Portrait of a Jay

I spent some time with the Steller's Jay this morning. It was a bit chilly this morning with the temperatures just hovering above thirty. Luckily the sun was out so inside the photoblind it warmed up to be comfortable. The Steller's Jays were coming and going competing with a Douglas Tree Squirrel for the feeder. I set up a squirrel feeder off to the side but for some reason the squirrel wasn't interested in it. After about an hour in the blind I edited my images and these were my favorite ones. God's love and blessings to all, chris Image created with a Canon 7D anda Canon 100-400 IS lens.

Perfect for Portraits

The past four days have been really foggy in the morning which makes them perfect for doing portrait photography. Both people and birds photograph really well in this type of light. It's like having a giant light diffuser for the sun. Here are some portraits I made of of a Eurasian Collared Dove, Western Scrub Jay and a California Valley Quail. The quail was made when the fog was almost burned off and you can tell that by the harsher look of the light on its' plumage. All images were created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a tripod. Camera settings used were AV mode,ISO 800, F 8.0 at a variety of shutter speeds. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Because It's Fun

The stormy weather continues so I stayed inside this morning. What creative thing could I do on a rainy day? I know water drops have been overdone but it is so much fun. I set up some flashes and had a great time. First I did some red drops and then I switched to green. I got some really nice ones but nothing spectacular. Then I made the decision to increase the flow rate to see if I could get some water drops to collide in mid air. I'm so glad I did because I got one that is just fantastic. Take a look and see if you agree. God bless and have a wonderful day, chris Image created with a Canon 7D with a 100mm macro lens and two Canon 540EZ flashes set to 1/64th power. Camera settings used were. Manual mode,ISO 400, F 16.0 at 1/100th of a sec. The camera was supported on a Manfrotto 055PROBX Tripod with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead.