A little late, but I heard my first hummingbird of 2024 buzzing around this morning (this photo was taken last September when the scrub oak still had leaves on them). Welcome back, little buddy!
My sincere thanks to all who spend the time to view, like or comment on my photos. It is much appreciated!
© 2023 Craig Goettsch - All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use without permission is prohibited.
Tags: 800PF Animal avian Bird Colorado nature Nikon Wild wildlife Nikon Z 8 Hummingbird
© All Rights Reserved
This little guy is waiting patiently to come to the feeders. It's great fun and practice to sit on the deck and wait to see what kinds of birds will stop in our trees before feeding. It also allows me to try various combinations of equipment, settings, etc. And I can get some nice images as well!
Male downy woodpecker.
My sincere thanks to all who spend the time to view, like or comment on my photos. It is much appreciated!
© 2024 Craig Goettsch - All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use without permission is prohibited.
Tags: Animal avian Bird Colorado nature Nikon Wild wildlife Downy Woodpecker (male) Nikon Z 8 Douglas Fir
© All Rights Reserved
A male black skimmer offers a fish to a female. Will she or won't she?
My sincere thanks to all who spend the time to view, like or comment on my photos. It is much appreciated!
© 2023 Craig Goettsch - All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use without permission is prohibited.
Tags: 800PF Animal avian beach Bird Florida nature Nikon Nikon Z 9 Wild wildlife fish Black Skimmer
© All Rights Reserved
My wife saw it first. She excitedly called out to me from upstairs and yelled "there’s a bobcat walking across the neighbor’s driveway!" Of course, my immediate reaction was where’s my camera? I had been testing the sharpness of a 2x teleconverter on a new lens and quickly removed it and headed out the back door to the upper deck. Sure enough, the bobcat was in our side yard headed into the scrub oak. Without thinking I focused and held down the shutter button, firing away. I knew I did not have a lot of time before it disappeared, and I also knew that getting an eye level shot was out of the question. The encounter was brief, lasting but a few seconds before it turned and headed back up the hill. I was elated as this was the first time I had gotten glass on a bobcat. My trail camera in the backyard had picked them up in the past but usually at night in the dark.
I started chimping to see what I had on the card. The pictures were as good as I could have expected but my usual “gotta get the shot now” mode that took over forgot to check settings before I started shooting (in all fairness there just wasn’t time). F/14 – oh no!! ISO 12,800 – Oh crap!! DX mode - @#%@$$#!!!!! Bird eye detect – DOUBLE @#%@$$#!!!!!
The good news is the images were not that difficult to salvage. A quick pass through DxO PureRaw 4 got rid of the noise. The aperture of f/14 turned out to be a benefit as more of the cat was in focus (it was less than 25 feet away). Clearly the lens is super sharp.
Some valuable lessons were learned without it being too painful:
1. Always return settings to what you normally shoot at. The f/14 was for the teleconverter and the Z8 does not automatically return to the wide open aperture of the lens (not sure if any camera does that).
2.Program the camera to easily switch settings based on potential targets, in my case one for birds and one for mammals.
Now, hopefully the cat will return, and I’ll be ready for the next time. Here kitty, kitty!
My sincere thanks to all who spend the time to view, like or comment on my photos. It is much appreciated!
© 2024 Craig Goettsch - All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use without permission is prohibited.
Tags: Animal Colorado mammal nature Nikon Wild wildlife Nikon Z 8 Bobcat wild cat
© All Rights Reserved
A roseate spoonbill skips across the lagoon's surface as it lands.
My sincere thanks to all who spend the time to view, like or comment on my photos. It is much appreciated!
© 2022 Craig Goettsch - All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use without permission is prohibited.
Tags: Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge 800PF Animal avian Bird blue Florida Nikon nature Nikon Z 9 Wading Bird water Wild wildlife roseate spoonbill Pink Feathers
© All Rights Reserved