Flight Shots

I completed my budget version R Strap yesterday and I took it out for a trial run. The original version can be seen here. My version is definitley not as versatile as the Black Rapid R Strap, it does not have the ability to attach pockets, accessory straps etc, etc... but I built it for a fraction of the cost. For those people who are unaware of the R Strap - imagine a quick draw system for a camera. In my case my primary lens and camera are tripod mounted, but for those times when you need to hand-hold a camera very quickly the tripod set-up is not ideal. This strap allows me to keep a second camera with a 70-300mm at my side.
I found it very useful yesterday... when I was focusing my primary camera at a nesting Osprey I was suddenly aware of motion to my side. Using my 'Alex-strap' ;) I was able to capture these images without having to try and manipulate a heavy tripod.

American Avocets

Western Reef Heron

Backyard Feeder

Yesterday I relocated my backyard feeding pole and employed some tips from other bird photographers - in essence I moved the feeder to a more photographic location and I added some 'fake' branches so that photographs have a more natural/wild feel to them. I added the branches by drilling out part of the feeding pole and inserting some small, dead branches that I found. The aim is that pictures will now have birds on branches, rather than on the plastic feeder. The location of the pole was changed so that I have a better bokeh in the morning and evening sun, previously the background was a breezeblock wall, now the morning background is a lime tree and the afternoon background is a fan palm. This morning (and yesterday eveing) I set up the hide and waited to see what would happen. The first thing I noticed was that most birds continued to visit the area that the pole was originally in, probably to feed on the seed that was on the ground. When the house finches did catch on to the new location they made use of the branches - allowing me to get the pictures below.
One lesson I did learn - I do not need the 1.4x teleconverter when working at this distance, in fact it may be better to add an extension tube to the 300mm f4 in order to reduce the minimum focus point.

Renovation

I had some great feedback regarding my blog from some fellow photographers this week. I received mostly good comments, but one perturbing piece of news to me was the length of time that images were taking to load for others to view. Of course, the images are stored in a cache on any computer I use, so they load almost instantaneously - but for Joe Public the images were taking up to 20 seconds to load, which as one critique mentioned "will be enough to bore your viewers after the first image". So this week I spent some time resizing all the clickable images to a 1:1.5 ratio and also reducing the images to a more manageable size. I hope the uniform size is more appealing to the eye and that the photographs load a little quicker for you now. I am still a little unsure about the size that they are displayed at - maybe I need a little time to get used to the smaller format.
If anybody has any comments regarding the images, the blog etc, whether good or bad, feel free to drop me an email at photographybyalex@gmail.com - all constructive criticism is welcome!

I am hoping to get out and about again after the weekend and have a couple of DIY photography projects in mind to keep me out of mischief - including a 'ground pod', my own low budget version of the r-strap and a customised feeding pole for some back garden bird pictures.

I also need to redesign my header this week... imagine my surprise when I googled myself and found another Woodruff Photography! When I looked at their website I can see that they have been around a lot longer than me, so I will rename my blog and put a new header on top.

Tranquility

Just a quick shot while I was waiting for some birds to show up at Arlington a couple of weeks ago. I took this to check my camera settings, but liked it so much I thought I would add it to the blog.

Unit 3 - Progress, but not completion!

With renewed vigour I have been tackling unit 3 (see previous NYIP post). One of the hardest parts of this unit is the broad nature of the assignment. These are some of the attempts I have made for the subject 'backlighting'. I still have to decide which I will submit:

Butterflies at the Desert Botanical Garden

I have been looking forward to going back to the Botanical Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit. Unfortunately I had not realised how busy it would be during Spring Break! Coaches and coaches of kids descended on the gardens and havoc ensued! I still managed to get some reasonable shots, but nearly lost my kit twice thanks to pesky kids knocking into my tripod! So I left the pavillion and walked the gardens to get some tranquility (some hope!). I did manage to see a couple of bull snakes (4 feet and 5 feet long), a bunch of lizards and 5 or 6 hummingbirds.

I think I will have to go back once Spring Break is over and I can shoot in a more relaxed state of mind!

Buckeye March 16th 2010

There is nothing like messing about with Google Earth and discovering interesting geographical features around the globe. Imagine my surprise when I was googling the Buckeye area and found a small pond - very close to where I go birding, then panning out slightly I saw a huge lake about a mile further east that is owned by a local mining company. Knowing that I would be in trouble if I was found trespassing in the quarry I decided that I could safely explore the smaller pond. So I left the house shortly after sunrise and headed off. The pond was not quite the bird extravaganza I was expecting - small and smelly, and almost impossible to reach because of a wall of 8 foot tall reeds. I had made so much noise in my effort to get to the bank of the pond that anything that was not totally deaf had long departed. It was a little like forging a path through virgin rainforest and I was expecting to meet up with Sid James (Carry On up the Jungle) or Harrison Ford running away from a tribe of pigmy head hunters! Anyway, I gave it up as a bad job and left the area. Not wanting to head back home I took a stroll down towards the quarry and kept to the bushes so that I would not be seen. The bird life was incredible! Egrets, cranes, herons and ducks were all there! Unfortunately I was approaching the lake from the west - which meant I was facing the sun, which is no good for the type of photography I wanted. So, I turned around and made my way back to the car... however, to my benefit I took the wrong fork in a path and stumbled across a stream. I was fairly certain that I knew where the stream led - because I had parked my care at the other end of it! I thought it was a small irrigation canal, so had never thought of investigating it before - now I could follow it straight back to the car. It was one of the best birding experiences I have had - and definately one I will repeat again, although next time I will take a tripod instead of a monopod, and I will utilise some of the tracking techniques that Arthur Morris describes in "The Art of Bird Photography" - a book that has not been more than a few feet from me whatever I have been doing in the last few weeks.

Anyway, enough of the waffle... here are the shots:

House Sparrow.

Great Egret.

Great Egret.

Black-Crowned Night Heron (Juvenile).

Tree Swallow.

Tree Swallow.

Osprey.

Garden Insects

I recently bought a couple of books covering the subject of close-up photography. One that I have been really enjoying is "Close-Up Photography in Nature" by Tim Fitzharris which describes the use of dedicated macro lenses at close range and telephoto lenses at much further distances. So last week I set about using both methods to capture some images and improve my insect techniques. These shots were either taken with a 60mm Nikkor Micro lens with extension tubes or a 300mm Nikkor telephoto lens.

The pink flower that is in the image with the fly is a new addition to my back garden. In the last few weeks I have been cultivating a corner of the garden that will hopefully attract butterflies and hummingbirds - I have had quite a few visitors from the fly and wasp families so far. Although fairly new the plants look like they have established themselves and are starting to flourish - the fact that the pink bloom in this photo is looking healthy is testament to that, plants that are not properly tended have a rapid life span in this desert heat.

I was pleased with all of these, but especially pleased with the spider - because I didn't have to get too close!