I am having computer problems and One Day at a Time may be down for a few days.  Once I am back up, I will post to Facebook.  Thanks!

Panning II

I found another photo of a panned cormorant that I like as much, or more, than the one from a couple days ago.  If the light level remains the same, you can fine tune the shutter speed with each attempt until you get just the right look.  That is what I did here, changing the shutter speed until 1/45th second gave me the look I wanted.  Everything is nicely blurred but the cormorant is relatively sharp. The bird is centered in the photo because I was trying to keep the active point of focus on it's eye. If the subject being centered bothers you, you can crop the photo later off-setting the subject.

Panning

Panned photos are not for everyone. Maybe its because my own vision is defective (sans glasses) that I find them interesting.  They are similar to how I see the world if I'm not wearing corrective lenses.  There for a while I was doing a lot of panning to try and get a handle on the technique.  Cormorants were a good subject because they would frequently fly by right along the edge of the river opposite where I would stand.  I figured if I messed up, I wasn't losing much, since it was just an old cormorant.  Once in a while I would get something I liked.

Panning has so many variables, you really can't use a recipe of settings to get a known result.  There are just too many things involved like: how fast the bird is flying, how much light is available, how far away the subject is and more.  The background is also important because that is what is going to blur.  The more variation in color and texture, the better it will look as opposed to a monochrome background.

One key thing that I did learn - and I haven't seen this fact published in anything I have read about on how to pan - is to keep something in the frame (the eye, for instance) in exactly the same spot the entire time you pan.  Most instructions get no more detailed than to say try to keep everything in the frame.  It is more than that.  If you don't keep the active sensor in exactly the same spot - in this case, the eye of the bird - the subject will have it's own blur going on in addition to the background blur and probably won't be a very pleasing image. What you are attempting to do is blur the background, but keep the subject fairly sharp.

Woody

Caught this woodchuck out on the "lawn" earlier this summer.  I don't have a problem with them.  I don't own any cattle, so I don't have to worry about broken legs.  I shot this through the window.  There is no way I was going to sneak up on it outside.  They are very wary and alert.  It was living under my tool shed.

I've seen them down at the river, but they were in the trees.  You don't believe me, do you. I'm not kidding.  I heard something in the tree near me and, when I looked, it was a young woodchuck that was eating shoots off the tree.

I was walking our dog up the driveway several years ago when it spooked a woodchuck.  The thing went right up a tree.  That was the first time I learned they can climb and it surprised the heck out of me.  Who knew?  You always think of their talent at digging holes, especially in rocky New England where I came from and there was one in every stone wall.

Lemonade, Anyone?

When you are in the midst of taking photos of the action out in front of you, it is not the time to fiddle with changes in settings.  That can lead to frustration.  You may have your camera all set up for taking images of birds out in the sunlight and suddenly one flies into the shadows and your camera settings drop off the chart.

That is what happened in the series I took of this turkey vulture the other day.  It is a juvenile and apparently is stupid regarding humans because it flew in and was circling around me with no fear of my presence.  After a couple of laps, it landed on a nearby stump and stayed for a while. Only thing was, I wasn't set up for the shade and, of course, the images all came out blurry as the shutter speed dropped to 1/60th of a second.  I did salvage this one photo, though. I thought it had a good balance of impressionistic elements while still being identifiable. Trying to make lemonade out of lemons...

Caspian Tern

Once nesting season is past, I start seeing more gulls and terns plying the river for fish.  I love to watch the terns.  They often hit the water at full speed, head first.  Being so close to shore, this one dove a little more shallow.  You would think a splash is a splash, but I guess body shape and other dynamics effect splashes.  Notice the big globules of water.  And, I don't know what was going on with the fish, but there is a spiral of water coming off of it.

Same bird, same fish. I hate to eat and run, but... They don't normally land, but eat the fish on the fly. This Caspian is in breeding plumage.  The black cap on it's crown becomes overall gray-looking in the winter, although to see it up close it is actually a mix of white and black feathers.  They have a very loud one-note call.  If they are fairly close I will film them, otherwise I just like to watch their antics.

Its a Big World After All

I'm always showing osprey in commanding shots, mostly full-frame photos.  I thought I would show you one in it's environment and how small they really are in that context. If you were there you might even miss it passing by and, believe me, many people who are doing things like fishing or kayaking do miss seeing them.  Maybe people have their mind on something else, but you would think they would notice something like a big 'old eagle flying right out in front of them.  Not.

Same shot, closer in.  Is that really a golden fish, er, a goldfish?

Why, yes it is.  I have to wonder if these gold and red carp they routinely catch are native or whether it is the result of somebody throwing the kid's pet goldfish in the river when they get tired of taking care of them.

I'm reminded of a funny story when I was a kid.  Somehow my mom got hooked into taking care of my cousin's goldfish while he was on vacation one summer.  My mom decided to keep the things in her bedroom so we chillin's wouldn't mess with 'em.  But they drove her crazy gulping air at the surface night after night. (No good deed goes unpunished.) 

The following summer, my cousin asked her to watch them again. What to do? We lived in a rural area and had a spring-fed cow pond out in the pasture where we would transplant fish we caught if they were still living when we got them home.  After a while, we had a nicely stocked pond. My mom suggested to my cousin that it would be great to put them in the pond and he could enjoy seeing them anytime he came to visit.  My cousin agreed.  So five sweaty kids and mom with the fish bowl march down to the pond where she promptly "released" them into the wild.  And IT DID promptly get wild as fish raced in from all over the pond and went after the goldfish.  I don't think any survived the first five minutes! So, just saying - it could happen...