…morning light is magic…

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Winged Silhouette

Caught this Cattle Egret with a silhouette of his head visible though his wing with the early morning back lighting at High Island.  It’s always one of my goals when shooting back-lit shots is to get this effect.  I’ve gotten shots of Great Egrets doing this but this is a first for me with a Cattle Egret.  Had a blast last Friday.  It was a very nice change of pace to not have any clouds at sunrise.

One of my favorite photo’s of the year so far.  More to come….

 

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.

1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering, +2/3 exposure compensation

Posted by  |  May 23, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , | 2 Comments »

Incoming Snowy Egret

What did the Snowy Egret tell the Cattle Egret?  Get the heck out of my way dude!!

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.

Posted by  |  May 22, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Leave A Comment »

Cattle Egrets in Breeding Plumage from High Island

Cattle Egrets tend to be overlooked by birders and bird photographers, including myself.  However, with breeding plumage on  display and some decent early morning light, they can be quite beautiful.  These shots were taken at the High Island, TX rookery on Friday.  There are more cattle egrets at the rookery this year than I’ve ever seen.  Since the Great Egret’s weren’t doing much, I focused on these little guys.  The early morning light gave me some good back-lit photography opportunities.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.

1/5000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +1 exposure compensation

1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +2/3 exposure compensation

1/800 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +2/3 exposure compensation

1/1000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 250, spot metering with +1/3 exposure compensation

Posted by  |  May 20, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Tags: | 2 Comments »

High Island in a Blur

One of my favorite things to do at the High Island rookery is to get there early before the sun comes up and shoot blurred flight shots in silhouette.  If you can handle the pre-dawn mosquitos, the flight shot opportunities with awesome colors are almost endless.  It’s too early at that point to get sharp photos so I’ve learned to embrace the blur.   About 1/2 hr before the sun comes up, the skies are filled with birds launching from far and wide.  I typically use aperture priority, wide open, ISO 400 and +1 exposure compensation and let the camera set the shutter speed.  I love the randomness of the shutter speeds that I get and the affect on the flight shots.

Here are a few Roseate Spoonbill’s in a blur from the rookery.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.

1/40 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation

1/13 sec @ F5.6, ISO 500, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation

1/20 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering

Posted by  |  May 6, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Little Blue Heron Catching Crawfish

Made a trip to Brazos Bend State Park this weekend.  The best area to shoot at was the spillway bridge where there were a couple of Little Blue Herons feeding.  They would fly off when someone walked across the bridge but they always came back.  Patience pays in wildlife photography.  The reflections from the trees helped to make a pleasing background.  My rule of thumb is to start shooting when their heads start to go down towards the water, which can lead to some interesting splash shots.  Every once in a while they would come up with a crawfish.  It was a good time while hanging out with David and Fred.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens mounted on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.  No flash.

Posted by  |  April 30, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Tags: | 2 Comments »

Roseate Spoonbill

Here is an early morning shot of a Roseate Spoonbill from the High Island, TX rookery.  There appears to be more of them around this year.  Most of the nesting is being done by the Great Egrets but the Spoonbills are always fun to watch and shoot.  This guy was taking off and I was able to catch some wing blur and decent light in his eye.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.

Aperture priority, 1/160 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, spot metering + 2/3 exposure compensation, no flash

Posted by  |  April 25, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Tags: | 2 Comments »

Won “Best in Show” at Migration Celebration Photo Contest

Got some good news from the Migration Celebration photo contest this weekend.  My Wilson’s Phalarope won the ”Best in Show” as well as  first place in the “Birds of Texas Mid-Coast” category.  I knew about the first place but had not heard about winning the grand prize until I went there on Sat. so it was a very pleasant surprise.  I’ve been on a roll lately and hope that it continues.

Posted by  |  April 23, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , | 10 Comments »

Successful Classes at Galveston FeatherFest

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that attended my photography classes at Galveston’s FeatherFest this year.  I had fun doing it and hope that you picked up some good info along the way.  Feel free to contact me if you have any more questions about any of the topics that we covered.

Although it was my first year teaching classes at this event, I received very positive feedback from the participants with some comments blowing me away.   I had a blast and really appreciate the opportunity.  Thanks to Barbara Rabek, Kathy Adams Clark, Scott Buckel and the rest of the team for their support and letting me participate this year.  Looking forward to next year already.  Thanks again everyone.

Posted by  |  April 17, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Leave A Comment »

Great Egret Breeding Plumage

This great egret was showing off its breeding plumage at the High Island, TX rookery last weekend.  While preening, the plumage was is full display for everyone to see.  I’m thinking that she was showing off, just a little.  Worked for me.

Taken about an hour after sunrise with the light getting a little harsh but still usable.  Used spot metering on the bright backlit area of the plumage to properly expose the bright areas and darken the background.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens mounted on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.

1/1250 sec @ F7.1, ISO 250, spot metering

Posted by  |  April 15, 2012 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , | 1 Comment »

Published in Texas Explorer Magazine

I’ve been published in Texas Explorer magazine.  Thanks to George Hosek for the invitation and the great job with the publishing.  I really like how it came out.  Got a chance to show off some of my favorite photos and do a little writing along the way.  I definitely need to try this more often.

http://www.texasexplorer.com/Tim-Timmis-Bird-Photography.htm

Posted by  |  April 10, 2012 | Categories: Birds | 12 Comments »

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