Tag: exposure

Some More Burrowing Owls

I simply can’t resist photographing Burrowing Owls.   1/100, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc These youngsters often have a balance problem when they try to perch on the relatively unstable sunflowers, which can be a good opportunity for the photographer to get some interesting poses.  One of the problems here was that the sun was just coming up and the light was very low as you can see from my very slow shutter speed.  Even though this bird fluttered on the perch for quite a while I ended up trashing most of those shots because they just weren’t sharp enough. But the other problem just about drove me batty for a while.  For some reason my Canon 7D wouldn’t allow me to adjust my exposure (ev).  How very frustrating to have this bird giving me such nice poses while I’m thinking the entire time that I’m over-exposing the shots and can’t do anything about it! It turned out that my exposure for these shots was just right (I’ve done no exposure adjustment in post-processing with this image) but it took me (us) a half hour to figure out what the problem was with my camera.  Mia saved the day by downloading the 7D manual to her phone and in the end the problem turned out to be that I had inadvertently switched on the “lock” button on my camera.  Sheesh!      1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400, 100-400 @ 300mm I thought some of you might like to “meet” most of the Burrowing Owl family I’ve been photographing this summer.  From left to right #3 and #5…

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Long-billed Curlews and “Bugs” of Antelope Island

Two days ago we were just about to go home after several photographically unproductive hours on Antelope Island because of a lack of cooperative subjects combined with a “cloud from hell” that hung over the island and ruined our light all morning when I spotted two Long-billed Curlews far below us.   The area was accessible to our vehicle so we decided to investigate.  Both Mia and I are very glad we did!   Canon 7D, 1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc One of the two birds was this adult, perched attentively on this almost white Tintic Quartzite boulder.   The curlew was very tolerant of us and let us get close and even allowed me to maneuver my pickup for a variety of backgrounds.      Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This adult was very relaxed in our presence and eventually settled into grooming and preening as it’s doing here.       Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc It turns out that the second bird I had spotted from up above was this juvenile in the tall grasses and the adult had obviously chosen a relatively high perch in order to keep an eye on the youngster (a behavior we’ve seen multiple times in adults with chicks or young juveniles).        Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc We spent quite some time with these two birds – the parent on the boulder and the juvenile foraging in the grasses.  Occasionally the adult would fly off for a few…

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Bald Eagles at Farmington Bay

I paid another visit to Farmington yesterday and while I got some nice shots of a few other species I was reminded of the Bald Eagles that were winter residents out there just a few short months ago.  I miss them.  So when it turned overcast this morning and I couldn’t go out photographing birds I decided to revisit some of the eagle images I got at Farmington three months ago.   Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This carp may have been an easy catch for the eagle because the water was quite shallow and the fish was likely stunned (though it did appear to still be alive) by the rotenone used to control these fish at the refuge.      Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Both of these images of the eagle with the  fish were difficult exposures with the white head facing toward the sun but I liked the action and the good look at the carp.      Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is one of my better exposures on both the white head and the very dark body and wing plumage in the species.  Early morning light certainly helped with that exposure.      Canon 7D, 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I like the unusual head turn from this juvenile bird and the Wasatch Mountain background.      Canon 7D, 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc (wish I’d had lower ISO in this image…

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