing using the Olympus EE-1 red dot sight.

It clips onto the hot shoe mount and provides a sort of head up display with a red circle and cross hairs.
This allows you to forget the viewfinder and rear screen, and compose with both eyes, sighting through the head up display. I've only used it on Olympus cameras, but I can't see any obvious reason it wouldn't function on other brands, as there is no electrical connection to the camera.

It was processed in DxO Optics PhotoLab 4 Elite, which features something called "Deep Prime" noise reduction, something similar to Topaz, but on Olympus raw images it seems to be slightly better; I can't comment on how they perform with other manufacturers raw files.

I'll have some some fairly basic editing, as I'm no expert, but will have used a simple mask on the dragonfly and applies a bit of micro-contrast, and probably a little bit of colour boost.

If you click on the photo, it should take to a Flickr album, where the rest of the exif is available.

Bill

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Raphael Golez on 09/09/2021 06:11:28:

……………..

Hi Bill, ……………….. Looks like a southern hawker.

Raphael, I think it's a Common, rather than Southern Hawker, but I'll stand to be corrected, as I'm no expert.
May I recommend an excellent web site to aid with IDs etc.

https://www.odonata.org.uk/

Along the top menu bar is a drop down list of helpful identification guides; I've printed out, laminated and spiral bound several of them.

The same author, John Curd, is also admin of a good Facebook group, where the members are most helpful.
Just remember to add What, Where, and When (the actual date) in each post.
It's a private group, to keep out spammers, but anyone can apply to join.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/561222590593478

Bill

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Bill,

I think the dragonfly pic is extraordinary, I've never managed anything approaching acceptable. Thanks for the dot sight link, very interesting.

Rod

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