An hour with Hector the Heron

[WifeKidsandDog]

(or maybe it's Hermoine, but I think he's a boy for some reason.) Anyway, I had a blast watching him and taking photos today.

Hector preens himself:

Then poses for a portrait:

Then it's time to get on the ice for a little action:

Hector concentrates ... (or admires himself, not sure which)

Then .... SNAP!

Hector enjoyed his snack!

[Steve Foss]

Number one: preening.

Number two: thinking.

Number three: planning, like any good angler.

Number four: fishing.

Number five: catching!

Very nice series. Makes me wish I could get out with the camera again. I've been doing some other work to make ends meet that's not camera oriented, and my "spare" time has been spent putting two deer in the freezer, not images in the computer.

Soon!

P.S. -- Still working on Santa for that 500 mm f4 prime?

[Tom Wilson]

Cheryl,

I really like the first one a lot. I think that you might have been hiding you're photgraphic talent Cheryl. I wish I had a Prime I'm very jealous, but it's not the lens that makes you're photos great--it's you're talent. The lens just lets you're talents shine. Once again very nice shots.

[WifeKidsandDog]

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Cheryl,

I really like the first one a lot. I think that you might have been hiding you're photgraphic talent Cheryl. I wish I had a Prime

I'm very jealous, but it's not the lens that makes you're photos great--it's you're talent. The lens just lets you're talents shine. Once again very nice shots.

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It's Steve's fault -- he sold me the 1.4x and created a telephoto monster. That worked well, so I had to go buy a 2x which gives me the 400mm I shot these with.

Tom, thank you for your words. I really, really appreciate them and I read your reply to the pic of my daughter in the other forum. You're right, I'm new to wildlife because I've now got the reach which makes it enjoyable, but I have literally 1,000s of pics of my dog and my kids, other people's dogs, other people, and ducks and geese. I had no photography experience until last year when I quit work at the newspaper, though a few shots I'd taken as a reporter got published, but I then had time to explore my interest in photography, so I got a refurbished Digital Rebel (on July 12). Didn't have a CLUE what I was getting into ("oh look, the lens comes off"), but not to be put off, I got a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Petersen, put the camera in manual mode and followed his book faithfully. I think I learned a lot in the year because I had the time and the interest, and I was prepared to practice and practice some more, and study the exif data to see why something worked and why it didn't. And, I loved every minute of it.

And I still do. Especially the new wildlife/birding thing. It's hard to put into words what I get out of it, but you know what it is. At the moment I feel like there's something new to see and something more to learn every day. It's very exciting to me ... whole new worlds and all that.

And your post-processing advice has helped me tremendously. I'm playing with contrast and saturation more to try and get that "pop" your work has. Thank you!

Again, thank you for your comments and feedback :-)

Cheryl

P.S. Just to clarify, I don't want to imply above that your work pops because of photoshop either. I know that's not where the pop happens - just enhances it.

[WifeKidsandDog]

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Makes me wish I could get out with the camera again. I've been doing some other work to make ends meet that's not camera oriented, and my "spare" time has been spent putting two deer in the freezer, not images in the computer.

P.S. -- Still working on Santa for that 500 mm f4 prime?

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I hope you do get out soon, Steve. I'm lucky I have the time to get out when there's light at least.

I don't think Santa's gonna bring me that prime. Maybe I'd rather he brought me a 5D, LOL. I'm going to wear out my shutter at the rate I'm going.

Cheryl

[jonny_redhorse]

Wonderful shots of the blue heron....Cheryl!...those birds seem to be so skittish that I never seem to get close enough to get any "decent" shots of em...with the set up I have...I have to be close....real close...lol!.....but......i'm getting pretty good at "putting the sneak" on things...lol!... ...jonny

[WifeKidsandDog]

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Wonderful shots of the blue heron....Cheryl!...those birds seem to be so skittish that I never seem to get close enough to get any "decent" shots of em...with the set up I have...I have to be close....real close...lol!.....but......i'm getting pretty good at "putting the sneak" on things...lol!...

...jonny

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Thanks Jonny. I had so much fun ...

He let me get really close, which suprised me but then I figured he's seen me for the last few days and I haven't done anything too awful. But after I took some shots of him, I went back to the car and then had the terrible thought that he was perhaps injured and couldn't get away, and I felt SO bad! I had to go back to the pond to see if he was OK (though, I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't). Anyway, I sat and watched him for a while again and when he started catching fish, I decided he was healthy enough.

I just hope he heads south soon though.

Cheryl (emotionally attached to heron)

[buzzsaw]

The woman is on fire! Great pics again Cheryl! Call National Geographic.... we have three or four people here who should be getting paid!!

[Steve Foss]

Ahhhh, the 5D. Mmmmm, gooooood. But there will go your 1.6 conversion factor, and your 400 mm would just be a 400, not a 640. Still, full frame sensor is better than the smaller ones in the ID Mark IIN, 20D and Rebel XT

[hobbydog]

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I just hope he heads south soon though.

Cheryl (emotionally attached to heron)

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Actually I think they are pretty hardy birds. It seems like they are now more ubundant than ever before. Some seem to be very shy while other very photogenic. While up north duck hunting in October there were 6 birds I had marked. They were in the same ditch every day and every time I went by they would fly out only to return. Every day...the same GBHs in the same spot....all month long. Must have been really good food source, even when it was iced over for several days.

I like the first pic the best. The light is very good. The nice thing about winter shots is the sun stays low a good part of the day. I looked at the exif and it says ....

Date Time Original = 2005-11-22 05:48:45

Date Time Digitized = 2005-11-22 05:48:45

I assume your clock is not set. You said you study exif so this might be something you want to set. One day you may wonder what time of day gave you this type of light. Also, do you shoot RAW? Ever play with white balance in the post processing?

I got a feeling you are going to be seeing this guy around for awhile. Especially if he has a spot where the water stays open.

[WifeKidsandDog]

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Ahhhh, the 5D. Mmmmm, gooooood.

But there will go your 1.6 conversion factor, and your 400 mm would just be a 400, not a 640. Still, full frame sensor is better than the smaller ones in the ID Mark IIN, 20D and Rebel XT

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I think a full frame would be wasted on me -- and I'd need a new PC and memory cards. Could be a very expensive upgrade, lol. I don't think Santa's gonna be that generous. I'll probably get the 20D upgrade this time next year. Wouldn't mind having a little XT for "back up".

Cheryl

[WifeKidsandDog]

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The woman is on fire! Great pics again Cheryl! Call National Geographic.... we have three or four people here who should be getting paid!!

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Thanks BUZZ!! :-)

Getting paid to do this --- sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Dream job!

Cheryl

[WifeKidsandDog]

I hope he is a hardy heron!

I keep meaning to set the time on my camera, I got it in June and keep forgetting - thanks for the reminder.

I do shoot RAW and I use Capture One to convert the files. Yesterday the heron and I were doing a dance of directional light -- got a pretty backlit one of him. I was trying to move around but how we were situated it was a bit hard. I got the primping photo at just the right moment.

Cheers

Cheryl

[Steve Foss]

Cheryl, I shoot RAW+small jpeg. Takes up very little more room on the card. I can get about 110 to 120 RAW+small jpeg combinations on a 1Gb card, and I have two cards. The small jpegs allow me to rapidly sort through my files on the computer to see what to keep and discard. The camera back is pretty good for that, but nothing beats a full sized computer screen.

I also use a cheap card reader to download, instead of the cable. Much, much faster. When I'm done downloading and I want to run through the jpegs, there's no real software needed (Quicktime or Jpeg view open seamlessly and automatically), and the small jpegs open a lot faster than the big ones. Then, after discarding those I don't want, I move the folder to copy onto my 280 Gb backup drive, then burn the folder onto a CD for further backup. Then I'm ready for post-processing the RAW or jpegs.

So far that's worked slick.

[WifeKidsandDog]

Steve,

I have the program Breeze Browser, which I used to use to convert RAW, but now I use it to view the images. I shoot RAW only but apparently there is still a small jpeg embedded in the file. Breeze Browser extracts them so I can do a batch "extract" and see which ones can be deleted. I do need to get another card, though. And an external hard drive to back up my RAW files. My poor PC is bursting at the seams.

Cheryl

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, once you get on the computer treadmill you've gotta keep pace or it'll sweep you off your feet. It's a constant budget challenge to keep up.

You mentioned in a previous post getting a 20D upgrade next year. What 20D upgrade?

[WifeKidsandDog]

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You mentioned in a previous post getting a 20D upgrade next year. What 20D upgrade?

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It is rumored that a 20D successor will be announced in February at the PMA show. Canon seems to announce a new model every 18 months, so I guess it'll be time then for a 20D Mark II or 30D. I suppose they'll have to come out with something in response to the Nikon D200.

Cheryl

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, it's a fairly intense and competitive market. My guess is, instead of putting out a whole new model they'll upgrade the 20D with a bigger sensor. They've got models with 8, 12 and 16 megapixels, and upping the 20D to a 10 Mp would still leave the Rebel XT at the 8 Mp level, so they'd have 8, 10, 12, 16.

Whatever, I won't be able to afford it anyway (unless I luck into a Brandenburg-like "brother wolf" photo), and probably will keep shooting the dump out of my 20D until the shutter wears out.