Great Egret - Nikon D810 and Nikkor 200-400mm f4 AF-S G VR Lens

And here's my best bird-in-flight shot from Sunday's paddle trip.

Great Egret (Ardea alba), by Reed A. George

Nikon D810, Nikkor 200-400mm f4 AF-S G VR Lens

iso 200, f5, 1/1250 sec.

 

I watched this beauty, and his/her nearly-identical partner, approach me from far way, flying downriver toward my kayak. I was lucky enough to get the focus just right on this shot, and capture the wings spread wide. This camera / lens combination is just astounding. It's what I've been working toward for years in gear for nature photography.

 

I find myself tempted to try the new Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 (Click Here), a much lower cost and lower weight solution, but it's not going to provide image quality like this. And, that extra stop of light gathering (f4) in my lens really matters.

 

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lions, tigers, and... BEARS! Oh, My.

Okay, no lions or tigers, but on the drive in to my local kayaking spot here in Northern Virginia this weekend, I did see foxes (4), deer (dozens), and a black bear!

 

Black Bear (Ursus americanus) in Suburbia, by Reed A. George

Nikon D810, Nikkor 200-400mm f4 AF-S VR Lens

iso 3200, f4, 1/125 sec.

 

Keep in mind, this is in Northern Virginia, where the townhouses and strip malls are rapidly gaining on the trees in number. It was a pleasant surprise to see this beautiful animal here. Also a little troubling. I'm concerned for his (her?) future.

 

It was just after 6:00 AM, and the light was low there in the early morning shade. I didn't have time to make adjustments, other than to crank the iso up as far as I felt comfortable with. Luckily, that got me to a shutter speed where one or two exposures came out sharp, even though I was handholding the big 200-400mm lens, zoomed to 400mm.

 

The approximate focus distance is 29.9'. That bear could cover that distance in less than one second. Thankfully, he didn't.

 

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Slowly Working Through Images From Japan - Another Nighttime HDR Shot From The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7

 

Fountain and Lanterns, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7, In-Camera HDR

 

I have been very busy since returning from Japan. I've finally made it through grading about 1,500 images, so that I've reduced it to a few hundred that I want to look at closer. I've also gotten my film back from The Darkroom - two rolls from my Skeletons From The Closet camera for April, the Zeiss Ikonta folder. So, I'm making progress.

 

I wrote a while back about the surprisingly good images that I got using the in-camera HDR feature of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7, handheld, basically in the dark.

 

(Click Here) to read my initial post about the LX7 and HDR in the dark.

 

The shot above is another example. In this scene, the fountain was really nearly in complete darkness. The original jpeg did have a weird color balance on the fountain; the lanterns were nicely white and didn't need adjustment. I was a little worried, working with just the jpeg file (no raw file is made with in-camera HDR), but was able to adjust the color and bring up the brightness of the fountain with no issues.

 

This image would have been nearly impossible to capture handheld with other cameras. Even with a tripod, the extra processing of multiple images at the computer would have been much less fun. I've got plenty of other images to process.

 

I am really enjoying the LX7. Now, I've got to get back to editing and presenting some more pictures. Maybe this weekend...

 

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See my Kindle eBook on how I set up and use the DMC-LX7. Only $2.99, or free for Amazon Prime members:

 

 

Panasonic Lumix LX-7 - Handheld Night Shot - A Scene Mode That Really Works!

 

Late Arrival, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7

iso 400, f1.4, 1/13 sec

 

My flight into Palm Springs was late tonight. I heard a United Airlines employee say "Never, ever, fly on a Friday night." Advice that I'll keep in mind in the future.

 

When I got off of the plane, I looked back and saw this scene. As usual, the moon looked much bigger to my eye than it did to the sensor, but anyway, I like this shot.

 

I usually steer clear of scene modes, which are canned sets of parameters built into the camera, designed to give certain looks or deal with certain photographic challenges. However, in this case I was tired and wanted to move fast. It was quite dark, and I didn't have my tripod (it was in my checked bag). So, I figured what the heck. I select the [Handheld Night Shot] scene mode on my new LX7 and fired away. Bang! It really did a nice job!

 

All the manual says is that this mode reduces blur and noise by taking multiple images in burst mode. I'm very surprised by how well it aligned the images; I'm sure I wasn't that steady after flying cross-country, and arriving at 3AM my time. I also find it interesting how the aircraft attendant, who was moving during capture, came out. It looks like the motion blur I would expect from just a single image.

 

In any case, I'm very impressed. I doubt if I could have done better with a tripod and more time.

 

I've started writing my ebook on how I set up and use the DMC-LX7. Stayed tuned for that. I think I may include a series of my own example pictures of some of the scene and artistic modes.

 

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