I always say that photography is a game of numbers.
If you shoot enough pics eventually good pics will be the result. I have been attempting for some time to get a full spectrum shot of the American Coot diving for a meal. The coot sits on the water then without warning it dives. Takes less than 2 seconds. The difficult part is the first movement of the Coot just as it starts the dive. Today I got it!!!!!
Nikon announced their new professional camera to replace the D3s!
I shoot with D3s’s!
What to do???????
Can it get any better than the D3s? I have reading reviews, blogs, news releases almost all night. It was like reading The Hunt for Red October for the first time. Couldn’t stop reading about the new Nikon D4. Replacing the D3s? It is an incredible camera (the D3s). I have enjoyed the benefits of this incredible camera. Just last week I was up most the night so I left sub-morning light and went out to the FBWR for some quiet time. With just very little day light I captured this shot….
I remind you that this shot of the hawk was taken before sunrise. I was the only photographer out that morning. Canon shooters arrive a little later. Kinda kidding. The duck hunters were out in kill mode. I was in take home a pic mode. The photo is surely soft and has considerable noise. In this case it adds to the surreal nature of the pre-sunrise shot. The ISO was at 6400. Yikes. And with only this much noise? INCREDIBLE.
The D4 looks to be even better. Hard to believe. Nikon has thought this one over. Full HD video, EXPEED 3 sensor, 91,000 color pixel sensor, 10 frames a second shooting, ISO to 203,000, mike input and earphones output, 16 MP and on and on!!!!!!
Guess I will be heading to Pictureline this morning to put my name on the list.
I am selling one of my D3s’s. Only one though…….
With all the duck hunters at FBWR the ducks have ben looking for safe places to hang.
I have been watching a large group of male and female Mallards. This morning I noticed a much smaller duck that I have not seen before. A Green-Winged Teal. Cute fella.
Much smaller than the florescent green headed Mallard. This is the smallest North American dabbling duck. The breeding male has grey flanks and back, with a yellow rear end and a white-edged green speculum ( apart of the wing), obvious in flight or at rest. It has a chestnut head with a green eye patch. It is distinguished from drake Common Teals by a vertical white stripe on side of breast, the lack of both a horizontal white scapular stripe and the lack of thin buff lines on its head. The only one at this pond today. No mate. Not even sure how many total may be passing through. Just real glad to capture this one………
I love this little hunter. Saw him perched in a residential tree driving back from a project this morning…
I love watching and photographing Kestrels “Falco sparverius‘. Just as the “Falco” denotes he is a falcon. This one being a male…
I have a new goal.
To try and catch an America Coot “Fulica Americana” in the full act of diving. Tried for an hour yesterday. They are fast. Diving for grass on the bottom of the pond. Not too bad. Sounds Easy huh? Well it’s not. They give no real indication of when the dive starts. So all I have been getting is a partially submerged Coot with his webbed feet looking up. Give me a little bit….I will get this one! For sure.
For hating Las Vegas so much I am sure posting a lot about it.
At the the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and where the MGM Grand is is a Huge Gold lion. Huge! Las Vegas style statue of a lion. Behind and surrounding the lion statue are several Atlas’s hold up big objects. Saucers, the world or something. The lion was much harder to photograph than Atlas. Th gold finish had a lot of specular highlights. Hand held a 9 shot HDR combo, Silver EFEX Pro2 and her is the finish photo…..
It’s turning out to be a weird winter thus far.
No snow in the valley. Yesterday it was almost 60 degrees.
And there is a White Faced Ibis still hanging out at the FBWR. Saw him a few days ago and was surprised. I am not an Ibis expert. But it is the only one seen for a while. Just like the White Egret recently photographed, (which is gone now) I wonder why the Ibis is hanging around. They seen to fly and stay in groups. I have posted several times photographs of these beautiful birds. They never disappoint my camera and screen when I get back.
The hunters where out and some would pass the small pond the Ibis was fishing in. He would quickly get out and move away onto the ice closer the safety of the brush. Made for a strange site for me personally.
He is a very proficient fisher…..