Downy Woodpeckers

Downy woodpecker scaling a dead tree

I took the Canon 7D Mark II and the Canon EF 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens for a walk a few weeks back. We have a pair of Pileated woodpeckers that live in the neighborhood and I see them frequently when walking my dog, but of course I never have my camera or cannot get very close with the dog. So most weekends I spend some time by myself looking for the Pileated...with no luck to date. 

On this day, the sky had turned overcast and the background was gray and muted. I came across this Downy woodpecker and followed him for ten minutes as he flew from tree-to-tree looking for food. At times I was able to get within ten feet and capture some descent candid images.

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Downy woodpecker searching for food on a dead tree

Blue Jays

Typically one or two Blue Jays visit and bully the other birds. Shooting on this morning, there were a large number of Blue Jays visiting facing off with not only the other birds, but themselves.  

These images of the Blue Jays were captured using the Canon 7D Mark II with the Canon EF 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6L IS USM and the CamRanger on a tripod.  

What I love about the CamRanger is that I can adjust the focus, F-stop, and, trigger the shutter from my iPad or iPhone while sitting at the kitchen table drinking my morning coffee. The downside is that the camera is static, so if the birds decide to go to another location, rather than the one I've setup to shoot, then there is not much I can do. Inevitably after 30 minutes of no activity, I'll move the camera only to have a bird land where I was aiming 5 minutes before. 

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Blue Jay lands on the feeder.

Blue Jay in sunlight

Abstract Motion

While taking photos the other day of the very warm directional morning light, I had the idea that the trees, lit up as they were, would stand out in a black and white conversion with the Fuji X100s. The wind was blowing and the motion of the trees coupled with intentional vertical camera motion would result in a interesting shot, or so I thought.

The process was trial-and-error; adjusting shutter speed and modifying the motion of the camera. The results were less than successful overall as this was my first attempt at motion and I had many images that were blown-out, or just too blurred.

The two images here represent what I thought were the best of the bunch. Post-processed in Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro II to enhance the white of the trees and darken the blacks of the shadows.

The images are slightly more abstract than what I had been trying for, but I liked the way these two turned out. 

If you want to purchase a print, clicking on either image will take you to my Zenfolio site to buy a print.

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Morning Light

Morning light striking the trees

The other morning while getting the kids ready for school I happened to notice the very directional light illuminating the trees in the back yard. The light was falling under the cloudy sky to the northwest giving it a very bluish tone. 

I grabbed the Fuji X100s and took a number of images from my back doorstep handheld. At first I thought this would make a great black and white image, but this very unique light made for a dramatic image straight out of camera. The image above uses the Fuji Standard color simulation with some minor exposure adjustments in Lightroom CC.

The image to the right is a black and white conversion using the Fuji Red simulation in Lightroom CC.

The image below is a black and white conversion in Nik's Silver Efex Pro II. I like the way Silver Efex Pro can tease out the detail and contrast in the sky quite easily with minimal edits.

Ten minutes later I was extremely glad I had put my coffee down and grabbed my camera as the light had completely faded and we were back to our typical gray winter day.

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Black and White rendering of the scene

Luke's Winter

The winter in the New York Capital Region has been extremely mild with almost no snow. On this February day, the sun was shining and it was unseasonably mild, which inevitably resulted in Luke jumping, pawing, and pouting until he got to play outside.

Of course, I grabbed the camera and made him earn his play time.

The images here were shot handheld with the Canon 7D Mark II and the Canon EF 135MM F/2L ... possibly my favorite lens.

In the above image, the sun is shining brightly from his left lighting up his eyes. I thought a close crop of his eye-line made for a dramatic image. This was shot handheld with the Canon 7D Mark II and the Canon EF 135MM F/2L ... possibly my favorite lens.

Luke losing patience with the photographer

After tossing the tennis ball around for a while, I managed to settle Luke down long enough in a location with a clean background to snap a few more images. I was shooting in manual focus with a shallow depth of field and he kept moving around, so I was fortunate to capture this image after about half a dozen attempts. You can tell by the expression on his face that he is getting annoyed.

Luke at his finest

The above image was shot with the Canon 7D Mark II and the Canon EF 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens earlier in February. It was a much colder day and it was gray and overcast day, but I like the expression on his face and the black and white processing.

Luke distracted by someone across the court yard

Another image taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and the Canon EF 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens earlier in February. A brighter day and seasonably cold. I recall he was distracted by someone across the street while I was taking this image, which is why he is looking off camera and not staring at the tennis ball I'm holding in my hand.

I have begun adding click-through links to these images that will take you to my Zenfolio portfolio where you can purchase prints, so if you see an image that interests you, it can be yours now.

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Northern Cardinal

Photographed on the same day as the Blue Jays in the previous post, these male Northern Cardinals were kind enough to stop by while I was testing my new CamRanger wireless controller.

Not certain if it is because of the lack of snow-cover here in the New York Capital Region which has left plenty of food for the birds in the woods, but Northern Cardinal sightings have been scarce so far this Winter. These were the first I've seen in weeks, which is unusual.

All images photographed with the Canon 7D Mark II and Canon EF 100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens on a tripod using the CamRanger wireless controller as a trigger and post processed in Adobe Lightroom CC.

Have a great day!

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