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klb1122
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- Joined
- Sep 11, 2006
- Messages
- 2,531
- Reaction score
- 94
- Location
- Houston, TX
- First Name
- Kory
- Last Name
- Burleson
Two weekends ago we spent the day at my parent's house near Lake Livingston. Saturday morning I had a paying gig for some senior portraits. It poured in the morning but the rain soon went away and everyone was able to get what we wanted out of the portrait session. When it came time for my daughters' nap time, I set out with my shiny new Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 to run it through some tests.
The first stop was by the pond where I spotted the gator on the shore.
As I was taking pictures of the gator, I could hear a bird squawking above me. It turned out to be a hawk. I fired a few shots but it was doing some serious soaring and circled so high it was basically out of sight without flapping a wing. Serious crop here, and I'm not really happy with the result, but it goes along with the story.
I headed down to the lake to see if there were any birds out and about. At first the only thing I could find was this cormorant.
Then an egret came flying in to the shore.
I got a little too close and scared it away.
Luckily it didn't go far. It settled in and did some fishing. This time I was more cautious and was able to get somewhat close.
I moved around a bit and watched a flock of seagulls out in the lake. these are all big crops, they were what seemed like 100 yards away.
I then lucked out and was able to catch this fishing sequence.
I was now much closer to the original cormorant. Is it just me, or do these things look evil and somewhat prehistoric?
Found this owl, not sure of the exact species.
I drove around to another pond and about 20 turtles hopped back in the water, but this one hung around.
As I was walking back to the golf cart, I couldn't help but notice the huge bees flying around. Good test for the lens. Lots of swings, lots of misses. Somehow I was able to get these two of them in flight. Major crops.
Down the road a bit some flowers caught my eye. Who needs a macro when you have 500mm. What I was really doing here was testing the VR of the lens. It is outstanding!
I noticed some bees getting busy in the flowers.
In the same spot there was a lizard that did some modeling for me.
I headed back down to the lake and the flock was now sitting on the top of a boathouse. I was slowly walking up when my phone rang and they all took off.
A neighboring piece of land is fenced off and the owner has exotics on it. This guy was eating and could care less about me. I stuck around for a few minutes, but he would barely lift his head out of the grass.
Later in the day I was hanging out down at the lake with my wife and daughters. The sun was starting to go down and the light was incredible across the lake. My wife was ready to go home, but I convinced her to stick around for a bit longer and I went back and grabbed my camera. Of course, when I got back down there not a bird was to be found. All of the sudden we are sitting there talking and I see a bird coming. I locked on it and started firing away. It was a bald eagle! Better yet, in golden hour and flying right into the setting sun. Here's what I was able to get of it. It only did one fly by and was gone. If I would have known, I would have bumped the shutter speed just a bit faster. As soon as my wife said "that's a bald eagle" I freaked because I've always wanted a decent picture of one. A bunch of shots in the sequence were not sharp, I'm fully to blame since I was probably shaking.
A full day of shooting, and I went home that night happy as can be. I couldn't be happier with my new 200-500. Great lens for the price, IMO. Thanks for looking, hope the post wasn't too long.
The first stop was by the pond where I spotted the gator on the shore.
As I was taking pictures of the gator, I could hear a bird squawking above me. It turned out to be a hawk. I fired a few shots but it was doing some serious soaring and circled so high it was basically out of sight without flapping a wing. Serious crop here, and I'm not really happy with the result, but it goes along with the story.
I headed down to the lake to see if there were any birds out and about. At first the only thing I could find was this cormorant.
Then an egret came flying in to the shore.
I got a little too close and scared it away.
Luckily it didn't go far. It settled in and did some fishing. This time I was more cautious and was able to get somewhat close.
I moved around a bit and watched a flock of seagulls out in the lake. these are all big crops, they were what seemed like 100 yards away.
I then lucked out and was able to catch this fishing sequence.
I was now much closer to the original cormorant. Is it just me, or do these things look evil and somewhat prehistoric?
Found this owl, not sure of the exact species.
I drove around to another pond and about 20 turtles hopped back in the water, but this one hung around.
As I was walking back to the golf cart, I couldn't help but notice the huge bees flying around. Good test for the lens. Lots of swings, lots of misses. Somehow I was able to get these two of them in flight. Major crops.
Down the road a bit some flowers caught my eye. Who needs a macro when you have 500mm.
What I was really doing here was testing the VR of the lens. It is outstanding! I noticed some bees getting busy in the flowers.
In the same spot there was a lizard that did some modeling for me.
I headed back down to the lake and the flock was now sitting on the top of a boathouse. I was slowly walking up when my phone rang and they all took off.
A neighboring piece of land is fenced off and the owner has exotics on it. This guy was eating and could care less about me. I stuck around for a few minutes, but he would barely lift his head out of the grass.
Later in the day I was hanging out down at the lake with my wife and daughters. The sun was starting to go down and the light was incredible across the lake. My wife was ready to go home, but I convinced her to stick around for a bit longer and I went back and grabbed my camera. Of course, when I got back down there not a bird was to be found. All of the sudden we are sitting there talking and I see a bird coming. I locked on it and started firing away. It was a bald eagle! Better yet, in golden hour and flying right into the setting sun. Here's what I was able to get of it. It only did one fly by and was gone. If I would have known, I would have bumped the shutter speed just a bit faster. As soon as my wife said "that's a bald eagle" I freaked because I've always wanted a decent picture of one. A bunch of shots in the sequence were not sharp, I'm fully to blame since I was probably shaking.
A full day of shooting, and I went home that night happy as can be. I couldn't be happier with my new 200-500. Great lens for the price, IMO. Thanks for looking, hope the post wasn't too long.
. My Mom & Dad have NEVER seen a Bald Eagle in Woden in their entire lives, that is nearly 90 years now.
