yardkat

Thank you everyone, for the fantastic advice! I did order the two books by Arthur Morris and will look forward to them. Bald eagles are coming to Utah, evidently Feb is their peak month. People are already posting fabulous pictures and it literally looks like they are three feet away. So I will be striving. And practicing! Thank you! Julie

I have the Contemporary, I probably just don't use it enough to be comfortable handholding it. Yes, we do! We live in an air pollution pocket, so we do it by habit. Plus the engine noise... Oh duh, yes that's a good idea. He got the best shot of the weekend with MY CAMERA. I couldn't get the shot from my seat, and I was afraid to get out of the car. This little short-eared owl (I think) was just sitting by the road! Anyway, I handed Scot my camera after he finished with his. Still not the same as doing it myself. And we do have a sunroof, it never even occurred to me to use it. Boy, am I dumb. Guess we'll have to go back next weekend! ;) Great suggestion, I like the idea that one could even leave it partly extended in the back for quick action. Do you have a particular brand you like to recommend? Yep, that's what I've read. I mostly shoot the former, so the mirrorless has appeal. I know it's not a good option yet for wildlife/birding. The other reason to have an extra body was just convenience. I found myself wanting to shoot a landscape and would end up switching lenses a lot. So it would be easy to attach a DX to the big lens and leave it that way. I'm not a rich person, though, so it's kind of a stretch. Cool, I'll look now. Thank you!

Hello all, I am new to bird photography and bird ID. We have some wonderful wetlands around us with a lot of species of migratory birds. I know there are a lot of fabulous bird photographers in the Nikon forum, so I thought I'd just ask you all some of my very, extremely, so much basic questions. I shoot with a D750 and a Sigma 150-600. It's a pretty heavy lens and I have trouble nailing the focus. Any tips for how to steady the lens? I used my knee when I could, and tried to be as steady as possible. When shooting from the car, I could use the arm rest to stabilize. My husband was driving so he used the window and did better than I. (Yeah, so how do you crawl over your spouse to get the shot??? ;) How do you birders get so close to your subjects? I thought I was walking so softly and carefully, and PLENTY far away, and the heron would just get skittish and fly off. I'd prefer to use a tripod but most of the time that timing wasn't an option. Reviewing my images, I do see that the mid-day shots with more difficult lighting also look more soft, so I get that lighting is important, too. We were just there when we were there. I am thinking of getting a DX camera for bird photography to improve the reach. Since we're just starting this avenue, I want to buy used and spend as little as possible since this is something we won't be doing every weekend. I know the D500 is the obvious choice, is the D7500 worth considering for this? I'll be buying used so if there's something else out there that I haven't though of, let me know. (I'd love to spend under 800, under 600 would be dreamy, but I'm aware that's difficult.) I'm going to live with the Sigma lens for now. (TBH I'd rather get a Z6 kit before I add another DSLR, but suddenly the crop sensor has appeal for birdies.) The appeal of doing this is to really improve my skills. I don't shoot usually shoot anything which requires me to learn new techniques, so this will be an adventure. I also generally always focus on my subject and recompose, so I need to really learn my focusing technique and continuous shooting. Are there any fabulous books you recommend? Any other tips? Thanks in advance for any suggestions! ~Julie

Didn't get out this week, so this is from last weekend. D750+70-200F4.

I finally have a set of lenses for my D750 that I love, so now's the time to switch! Just kidding, I'm hoping to add a Z6 sometime before summer, but IDK if I can actually do it financially. We are going on a night photography workshop, and I'd like to have two bodies, one set up to do star trails, and one set up to do whatever else I want at the same time. I'll probably end up renting something, but the Z6 gets good reviews as an astrolandscape camera. I'm sure as soon as I buy it they'll release the next gen....;) I used to have a Fuji X100T(i think that's the right number!) that had a fixed lens, I used it as my "purse camera" when traveling for work. I liked it, but the focus was sometimes tricky and I often wished for something that small that had interchangeable lenses. So I sold it and was going to buy something else, but then we bought/sold/moved house and I never got around to replacing it. Plus the Z6 came out at that time, so I wanted to wait and see what that was going to be like. Still haven't really done anything other than hold the Z6 and love the size. Someday!

Went on a drive to a nearby bird refuge. Didn't see many birds, but lots of duck hunters. D750+24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f4.

I definitely took this on Dec. 31. I finished making these stockings in time for Christmas, but photographed them later. D750+Lensbaby sweet 50.

This is our little foster guy, Brooks. Nikon D750+70-200 f4.

Cemetery deer. D750+24-70VR

Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina D750+ 24-70.

D750+Lensbaby Velvet85.

Did some night photography at the Spiral Jetty. Half-Moon for light. Nikon D750+50 1.8.

I didn't get to take pictures of puppies this week. :( I am hosting a conference in Park City next month, so I drove up last weekend to get a feel for the hotel and location. D750+24-85VR.

We have visitors to our place. Juvenile Western Screech Owl D750+Sigma 150-600.

Week before last we attended a workshop with National Parks at Night in Bryce Canyon. If you ever have a change to go on one of their workshops, it was amazing. Learned a ton! Nikon D750, Nikon 14-24mm.

From last month: D750+Lensbaby

My first time out at the Bear River Bird Refuge. Birds are tough subjects. D750+Sigma150-600

Thank you, Andrew, I remember your post when your kitty died! It's so hard to lose them. We lost two dogs this year, our house is really empty now. But like you, I need some time. I will miss her for a long time. And thank you, jose_angel, she was very distinguished with her white eyebrows! :)

Hello all, I haven't been around much this year. My sweet girl died last week. She was probably close to 14, couldn't stand up on her own, could barely walk, and then finally quit eating to tell us it was her time. She was the bestest. When she was a young gal. I would have shot this with my D70 back in the day.

Thank you! My Grandmother had a sign in her kitchen saying "My kitchen is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy." I've definitely taken that message to heart. But yes, I wish photoshop could fix a lot of real life issues. Wrinkles, bad hair, etc...photoshop myself before I leave the house! :)

Thanks, everyone, and please send us good vibes!

D750+24-85VR

I love those owl shots! I have been wanting to figure out how to "hunt" owls so I can photograph them. Great work!

It's been a longer time than I thought, but our house will go on the market tomorrow. I didn't take the photos, way too much to do, but I took one of our street and nearby park in case they wanted to include those. Thanks everyone! I'm going to miss this street!

No fall colors for me, just a couple more from last weekend out in the desert. Nikon D750+24-85VR, Rokinon 14mm.