Whooping Crane
Spent this past weekend in Rockport, TX trying to find Whooping Crane at Aransas NWR via a boat with Kevin Sims. Had a great time as always. Thanks again Scott for the invite.
Saturday with very foggy and had to start late and tried to wait out the fog. No luck with that strategy, so Kevin worked the shoreline. We found three whooping cranes that were looking for crabs in a small pond close to the shoreline. We got very luck as they worked their way towards us and ended up walking out of the pond and got very close. Ended up having to taking off my 1.4X teleconverter as I was only getting head shots. A great problem to have when shooting whooping cranes.
Got this stare down from the juvenile crane. They stuck around for about 1/2 hour and then walked away. Was a great experience.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II lens mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/500 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, spot metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
Bridge to Nowhere
I always get excited from a photography perspective when it’s foggy out in the morning. My favorite go-to place for fog shots is Brazos Bend State Park in Texas. It was a particularly fogging morning on this outing. The spillway bridge was almost completely fogged in making for a cool photo-op. Broke out the 100-400 lens for hand carrying it around the park.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 100-400 lens, hand-held
1/640 sec @ F11, ISO 400, evaluative metering
Great Egrets in a Fog
I’m a big fan of foggy weather. I love it when the sun comes poking though the fog early in the morning. That was not to be on this outing to High Island rookery in late March. Lots of fog with lots of clouds. Tried to make the best of it with some Great Egret shots. Another nice to have at High Island is a little wind so that the breeding plumage feathers get some movement and definition. It also gives them a “beatnik” look, IMO. Although, I may just be having a flashback from the 60’s…
All taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod, no flash.
1/320 sec @ F5,6, ISO 250, spot metering, +1 exp compensation
1/400 sec @ F5,6, ISO 400, spot metering, +1 exp compensation
1/320 sec @ F5,6, ISO 320, spot metering, +1 exp compensation
1/400 sec @ F5,6, ISO 320, spot metering, +1 exp compensation
1/500 sec @ F5,6, ISO 320, spot metering, +1 exp compensation
1/640 sec @ F5,6, ISO 320, spot metering, +1 exp compensation
Foggy Sunrise
The fog was very thick all the way to Bolivar. The sun peaked through the fog just as I had hoped. I laid down to catch the Godwit’s and the moved to the poles to get the Great Blue Heron on its perch. The sun was fairly high up for the GBH shot so I had to use more negative exposure compensation to keep the sun from blowing out too much. Interesting tip about the 7D, you can go beyond the -3 stops in exposure compensation that shows on the camera. If you keep turning the dial, you can get much lower. The 3rd photo was taken at -5.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens
1/6400 sec @ F10, ISO 200, -3 exp. comp., evaluative metering, ground pod
1/1600 sec @ F8, ISO 200, -1 2/3 exp. comp., evaluative metering, ground pod
1/8000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 100, -5 exp. comp., evaluative metering, hand held
1/1600 sec @ F7.1, ISO 250, evaluative metering, hand held
Tim Timmis Photography 