Some of you may know, that I am heading to Yellowstone to work and "do research" from March-June for 3 months. I have become a student of the Yellowstone.net forums, trying to learn all I can to be prepared. After taking a survey of all the photographers that responded to inquiries about cameras, I selected a Canon 400 Xti. I bought it as a package, and I got a 28-105mm & 75-300 mm lenses with it. I was influenced by price as well as usability.
I headed out to my nearest duck pond, here in Albany, Oregon - to hopefully shoot some Canada Geese that usually frequent there for practice. As I pulled up, I noticed only 2 pairs on the water, but the surprise was to follow.
A Great Blue Heron lifted out a tree that is in the middle of the pond, circled the area and then landed back in the tree. I was so excited that I might get his picture!!!!
As I was focusing in on him, and trying to get a shot, all at once, 5, yes count em FIVE of the buggars took off out of the tree. I settled in to wait for them to return. They came back, one at a time, but only 2 of them settled back into the tree. I noticed quite a large nest in the tree, and concluded that they are nesting there. The light was fading and since it was my first attempt with the camera, I was anxious to get home and see what I'd gotten with my new camera and my inexperience. Sadly, I had used auto focus, on the sport setting and my pics were blurry.
Yesterday, I headed over there again, and this time, NOW THERE ARE 6!!! I got 4 of them in perfect profile, near the nest,with 2 more hiding down below them in the tree. I used the P setting and took off the auto focus. I shot this with the highest ISO I could -1600 (since I see that's what some used in the pics I've liked.....) f 7.1 and I used the 75-300mm lens
(ok, so maybe I didn't set that up right in type, but you get the idea, if you want to pass on some tips...)
here's the photo, only minimally cropped. I'm not happy with how small they look, it looks better on my computer!!! hey if you double click on the image, it enlarges it and you can see it really good!!!
I headed out to my nearest duck pond, here in Albany, Oregon - to hopefully shoot some Canada Geese that usually frequent there for practice. As I pulled up, I noticed only 2 pairs on the water, but the surprise was to follow.
A Great Blue Heron lifted out a tree that is in the middle of the pond, circled the area and then landed back in the tree. I was so excited that I might get his picture!!!!
As I was focusing in on him, and trying to get a shot, all at once, 5, yes count em FIVE of the buggars took off out of the tree. I settled in to wait for them to return. They came back, one at a time, but only 2 of them settled back into the tree. I noticed quite a large nest in the tree, and concluded that they are nesting there. The light was fading and since it was my first attempt with the camera, I was anxious to get home and see what I'd gotten with my new camera and my inexperience. Sadly, I had used auto focus, on the sport setting and my pics were blurry.
Yesterday, I headed over there again, and this time, NOW THERE ARE 6!!! I got 4 of them in perfect profile, near the nest,with 2 more hiding down below them in the tree. I used the P setting and took off the auto focus. I shot this with the highest ISO I could -1600 (since I see that's what some used in the pics I've liked.....) f 7.1 and I used the 75-300mm lens
(ok, so maybe I didn't set that up right in type, but you get the idea, if you want to pass on some tips...)
here's the photo, only minimally cropped. I'm not happy with how small they look, it looks better on my computer!!! hey if you double click on the image, it enlarges it and you can see it really good!!!
Look closely, you can see the 4 clearly, the nest, and then 2 more herons hiding in the branches below.
