Birds, Water, and 200mm

[tshelfer]

This weekend was a try-out weekend for me. First time I got to try out the new trailer we bought nearly six months ago, and the first time to try outthe Nikon 55-200mm lens I bought a couple of months ago, somewhere besides my back yard.. There are some seriously good photographers on this forum and I don't pretend to run with the big dogs. Still, I had fun. All pictures were shot with my Nikon D60 and the 55-200 zoom.

Getting there. The Jeep pulled the Coachman easily, but the gas mileage sucked. I got a little better than 9mpg, as compared to about 14mpg pulling my old Coleman pop-up that actually weighed more. I guess wind resistance trumps weight.


This blue heron fished all day on the waterfront in front of our campsite.


White herons at play.




Silhouette.


My adopted Brittany. Hi, Sadie.


Sunset.




Blue heron, back at his fishing station the next morning.


Flight.


And more flight. I love the delineation on the wingtips.


Going after a fish.


Rats. Missed.


Love the leading edges. Looks like the D-Day paint scheme.


At speed. BTW, they say ballcaps protect your skull better when worn backwards.


Eagle doing a little Sunday fishing. He was probably 500 yards away, so the clarity isn't real good with the picture having been cropped pretty severely.


Lovers and ducks.


And, the ubiquitous turkey vulture.

[tricepilot]

Two notes:

Originally Posted by tshelfer

This weekend was a try-out weekend for me. First time I got to try out the new trailer we bought nearly six months ago,

I'd love to get one of these, but I'd like feedback from you - do you really get your money's worth using it this infrequently? That's my concern for us.

Back to photography:

Originally Posted by tshelfer

I think this is why most people take photos - this is a money shot. Did you post process this? I bet not - because you didn't have to.

This photo makes me feel like I'm there in the camping atmosphere - something roasting on the grill and the light from the camper warming the chill night air.

[M38A1]

Totally agree with Bob on this one.

As for the second sunset, running that image through a bit of post-processing noise reduction would really bring that one back.

I think you did really well for the 55-200/D60 combo. Exposures looked good, subject content has nice framing. I'd say you wrung that little D60 out. Who needs a new body, right?


.

[tshelfer]

Good question, Trice. For starters, the wife & I are going through a patch of life "happening." Elderly parents, grandkids who need a lot of attention. It's hard to get away. This shall pass, and I'm looking forward to some long trips, including a week probably at Beavers Bend two weeks from now.

Whether or not you get your money's worth out of a trailer - well, it just depends. I've owned 4 pop-ups in 30 years, and just flat run the wheels off of them. As far as economy of vacationing, pop-ups are great. Relatively inexpensive (especially if you buy used), easy to store, and they don't punish your gas consumption as badly as a hard-side trailer will. When I was younger, I did all the math to determine total cost of trailer-camping vs. total cost of Holiday Inn camping. I finally gave up when I realized that it wasn't about saving a few bucks - we love to travel, camp, and spend time in remote places. I stepped up to a hard-side because my back ain't what it used to be, and I was tired of opening pop-ups; the gas mileage is the trade-off.

As for the sunset picture, thanks for the compliment. I tweaked the brightness and contrast slightly, as I do on all my pictures. No other changes to this one.

[tshelfer]

Good suggestions, Scott. Currently, I don't have any software that does noise reduction - i.e. Photoshop or Lightroom. Mainly, I use the standard MS package. I do have MS Digital Image, but I don't believe it has has a noise reduction function. But some better software is probably on the horizon.

As for needing a new body, see my comments about my back and opening pop-up trailers.

[tshelfer]

PS, Scott - Full disclosure. Most of the framing was done via cropping, since many of these were quick action shots. Also, I'd like to see crisper focus, but bird pictures at 200+ yards are really pushing the limits of a G-series lens.

[wanabeguru]

Well done, Tim!

[The Bruce]

This one is my favorite of this album. Happy dog

[STScott]

Really liked #3.

[tshelfer]

Thanks. #4 is actually a bit crisper, and I like the feather delineation and the subtle coloring in the wings. But the posture in #3 is priceless - I was lucky enough to catch them at just the right point of a diving turn.

[STScott]

Sometimes it is all about the moment you capture.

[47wing]

which park? Nice pics. Especially that of Sadie.

[tshelfer]

This is Wolf Creek Park, a Corps of Engineers campground on the north shore of Navarro Mills Lake. Very nice campground. It was dead empty, too. But even if there were a bunch of people there, the sites were around 1/4 acre each, campsites about the size of a city lot.