Return to an Old Standby

I have been overwhelmed with family responsibilities of late so I haven't picked up my camera that often the past few weeks. This morning when I awoke I looked out out on the Little Lake Valley and I was compelled to grab my camera and photograph the scene below. The trees silhouetted by the morning light were so beautiful. What a great way to start my day. God's blessings upon your week, chris This image was captured with a Canon EOS 7D mkII camera and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens. #WithMyTamron, #TeamCanon

Fine Fall Day

Such a beautiful day. The sky was an emerald blue just before the sun rose this morning. Not a cloud in the sky and the air had a crisp,chilly feel to it. After a quick breakfast I headed out and climbed into the photoblind. I waited for what seemed an eternity until I heard the skittering of a squirrel climbing up onto the bird feeder. I photographed it for quite awhile until I moved my lens a little too fast. It panicked and bounded off and up the nearest tree. This was my favorite image from all the ones I took this morning. I really like the direct eye contact. This image was created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens at 226mm. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/640th of a sec. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX speedlight set to minus 1-1/3 stops. God's blessings upon your week, chris #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Working an Image

Last week I set up a lichen covered fir branch in the backyard. I placed it just above a small platform feeder so that the birds would land on it when they were coming to the feeder. About twelve feet back from the feeder I set up a grayish nondescript hand painted gray background. I photographed the birds landing on the perch like that for awhile and then I added in some ferns to give it a little bit of color.Next I I changed the background to one with an off color yellow so that the Jays would stand out a little more. Following that I draped some fall colored vines over the background to really make the colors pop. With the ferns and the fall colors it looked great. It always pays as a photographer to really work an image. The birds featured are Steller's Jays and Band-tailed Pigeons. God's love and blessings to all, chris All of the above images were created with Canon EOS cameras. The last image was made with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600 mm G2 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash set to -1- 2/3rds stops. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Silver Lining

The smoke from the wildfires has been really bad this past week. Normally the coastal breeze blowing off the ocean kept our air fairly clear. It stayed that way until this last week when it shifted and we awoke to a red sun and smoky skies most of the week. There was one small silver lining to the smoky air. It made for the most wonderful, diffuse, soft red light for bird photography. Some days I could photograph birds all day long. The lighting on those days just never got harsh. The downside to all of this bird photography was that I had hundreds of bird images to edit. This evening I finished editing and there were a lot of fine images to choose from. Much to my surprise the only two species of birds that came to our bird feeder for the whole week were Band-tailed Pigeons and Steller's Jays. I selected four of each from the final edit. Enjoy the images and God bless, chris All of the images were created with a Canon EOS Rebel T1i and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

City Boy

In my college years I spent some time living in the city of Sacramento. Luckily I lived in an apartment right next to the levee of the American River. I spent a lot of time kayaking, fishing and swimming in the river. It was my saving grace as it helped my sanity by having nature just over the top of the levee. Over the weekend I visited relatives in the Sacramento area. I made it a point to visit where I used to live. I found that the apartments had been converted to high end senior condos for 55 and up. Just down the street in Campus Commons I found some Wild Turkeys strutting in front of an office complex. Judging by how fat this on was they weren't lacking for food! This image was created with a Canon 7D mkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash, #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Rainy Day Gray

I'll admit it. I'm a softy when it comes to photographing small mammals. I really like to photograph prairie dogs, pikas, rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels. Such is the case this last week when I photographed the Western Gray Squirrels coming to my bird feeder in the backyard. Often times I set up a second feeder to keep them away from where I'm photographing birds. This time I didn't care because I was enjoying photographing the squirrels. Enjoy the squirrel images. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris All of these images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm lens.The camera was supported on a ground pod on our bedroom widow sill.

Spring is on the Way

It is starting to feel as if Spring is just around the corner with migrating birds starting to return. I spotted some Western Bluebirds checking out nest boxes last week. Ducks are starting to take on their breeding colors. The Ruddy Duck males bills are starting to turn a shade of bright blue. Spring is still being held at bay as we had six inches of snow last weekend. Here are some of my favorite snowy images from Saturday as well as one of my favorite bird images from last week. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Split Rail Fence or What's Up There?

This image was my favorite image from a series of images that I did this last week. I found a mossy covered section of split rail fence to use as a perch. I set it up right next to the bird feeder for the birds to land on. Right now there is very little variety of birds coming to my feeder though that will change soon. Right now there are pretty much only two species of birds visiting the feeder on a regular basis. Chestnut Backed Chickadees and Red Breasted Nuthatches. This was my favorite Nuthatch image. God's tender love and blessings upon your week, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/200th of a sec. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Simple Lichen Perch

I'm always searching for new perches to use for my bird photography. The best ones are usually found when I'm either driving or walking to our gate and back after a windy night. Saturday I found a really nice lichen covered one on a walk with Lenore and Badger to the gate. After our walk I set it aside for future use. I ended up using it yesterday afternoon and early this morning by clamping it up next to the bird feeder for the birds to land on when they came to feed. There was a mix of Chestnut Backed Chickadees and Red Breasted Nuthatches coming in with the stray Gray Squirrel or two that I yelled at to go away whenever they tried to climb up to the bird feeder. Here are three of my favorite images after editing this morning. God's blessings upon you, chris All of the images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Batchelor Group of Tule Elk

Nature works to return to a natural state. Highways and bridges crumble. Grasses grow up in the cracks of sidewalks pushing and pushing to make them wider. Native species work at repopulating areas where they once were found. Sometimes it is done with the help of man. Such as it is with the Tule Elk. Prior to the Gold Rush in California they were widespread in many parts of the state. During the Gold Rush they were market hunted to near extinction for their meat and hides. Luckily there was a small remnant population found in the Central Valley on one of the many, many ranches of Henry Miller in 1874. He felt the herd should be saved. From that small herd there are now over 5,700 elk found in herds in many parts of California. There are even limited hunts by special permit. Elk have been slowly returning to around Willits where I live as well. At the end of last week when I was driving to the north end of the Little Lake Valley I watched a small batchelor herd trot out of the brush. Once they got out into the open they stopped and began milling about. A closer look through my telephoto lens revealed that some were foaming at the mouth. My guess is that they had been being chased either by dogs or coyotes. As they made their way closer to the road I got some nice images of them before I drove off and left them be. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 shutter speeds varied. #TeamCanon, #TakenWithMyTamron

Guest Photographer

Yesterday morning Annika and I made a quick morning trip through part of the Central Valley. Then we made a stop at one of the northern units of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Llano Seco. We had our best time there photographing mostly Pintail Ducks with a few Northern Shovelers and Widgeon. Leaving there we hit the auto tour of the refuge and there wasn't the abundance of waterfowl we were hoping for. We diid stop and photograph one Great Egret that held still for a long time. I love the valley in winter time. The sights and sounds of all the waterfowl are just delightful. Here are a nice selection of Annika's beautiful images. God's love and blessings to all, chris Annika created all of these images with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Beautiful Chickadees With an Older Camera

Yesterday I photographed Chestnut Backed Chickadees in the backyard for about half of an hour. When God sends you chickadees you photograph chickadees! I was using my newly purchased used Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Which I was using mainly to prove a point. You don't have to be using the latest and greatest camera to capture beautiful images. The Canon EOS Rebel T1i is not a top of the line Canon Camera. It is an entry level dslr camera that was made in 2009. I did something very similar back in 2014 with the "Chickadee challenge" Then someone commented to me as they were looking at one of my chickadee images that the reason I get so many good bird images is because of the big telephoto lens I use. While I will admit that a telephoto lens is a big help it has more to do with using a good bird set up and field craft to create great bird images. To prove this point I challenged myself to use some old photography equipment I had lying around to photograph some chickadees. I used an old Canon Rebel XT. This is an entry model DSLR that was made in 2005. I mounted on it a dented Canon 28-80 zoom made in 1990. To top it off I used a 2GB San Disk Card. Nothing top of the line here. This is all ancient stuff by modern digital standards.While there is some truth that a good camera can help it is mostly how you use what is between your ears to create beautiful images. Later I launched the "Thrifty Fifty Challenge" group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/952481531481815/. The purpose of the group is to challenge photographers to photograph sparrow sized birds with a 50mm lens and then share the uncropped images. Below are some chickadee images photographed with the Canon T1i and a modern telephoto lens the Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. God's precious love and blessings upon your day, chrisAll images were created with a Canon EOS Rebel T1I and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2,The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0, shutter speeds varied. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash set to minus 1-1/3 stops.#TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

First Impressions of the Canon Rebel T1i

The Canon EOS Rebel T1i isn't a a brand new just out on the market camera. In fact it has been out since spring of 2009. But I needed a cheaper camera body for the camera trap I'm building. That way if my camera set up is ever stolen I won't be out so much money. With a little research I found a Canon EOS Rebel T1i body for 180 bucks. There were some that were even less expensive but I knew that buying one from KEH it had a warranty and it was going to be very reliable. Yesterday I took the camera out for a spin and it is a nice and very responsive little camera.It focused fast enough for my needs and it was very easy to carry around. Here is an image Lenore took of me with Papaya the Blasted cat and Badger the Wonder dog. Paired with the TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 it was really easy to handhold and photograph this Turkey Vulture on a telephone cable line. I think this camera might get some use from me in more than just the camera trap. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron The portrait of me and the critters was created with a Canon EF-S 17-85mm lens. The T1i was photographed with a Canon 7D MkII camera and the Canon EFS 17-85mm lens.