Mary Doo Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Basic Guidelines: In the strictest sense, nature photography should not include "hand of man elements". Please refrain from images with buildings or human made structures like roads, fences, walls. Pets are not permitted. Captive subjects in zoos, arboretums, or aquariums are permitted, but must be declared, and must focus on the subject, not the captivity. Images with obvious human made elements will likely be deleted from the thread, with an explanation to the photographer. Guidelines are based on PSA rules governing Nature photography which also cover the Nature Forum. Keep your image at/under 1000 pixels on the long axis for in-line viewing. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site at Flicker, Photobucket, your own site, etc. Each member please post no more than just one image to this weekly thread per week. If the information is available, many members appreciate information on your approach to making the image and the names, both common and scientific, of the subject(s). However, while encouraged, these are not required as a component of your contributions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This image was captured - oh eons ago - in Alaska's Katmai NP with my Nikon 200-400 on a D70. I remember seeing the young bear cub grappling with a struggling salmon; grasping and losing it repeatedly. Obviously he was learning to fish. Every time he had the fish in his grip, he paused to look around, perhaps to see if anyone saw his achievement 😉 or more likely he was worried about potential thieves. Finally, he managed to hold on to the fish securely and went to see his mother. His sibling immediately appeared from nowhere, no doubt he wanted to share the spoil. Now this cub was still wrestling with the challenge of eating the slippery scaley thing that was attempting to escape, with his sibling looking on with aggressive impatience. So in this image Mama Bear is pushing the sibling away, as if to say "Give your brother space, and find your own salmon." 😉 6 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill J Boyd Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 American White Pelican making a perfect landing in Port Aransas, Texas 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger G Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Spotted Sandpiper from last summer 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Bald eagles 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcstep Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 (edited) Northern harrier hunts her dinner, near sunset. Edited January 8 by dcstep 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_niemi1 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Great Egret. Dragonfly. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_simon Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Another photo of the sword billed hummingbird in response to Mary Doo's comment about the "sword" from my January 1 post. It is amazing to see it fly with such a long bill 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Doo Posted January 8 Author Share Posted January 8 4 hours ago, brian_niemi1 said: Great Egret. Dragonfly. Brian, what are those "dots" around the egret? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 Brian and I had another discussion last week: https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/551018-nature-unlimited-5-january-2024/#comment-5812574 Not sure Brian also used the Nikkor 400mm/f4.5 S here. He is getting some unusual bokeh. I have that lens also, and it is a conventional tele, not a PF lens. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_niemi1 Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 5 hours ago, Mary Doo said: Brian, what are those "dots" around the egret? Mary, The dots were created by the sun reflecting off of water. The egret was in a wet marsh-type area and the vegetation was covered in water which created the dots. I was shooting towards the south/southwest somewhat towards the sun which was getting low in the sky.. I was slightly above the egret so the background was the vegetation in the lake. I under exposed the background a little to make it less distracting, but perhaps I didn't darken it enough. 1 hour ago, ShunCheung said: Brian and I had another discussion last week: https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/551018-nature-unlimited-5-january-2024/#comment-5812574 Not sure Brian also used the Nikkor 400mm/f4.5 S here. He is getting some unusual bokeh. I have that lens also, and it is a conventional tele, not a PF lens. Shun, my lens was the Nikkor Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S but I had the Z TC-1.4x attached. The settings were 1/3200 second @ f/6.3. ISO 1000/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Neubaum Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 Great Egret taking off....gear: Canon 7D mk2, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens with 1.4X TC. exposure: 1/2500 sec @ f/5.6, iso 1000, hand-held. equiv. focal length was 900mm. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Doo Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 On 1/8/2024 at 10:13 PM, brian_niemi1 said: Mary, The dots were created by the sun reflecting off of water. The egret was in a wet marsh-type area and the vegetation was covered in water which created the dots. I was shooting towards the south/southwest somewhat towards the sun which was getting low in the sky.. I was slightly above the egret so the background was the vegetation in the lake. I under exposed the background a little to make it less distracting, but perhaps I didn't darken it enough. On 1/8/2024 at 8:54 PM, ShunCheung said: He is getting some unusual bokeh. I have that lens also, and it is a conventional tele, not a PF lens. The bokeh is unusual because they are not just circles. They seem to reflect something from the background. Interesting. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 Last week, I thought perhaps Brian was using a mirror (catadioptric) lens or a PF lens, but it turns out to be the Nikkor 400mm/f4.5 S in the Z mount. That lens has conventional elements, and at least I haven't noticed such bokeh on mine. Perhaps I haven't used mind in backlit situations that often. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts