Reader Charles Spotts sent a bunch of photos, and I’ve picked out as the best some birds and Honorary Cats™. His notes:
Like other of your readers I’m intrigued by wildlife and in my particular case, hummingbirds. I have a well attended feeder that attracts mostly Anna’s hummingbirds (Calypte anna) although I also may see rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) and black-chinned hummingbirds (Archilochus alexandri) from time to time in the summer. There seems to be a small group (in my area) of year round Anna’s hummingbirds. I have attached several photos of Anna’s. I try to catch them in flight but my success ratio is very low. Nevertheless, since I take so many photos, I have quite a few that I consider “good” and which may be up to your standards for sharing. I most often use a 300mm lens from about 10 feet away shooting with ISO 1600 (Nikon equipment)!
I also see Columbian Blacktail Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) on a regular basis as they wander through the yard, and sometimes skunks (Mephitis mephitis) and gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Last spring I spotted a female fox and her cub at the old house next door and managed to get a good shot of the mom, but couldn’t get one of the (very timid) cub.
Notice the cub behind mom:
And from Stephen Barnard in Idaho:
A Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon), a herd of Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos).
Love the grinning fox!
I’m jealous of anyone that gets a variety of hummingbirds! I’m grateful for my ruby throated ones but I love seeing the many other kinds!
There were actually more than twice as many deer, but I couldn’t fit them in the frame.
The Anna’s in flight is nice. If it’s any help, here’s my technique for shooting hummingbirds in flight: I have one feeder set up for morning sun and one set up for evening sun. I use my longest lens (700mm), mount the camera on a tripod with a gimble head, and get as close as I can focus. (Hummingbirds can be very tame with a lot of exposure to people.) I adjust the ISO so I can get a 1/8000 shutter speed. (Good light is critical.) I use spot AF and spot exposure, try to anticipate the birds’ movement, and fire away with continuous shooting. If one out of 100 shots is good I’m happy.
Hi Stephen, I was hoping that you would post some feedback. All of my hummingbird photos are shot hand held, I know this sounds crazy, but I have better luck tracking them that way. I also use spot AF and exposure, but I just shoot a single image at a time. On continuous mode, by the time the first shot has fired, the bird has moved, and with the narrow depth of field, they’re out of focus. The camera body I’ve been using has a max shutter speed of 1/4000 and that is what I usually use unless I want more blur in the wings. Your shots are stunning; maybe when I grow up I’ll get a 700mm lens.
Hand held should work fine at 1/4000. I shoot mostly hand held, but the weight of the lens can get pretty uncomfortable while I’m waiting for the hummingbirds to do something interesting.
I too shoot all my hummingbird photos hand-held. If you are shooting fast, this isn’t a problem. Since I’ve used the 5D Mk III, I can use a higher ISO so even in darker situations, I can get the speed up. I typically keep my aperature as low as possible (f/5.6 in my case because I’m using an f/4 300 mm lens and a 1.4x teleconverter). I use continuous shooting and put the focus on al-servo to track the hummingbird if it moves. The faster the fps and the faster your camera can focus makes a big difference.
The AI-servo mode is insanely great.
Yes – it works amazingly well. Love the al-servo!
I think what it does is that after you lock onto focus, it uses the other AF points to maintain focus, even after the subject is off-center in the frame. It’s not perfect, but it’s very good.
It does move in and out of focus when I stupidly move away from the subject, but it’s pretty fast moving back when I move back to point at it. However it does it, and I suspect what you say is true, it is pretty damn good.
Nice fox. We just have coyotes, though they can act adorably too.
Those hummingbird shots are nicely done. We only get Rubies, and like Diana, I’m jealous of all the species you get to admire.
I love that Gray fox and her cub! I see the occasional Red fox, never Gray. Adorable face.
Great Kingfisher composition Stephen. The autumn colors are really nice in the Mule deer shot. And what a great Mallard take-off. Sweet!
I’m jealous of Stephen Barnard’s kingfisher (well, not just that). One regularly is present where I walk many mornings, but seems to sense when a camera is pointed in his direction and flies off to a new perch if I approach within reasonable range even for a very long lens.
I see some amazing drop-dead-gorgeous photographs of kingfishers on some photo sharing sites, but they’re always of other species in Great Britain or Asia. I have to conclude that the Belted Kingfisher is an unusually shy species. It’s certainly one of the most difficult birds to photograph here, and I see them nearly every day.
Charles, lovely shots! Where do you live to get such nice wildlife? You certainly made the most of that fox opportunity!
Hi Diane, Thank you! I live in the little town of Igo in Northern California, population about 200 I suspect. The foxes have been living under the old house next door for a couple of years now. I have seen the little ones, but alas no good photos. They are so cute.
Such an unusual name. The only thing I learned from Wikipedia is that Igo is not too far from Ono. Who knew?
Stephen, super shots as always! 🙂
Love the lighting on the deer–dawn or dusk?
The mallard is amazing and I love the composition. Waterbirds taking off are always a sight to behold.
Dawn
That was my guess. I wonder if dawn light is distinguishable from dusk, of if I was subliminally influenced by the picture’s orientation? 🙂
I think the difference between dawn and dusk light depends on the topography and atmospherics. In both cases the sunlight is filtered through more atmosphere, which suppresses the blue part of the spectrum, accentuating the warmer hues. In this valley the sunrise illuminates the hills and mountains toward the north, and the often complicated weather hanging over them, in a pleasing way, and I prefer it for landscapes, but the sunsets can be very good, too. For wildlife photography, and especially for birds in flight, it’s highly desirable for the sun to be at a low angle and more-or-less at your back, which is the condition of the sunrise from my back yard toward the north –the view of the deer.
“I think the difference between dawn and dusk light depends on the topography and atmospherics.”
Much of that occurred to me after I’d hit “post.” Of course. I hadn’t gotten as far as the blue being suppressed, but sort of subconsciously knew that by knowing how I expect my dawn/dusk pics to turn out.
Probably the only criterion I reliably employ is the sun-at-your-back one, but unfortunately the birds often fail to comply…I suppose to keep an eye on “danger” they like to keep the sun at their backs, too. 😀
These mallards congregate by the hundreds in my creek. They breed here and many migrants pass through. They’re extremely spooky because this is hunting season. They’ll spook from hundreds of yards away. Whenever I step out my back door, or even suddenly stand up behind my picture windows, they’ll spook. (My d*g doesn’t intimidate them despite his best efforts.) When the light is good I sneak up on them, using trees and other obstacles for cover, focus and expose on one bird, and wait for them to spook, whereupon they usually fly downstream to the safety of my unused duck blind.
Now known as a hunter blind.
Beautiful shots, thanks all!