Tag Archives: Pheasant

Springing into 2017

Half way through April and spring is well and truly underway. I guess the best way to start this post is with the most obvious sign of spring from the garden and one that many people probably take for granted – a frog chorus. Now frogs are hardly rare but you would be forgiven for thinking that in my garden. Despite having two reasonably sized wildlife ponds, it has been the newts that rule the water (newts eat frogspawn and vice versa)….maybe that’s all about to change?

After finding quite a few adult frogs at night and hearing them sing from our bedroom window, I knew that maybe this year would be a little different. My hopes were realised when one morning on my way to feed the birds I saw the first frog spawn of the year, and the first time in abundance for my pond(s).

Frogspawn clump

Frogspawn clump

Over the next couple of weeks there was a steady addition of spawn, the result being a large semi-floating mass with what must number into the thousands of eggs.

I’ve not had many chances to photograph Common Frogs so firstly out came the macro lens and my waterproof mat and I spent a session or two laid out at the side of the pond –

Common Frog close up

Common Frog close up

Common Frog Reflection

Common Frog Reflection

Despite some reasonable success they were still quite shy. What about trying to photograph them at night I wondered? A couple of remotely triggered flash units placed at 45 degress from each side and I was ready to go. This time the frogs were amazingly approachable with a little care and sat nicely for their portraits –

Smiley frog portrait

Smiley frog portrait

Floating in the dark

Floating in the dark

Common Frog reflected at night

Common Frog reflected at night

Whenever walking the garden at night around this time of year I have to be really careful of the travelling newts as they move around on damp nights –

Newt crossing lawn at night

Newt crossing lawn at night

It’s now a few weeks since the spawn was laid and my pond (the bulk was laid into a single pond) is now a writhing mass of life – everywhere you look there is a tadpole darting about, I could watch it for hours!

When the spawn first hatches the tadpoles tend to stay together and eat the rest of the jelly from the eggs, I tried to get a few images of this but any image taken into water is really difficult. Hopefully these convey what I was seeing –

Mass of tadpoles

Mass of tadpoles

Finally for the frog theme, i’m trying out a little aquarium photography. Although it’s a reasonable start, I’ll need to work out how to clear the water as the following image shows (oh and notice the hoglice in the bottom right photobombing!)

Tadpole underwater shot

Tadpole underwater shot

Bird wise the garden has been quite busy with the smaller birds being most active it seems. This Goldcrest was a welcome visitor and has been seen around regularly and not alone. Hopefully they will be nesting nearby –

Goldcrest side portrait

Goldcrest side portrait

Another lovely little bird that is definitely nesting nearby is the Long Tailed Tit. They have been picking up tiny bits from my fat feeders before zipping around finding spiders webs with which to construct their nest –

Long Tailed Tit gathering nesting material

Long Tailed Tit gathering nesting material

Long Tailed Tit with moss

Long Tailed Tit with moss

Not the best images but something I don’t often see so worth inclusion here.

They even have enough energy to manage a few chin-ups…

Long Tailed Tit chin up

Long Tailed Tit chin up

Moving away from the garden, I was treated to my first singing Sedge Warbler at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve at the beginning of April. This is a welcome sound as it heralds the reedbeds coming alive with warblers for the next few months. A small amount of time stood still and the bird was happily belting out his song close enough for some lovely portraits.

Sedge Warbler portrait

Sedge Warbler portrait

Singing Sedge Warbler

Singing Sedge Warbler

Finally, I’ve been giving access to private farmland, something I’ve been longing for to get some new space where it’s less likely i’ll be disturbed. It’s noticeable that all the wildlife I’ve spotted so far is really shy so it’ll be fun trying to get some good images.

One bird there is no shortage of is the Pheasant – this shot was early morning, low light and high ISO so fairly pleased with how it came out –

Pheasant in flight

Pheasant in flight

I also managed to find a pair of Treecreepers making a nest in some rotted wood. I’ll be keeping an eye on them over the coming weeks. I’d love to see the youngsters fledge into a huddle! –

Treecreeper with nesting material

Treecreeper with nesting material

That’s it for this instalment. Hope you enjoyed the images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Garden, Photography, Wildlife Photography Also tagged , , , , , , , , , |

Nikon D7200 first shots (with images)

I recently took delivery of the newly released Nikon D7200 and was keen to see just how it performed. Sod’s law of course that the sun has pretty much decided not to bother showing up on any day that i’ve had the time to try the camera out. Not to worry, it gave me a chance to try out the ISO handling and the improved low light autofocus. On a really grim day last weekend I headed to Feathers Birdcare in Salehurst as their hide always has something interesting to point a lens at.

First order of the day – overexposed sky shots to check the sensor was free of any dirt. Good start – all is well. Next shots were of the male pheasant that often wanders round the feeding area.

Male Pheasant closeup - D7200 + nikon 500mm f4, 1/800, f4.5, ISO 800

Male Pheasant closeup – D7200 + nikon 500mm f4, 1/800, f4.5, ISO 800

Very happy with the level of detail. At ISO 800 there is some noise visible but is perfectly acceptable – this image has not had any post production noise removal.

As the light dropped and the wind increased, the shooting became a little more difficult and I needed to bump the ISO up to 1600 to have a chance at freezing any details on small birds. My next obliging subject was a Dunnock that perched well and sat still while I got into position. I needed to half stand and hand hold for the next shot (VR helps a bit here – and yes I know there are questions about having VR running when the shutter speed gets higher) but it’s a good demonstration that ISO1600 should not be considered “too noisy”. The first image is a 100% crop from the RAW file. The second is around a 50% crop with some NR post processing and the last is the finished image. I don’t tend to put huge image files into my blogs purely because of the layout issues but can confirm the 50% image at full size looked great.

Dunnock closeup (100% crop) without noise reduction - D7200, 1/1600, f4.5, ISO1600

Dunnock closeup (100% crop) without noise reduction – D7200, 1/1600, f4.5, ISO1600

Dunnock at 50% resize crop. Nikon D7200 1/1600, f4.5, ISO 1600. Noise reduction applied (NeatImage in this case)

Dunnock at 50% resize crop. Nikon D7200 1/1600, f4.5, ISO 1600. Noise reduction applied (NeatImage in this case)

Final Dunnock image - Nikon D7200, 1/1600s, f4.5, ISO 1600.

Final Dunnock image – Nikon D7200, 1/1600s, f4.5, ISO 1600.

Unless you specifically need as little noise as possible in full size images (maybe for submitting images to agencies etc), ISO 1600 seems to be a perfectly workable choice. The majority of us out there tend to process for website use as opposed to huge prints so perhaps we worry too much about ISO capabilites and or restrictions. I’ll take high ISO, faster shutter speed and grainier images over lower ISO, slower shutter speeds and blurred / soft images any day!

Carrying on with the low light theme, later the same day my local foxes and badgers showed quite early and provided a great opportunity to try out the low light Auto Focus capabilities.

Firstly, the vixen came to see if any peanuts were on offer…(larger image available – click to view, click again to view largest, use back button to return to blog)

Red Fox vixen - Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200mm, 1/100, F/5, ISO1250

Red Fox vixen – Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200mm, 1/100, F/5, ISO1250

Far from ideal light but I found the autofocus was spot on every time. I was using an f2.8 lens which should be good in low light anyway but I don’t believe I had a single situation where the lens hunted to try and lock on. Very positive on first impressions. This next image has a slightly larger version also. This shot is the vixen chewing..no manners!

Red Fox vixen - Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200mm, 1/160s, f4.5, ISO1250

Red Fox vixen – Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200mm, 1/160s, f4.5, ISO1250

I’d like to point out here – when viewing websites like mine, it’s easy to think every shot is a “keeper” when actually that’s not the case at all. Shooting at such a slow shutter speed means that almost any movement will be blurred and lots of images will be deleted. This is just part of trying to get decent shots in these situations, take enough to up your chances of getting the subject sharp. Alternatively, get creative!

The light is dropping fast now as dusk creeps in and the badger (just the one this early) decides to see what’s on offer. The first shot is at ISO1600 and again the AF was perfectly happy locking on.

Badger - Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200mm, 1/100, f/4, ISO1600

Badger – Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200mm, 1/100, f/4, ISO1600

The (really) observant amongst you may have noticed that she (i’m sure this is a sow) has a couple of light spots in her eyes, often an indication that flash has been used at too direct an angle. That’s not the case here, I didn’t use any flash. Unfortunately I think this lady has cataracts and these are reflecting the little light that’s left in the sky. I’ve taken lots of images and they always show. My thoughts were confirmed when I saw her “misjump” when getting up onto our decking. She still does well of course, badgers rely mainly on their sense of smell and hearing so hopefully this won’t be too much of a handicap to her getting around and finding food.

One final shot – this taken at ISO2500. This is higher than I’d normally attempt but in the name of science….firstly a 100% crop from the RAW without any noise reduction. Notice the eye again.

D7200 Badger ISO 2500 no NR

D7200 Badger ISO 2500 no NR

And the finished image –

Badger - Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200, 1/125, f4, ISO2500

Badger – Nikon D7200, Nikon 70-200, 1/125, f4, ISO2500

I know this isn’t exactly scientific but I prefer to practice in situations that I will find myself in rather than shooting the same static image with lots of different ISO settings. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just that I can’t find enough time to shoot the subjects I enjoy already!

Hope you enjoy the images.

Posted in Badger, Birds, Feathers Birdcare, Fox, Nikon D7200, Photography, Wildlife Photography Also tagged , , , , |