Wildlife Pics

[JadeFox]

ilikegundpdx.....can you tell us a little about the camera? Those are great shots!

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Old crusty Nikon d750 with also fairly old now sigma 150-600 sports. Imo the whole deal with wildlife photography is you need lots of "reach" (focal length) no matter what. Then u basically have 2 categories that determine what kind of gear you can use:

A). Sitting or slow moving subjects (whether that is birds, mammals, whatever). I have a $200 (when new) 3 year old camera that fits in my shirt pocket that does pretty darn well even with bald eagles etc at long range (I can post wildlife pics from that $200 camera if there is interest). It's a point and shoot type pocket camera with built in lens. Heck I have even taken recognizable pics of Jupiter and Saturn with it! So for shooting and enjoying sitting wildlife u don't have to spend much money. It does take a little time to learn the camera though.

B) birds in flight or any fast moving animal like a mammal on the run. For this the standard is a lot higher cuz u need really good autofocus and also a lens/camera that will allow a fast shutter speed and good quality images.

Fortunately a person can use a mid to high end camera from 2-3 generations ago and still get great results. Camera body values drop like a rock as they get even slightly older (which is good for the used camera buyer).

Lenses hold their value much more but again getting an older high end lens can save lots of $. I almost never use a tripod or any sort of stabilization, only handheld. So for those folks that say u need a crazy expensive tripod and camera mount, u don't. U are likely to get better results more often with a top quality tripod so it's a benefit for sure but it's not critical with modern stabilized lenses IMO. I will say though that u do need a pretty good lens for this. It can be an old lens but not a low quality lens (of any age). Lens choice is pretty critical for BIF.

For birds in flight it's all about technique IMO -assuming your gear has good enough AF and lens is pretty good. If you've hunted birds u already have a lot of the technique down (except no leading the duck is required ha ha). The autofocus button is just like the trigger on the gun and you only press it (or pull the trigger) when u are on the bird. I say autofocus button because shutter button is held down continuously for most BIF shots.

 

[nwwoodsman]

A). Sitting or slow moving subjects (whether that is birds, mammals, whatever). I have a $200 (when new) 3 year old camera that fits in my shirt pocket that does pretty darn well even with bald eagles etc at long range (I can post wildlife pics from that $200 camera if there is interest). It's a point and shoot type pocket camera with built in lens. Heck I have even taken recognizable pics of Jupiter and Saturn with it! So for shooting and enjoying sitting wildlife u don't have to spend much money. It does take a little time to learn the camera though.

As a matter of fact, I'd love to see some pictures from the $200 camera and know what kind it is. I see a lot more animals when I'm not hunting and need something to do in the woods in the off season. Most of my money is currently tied up in other investments, ages 9,13 and 17, so a budget camera is what I am looking for.

 

[DeanMk]

Old crusty Nikon d750 with also fairly old now sigma 150-600 sports. Imo the whole deal with wildlife photography is you need lots of "reach" (focal length) no matter what. Then u basically have 2 categories that determine what kind of gear you can use:

A). Sitting or slow moving subjects (whether that is birds, mammals, whatever). I have a $200 (when new) 3 year old camera that fits in my shirt pocket that does pretty darn well even with bald eagles etc at long range (I can post wildlife pics from that $200 camera if there is interest). It's a point and shoot type pocket camera with built in lens. Heck I have even taken recognizable pics of Jupiter and Saturn with it! So for shooting and enjoying sitting wildlife u don't have to spend much money. It does take a little time to learn the camera though.

B) birds in flight or any fast moving animal like a mammal on the run. For this the standard is a lot higher cuz u need really good autofocus and also a lens/camera that will allow a fast shutter speed and good quality images.

Fortunately a person can use a mid to high end camera from 2-3 generations ago and still get great results. Camera body values drop like a rock as they get even slightly older (which is good for the used camera buyer).

Lenses hold their value much more but again getting an older high end lens can save lots of $. I almost never use a tripod or any sort of stabilization, only handheld. So for those folks that say u need a crazy expensive tripod and camera mount, u don't. U are likely to get better results more often with a top quality tripod so it's a benefit for sure but it's not critical with modern stabilized lenses IMO. I will say though that u do need a pretty good lens for this. It can be an old lens but not a low quality lens (of any age). Lens choice is pretty critical for BIF.

For birds in flight it's all about technique IMO -assuming your gear has good enough AF and lens is pretty good. If you've hunted birds u already have a lot of the technique down (except no leading the duck is required ha ha). The autofocus button is just like the trigger on the gun and you only press it (or pull the trigger) when u are on the bird. I say autofocus button because shutter button is held down continuously for most BIF shots.

Yes!
One thing I really liked about an Olympus UZ10 I used to own was the ability the telephoto feature had in "framing" the shot.
I loved it for doing the "fake macro" thing, by standing 10 feet off of the subject and then zooming in.
I got some really great shots doing that.
Here's an "art" shot I took of some sculling oars on Bainbridge...



...I used the zoom feature of that Olympus camera to see "through" the chain link fence I was on the other side of, by zooming in so far that the shot was tighter than the weave of the fence (it also helped that the oars seen here were on the other side of the pen. Probably 20-25 feet away from me).

These days I use a 14 year old Nikon with, maybe, 3X worth of zoom.
I REALLY miss having a lot of zoom to play with.


Dean

 

[pigiron]

Frosty dawn...

 

[ilikegunspdx]

As a matter of fact, I'd love to see some pictures from the $200 camera and know what kind it is. I see a lot more animals when I'm not hunting and need something to do in the woods in the off season. Most of my money is currently tied up in other investments, ages 9,13 and 17, so a budget camera is what I am looking for.

Here are some picks with the Canon SX730 pocket camera. It is available from Canon's website for $200 as a refurb. (I've bought numerous refurbs and they have all been identical to new).
Size of camera shown here:


First a few basic things to know about any of these small sensor cameras with long telescopic reach. Anyone can disagree with any of this stuff, I'm just telling you what I've found via many years of shooting and tons and tons of different cameras and lenses over the years:
1) Shoot it just like a rifle, squeeze the trigger gently, don't move the camera at all, rest it on something if you can (bench, person's shoulder, etc). Use a mini tripod or regular tripod if shooting in very low light like at night.
2) These small sensor cameras work really well in good light. In poor light u have to be extremely careful not to move it and even then low light photos aren't all that great (ie.e they are noisy). Be aware that any movement by the subject when shooting at slow shutter speeds will make the subject blurry.
3) Do not shoot people indoors at a low shutter speed, they will be blurry (except if using flash)
4) Shoot wildlife at the highest shutter speed you can to avoid blurriness
5) Don't shoot at over 800 iso
6) Don't shoot in any kind of auto mode, M mode only. There is a very simple way to do this for the SX730 and similar cameras. Ask if u want more info. as it takes a bit to write it in a non-confusing way. It is the only way I would shoot any of these point and shoot type cameras. It's very easy and you get foolproof results.
7) Most of the long reach, small sensor bridge cameras such as Nikon p900/p1000, Canon sx70, Panasonic zs80, etc. will all get similar results to the SX730. It's just that the sx730 is cheap and fits in your pocket. Lens quality and sensors are roughly similar (they all have the same small sensor size) which is why they all have fairly comparable results. Don't get caught in the trap of "I have to have this particular camera to get good pics", or "My pics aren't good so I have to try a different brand camera", etc. It's down to how you use it, not the camera, for the most part.

Here are some photos from the sx730 for reference. Notice that most all are in good light. The same subject shot in shadow would look lousy. Note that these aren't crazy good quality pics but for a camera that fits in your pocket and is half the size of a pair of binoculars, it does surprisingly well. Also please note that almost all of these are handheld, or handheld but resting on something. The anti-camera-shake (image stabilization) is really unbelievably good on these cameras. It is shooting at 960mm equivalent which is about double the zoom of the most expensive DSLR wildlife lenses (usually 500-600mm) and at that focal length even the tiniest movement can cause blur. But the image stabilization eliminates that blur.

Bald Eagle, 450 feet away, 960mm equivalent (ie max zoom). Handheld but resting on a person's shoulder. Click on image to see closer up,

Dragonfly from about 15 feet away, full zoom, handheld
Male robin guarding the nest, about 30feet away, can't remember the zoom level, on tripod

Screech owl maybe 60' away can't remember for sure, max zoom, handheld

Dandelion, probably about 6" to 1 foot away, handheld, click and then double click to zoom in to see detail,

Duck in low light, max zoom, handheld, maybe 60-70 feet away?

A couple picks to show min and max zoom in poor light (light rain), handheld but resting on railing, the ship is the focus point for both shots, ship is roughly 1/2 mile away:


Min and max zoom in good light, left of little round tower is the focus point. Notice at full zoom you can even see the paint peeling on the windows which is remarkable IMO for a camera of this size and cost:


Jupiter and Saturn just for fun. On a tripod, manual focus, no aids used, just camera. Saturn is about 900 million miles away
Jupiter and 4 of it's moons

Saturn

 

[DeanMk]

Everything Ilikegunspdx wrote in that post is absolute gospel and anyone would be very smart to heed the lessons he teaches in that post.
I just wanted to extrapolate a couple of the points he raised, based on my own (in) experiences....

"1) Shoot it just like a rifle, squeeze the trigger gently, don't move the camera at all, rest it on something if you can (bench, person's shoulder, etc). Use a mini tripod or regular tripod if shooting in very low light like at night. "
With some of the less expensive cameras, the shutter button is only a slight nub above the body of the camera.
This can lead to one inadvertently moving the camera when taking a picture because to push on the shutter button also means to push on that part of the camera's body.
So when he says squeeze the trigger gently, he REALLY isn't kidding!
I remember, with that Olympus I mentioned earlier, I would sometimes push the shutter button with the tip of my fingernail, just to make sure I wouldn't move the camera.
A Pentax K or Canon AE-1, it wasn't!

"6) Don't shoot in any kind of auto mode, M mode only. There is a very simple way to do this for the SX730 and similar cameras. Ask if u want more info. as it takes a bit to write it in a non-confusing way. It is the only way I would shoot any of these point and shoot type cameras. It's very easy and you get foolproof results. "
I would urge anyone interested in this type of camera to research the livin' crap out of it before purchasing.
In some cases, model supersedences can mean a change to the construction of the current (i.e., about to be replaced) model.
This happened to me with that Olympus.
I was unaware a replacement (UZ20) was about to be released when I got mine (which explains why the great sale price! ), so construction of my camera went from Japan, to Korea.
The Koreans used a different (i.e., cheaper) processor chip and it didn't always work as well as it was supposed to ( ).
In my case, while manual ("M") mode was on the list of options, it refused to work in that mode, thus I was stuck on the "auto" feature permanently.
SO...if you find you can't access the manual mode on any mid priced camera, please don't fault our resident expert.
It could be there's been a switch in the construction of that camera, preventing you from enjoying that feature.


Dean

 

[orygun]

Frosty dawn...View attachment 636274

Probably the best early morning view, especially when spike hunting.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Everything Ilikegunspdx wrote in that post is absolute gospel and anyone would be very smart to heed the lessons he teaches in that post.
I just wanted to extrapolate a couple of the points he raised, based on my own (in) experiences....

"1) Shoot it just like a rifle, squeeze the trigger gently, don't move the camera at all, rest it on something if you can (bench, person's shoulder, etc). Use a mini tripod or regular tripod if shooting in very low light like at night. "
With some of the less expensive cameras, the shutter button is only a slight nub above the body of the camera.
This can lead to one inadvertently moving the camera when taking a picture because to push on the shutter button also means to push on that part of the camera's body.
So when he says squeeze the trigger gently, he REALLY isn't kidding!
I remember, with that Olympus I mentioned earlier, I would sometimes push the shutter button with the tip of my fingernail, just to make sure I wouldn't move the camera.
A Pentax K or Canon AE-1, it wasn't!

"6) Don't shoot in any kind of auto mode, M mode only. There is a very simple way to do this for the SX730 and similar cameras. Ask if u want more info. as it takes a bit to write it in a non-confusing way. It is the only way I would shoot any of these point and shoot type cameras. It's very easy and you get foolproof results. "
I would urge anyone interested in this type of camera to research the livin' crap out of it before purchasing.
In some cases, model supersedences can mean a change to the construction of the current (i.e., about to be replaced) model.
This happened to me with that Olympus.
I was unaware a replacement (UZ20) was about to be released when I got mine (which explains why the great sale price! ), so construction of my camera went from Japan, to Korea.
The Koreans used a different (i.e., cheaper) processor chip and it didn't always work as well as it was supposed to ( ).
In my case, while manual ("M") mode was on the list of options, it refused to work in that mode, thus I was stuck on the "auto" feature permanently.
SO...if you find you can't access the manual mode on any mid priced camera, please don't fault our resident expert.
It could be there's been a switch in the construction of that camera, preventing you from enjoying that feature.


Dean

Ur right Dean about m mode there are also cameras out there that don't have an M mode at all. I've also had older point and shoot cameras that have an "m" mode that is just a different form of auto mode. Those r mostly gone from the market now I think though.

 

[DeanMk]

Yeah, true.
In my case, I learned to live with that Olympus.
I tended to work its strengths and try to stay away from its weaknesses and life was good.
I've still got a few pics I took with that camera, most are of the Seattle skyline, as I was working there during the time I had the camera (the majority were lost when I downloaded all of them on a new computer and it locked up).
You could call this an Inner City wildlife shot...



...taken from a high ledge overlooking the Seattle waterfront.
I noticed the seagull walking along the ledge and decided to follow it, but it was a bit skiddish, so I kept my distance.
As I came around the corner I noticed it had sat down and had sunk its head down to take a nap.
I actually shot this from inside, looking through tinted glass (why everything has that faint, clouded, greenish hue). I leaned against the window to steady myself and was using the zoom to frame the shot (he was probably 10-15 feet away) and I think he heard the motor that controlled the zoom feature, because a split second before I took the shot, he popped his head up.
It's actually in mid-rise as you see it here.
I considered it a "failed picture" and left right afterwards.
When I got home that night and downloaded all the pics I had taken that day, I noticed that I had gotten some real nice texture out of his feathers and the little shiny spot on the back of his head, caused by the window I was shooting through, made it look like his head was an eggshell.
I thought it a cool effect and ended up keeping the picture.
...sometimes, we just get lucky.

Dean

 

[DeanMk]

...and speaking of camera with an auto feature only, I now use a Nikon Coolpix S5, which actually belongs to my mother, but she usually just has someone else take her pics for her, so I've sort of commandeered it.
It has a unique feature to being able to focus at almost macro ranges.
The trick is to not do what the camera tells you, every time.
The next couple of pics were taken at mere inches, maybe even fractions of an inch.
Although the camera is screaming "TOO CLOSE!!!!", I can see the image on the screen in the back and its in focus....so I go for the shot and here's what I got......



I had to pull back a little with the second flower pic, because I was casting a shadow over it.
I spotted the ant while walking around in my back yard early one morning. I was actually out to catch some Morning Glory's that I discovered growing the week before, but I decided to try and catch the ant.
I had to wait a few minutes, which is an eternity for that camera. So much so that was just about to power down from lack of use when he popped out from the other side of that Scotchbroom stalk and was makin' tracks for the ground.
I think I took that one at about 6 inches and I seem to recall using a tiny bit of zoom to pull him in a little better.
...otherwise, this camera's main job has been capturing sunsets, also from my backyard....

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Beautiful sunsets! Yea if u know how to trick auto mode into getting what u want it can work (especially if u can use separate buttons to lock metering and focus). I used to do that all the time with the early canon Elph digital cameras.

 

[CountryGent]

View attachment 37420
Maupin in February

View attachment 37420

Freezing fog? Remember that from our sojourn in Gilliam County.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

Freezing fog? Remember that from our sojourn in Gilliam County.

Yep, the barbed wire looked like 1" rope.

 

[DeanMk]

Beautiful sunsets! Yea if u know how to trick auto mode into getting what u want it can work (especially if u can use separate buttons to lock metering and focus). I used to do that all the time with the early canon Elph digital cameras.

HA! I haven't heard anyone mention an Elph in a long time!
Yeah, I doesn't work every time, but it can be a means to an end.
It's a different picture than zooming in from a short distance away, isn't it.
Thank you for the accolades on the sunset shots.
I've got a bunch of those....what can I say? Life on the Hood Canal.
It's a different painting every night. I just pick and choose which one's I want to capture...and I believe the phrase you're looking for is A Target Rich Environment
Here's a few more. All from the same spot....



...might take a little imagination, but the middle one is a fox jumping on the outstretched neck of a goose.....see it?
The bottom one is my favourite. The house in a rainstorm during sunset.

Dean

 

[CountryGent]

Yep, the barbed wire looked like 1" rope.

That brings me back. Thank you for the memories.

 

[Sdmotorcop]

I have a lot of elk and blacktail that enjoy my yard (along with all the other neighbors). I don't mind the blacktail because the keep my grass somewhat in check.. The elk on the other hand are a pain in the butt

 

[ZigZagZeke]

That brings me back. Thank you for the memories.

Taking the hounds on a bobcat hunt on BLM near the ranch in Maupin with freezing fog.

 

[zluthi]

Check out this absolute beaut of a black tail i saw while hunting this year, of course he was on private land...

 

[ilikegunspdx]

FYI wildlife photo of year pics here: The LUMIX People's Choice Award | 2019 | Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Some beautiful photos there, one example

Valeriy Maleev, found at link above