Weekly Photo Challenge: Early Bird

I tend to get up early, I enjoy taking photos first thing in the morning.  This spring we have a robin nest outside of our kitchen window.  As in past years, I set up my camera and tripod with a remote shutter to take photos.  I’ve been waiting for the four eggs in the nest to hatch. It should be any day now.  This morning I was thinking it might be the day because in the time I had my camera set up the mother bird flew back and forth several times to the hedgerow.  In the past, we have seen mother birds do this to get rid of shells as the birds hatch.  This morning looked like this:

Land, look at camera:

ISO 800 50mm 0ev f/7.1 1/200

Conduct an egg count:

ISO 1000 50mm 0ev f/7.1 1/125

Head back out:

ISO 800 50mm 0ev f/7.1 1/200

I was sure I would find a hatchling there, but not yet, just eggs today:

ISO 400 4mm 0ev f/2.7 1/640

A bit about last year’s nest is here. A few nice pictures, but an unhappy ending for that year’s nest.  I’m hoping for a happier outcome this year.  I’ve also noticed that my best pictures are a bit later that perhaps what you would expect.  I have good luck between 7:30-8:00am, the mother bird is active and the light in that particular spot is nice then. I guess you could say I’m an early bird that doesn’t have to be that early.

It’s lovely when the photo opportunity comes to your kitchen window, don’t you think?  Feel free to leave a comment or pick a favorite out of this morning’s photos.

A little update on 4/21/15: I have been taking photos of the now hatched birds, to see a few check out my twitter feed.

Cheers!

I settle the camera debate

Right, that post title is worth a laugh!

I guess the first question would be which camera debate I am even talking about.  In this case, I would be referring to the point and shoot vs. DSLR debate.  In this case the point and shoot wins, literally:

ISO 800 14mm 0ev f/5 1/60

This photo, which I took with my Canon Powershot ELPH, won an honorable mention at my camera club nature competition last week.  I had considered attempting to get the shot with my Canon 50D, but it actually would not fit in this space to get a photo, so I switched to my point and shoot and got this photo.

This photo has been cropped.  The idea behind the nature category at my photo club is to leave the editing to a minimum and tell a nature story.  This photo is part of a story that unfolded in this nest this past spring. Other images from the story are here.

So, there you have it, the camera debate settled, point and shoot is better.  Well, in this case anyway!  Thoughts, comments? feel free to leave them below.

Cheers!

In Defense of your Point and Shoot Camera

Most of the time when I am taking photos I use my Canon 50D.  I have a Canon Powershot ELPH as well, but most of the time that is used for photos of the kids when we are out and about.  The Powershot is lightweight and easy to use.  I generally don’t think about it much, it might be fair to say I take it for granted.  For this post I would like to share two photos that would not have been possible without my small camera:

ISO 200 9mm 0ev f4.5 1/13

This photo was taken in a very tight space.  My 50D would not have been able to fit in this space and focus.  The Powershot settings I adjusted, waited for the robin to leave the nest,  took a quick picture, and then hurried away.  This shot is nothing complicated, it is just a quick shot, I wanted to be in that space for the least amount of time possible.

Then there are times when your larger camera is in use, but you see another photo:

ISO 200 20mm 0ev f/5.6 1/40

I had my larger camera set up for documenting the robin’s nest, and this bunny was very curious about what was going on, or maybe just hungry.  Without the smaller camera, I would have no photo.

Now, I am not ready to give up my 50D, but I just wanted to put in a good word for my Powershot.  Any thoughts on your favorite camera(s)?  feel free to share in the comment section.

Cheers!