Henry Rifle Forums

The Pup got me a gimbal head for my tripod. Got my first chance to take it on an outing. We were supposed to go to the Birds of Prey Center yesterday, but they are closed for another couple weeks. I ended up just going to a local park that I have an annual pass to. Got a couple decent shots. I need to work on a few things. I may go back a bit more often. Wife is doing well enough I am comfortable leaving for a few hours.

Anyway, I was impressed with the ease of use of the gimbal. It keeps things very steady, and makes handling that big, heavy lens easy. The only issue is hauling it around from spot to spot. I'm itching to try some birds in flight.

Beautiful, CH. I love reading your posts as you get better and better at photography. Thanks.

Nice shots. I like the second and last pictures the best.

Great photographs. The second photograph is my favorite in the bunch. Excellent composition.

Heavens, what amazing pics. Publishing quality.

love the ducks my friend

I've got to go back and shoot some more there. I had some problems with shooting the ducks. First of all, they were very skittish. They would bolt at nearly anything, from maint running a blower to heavy booted photographers. I also got complacent about shutter speeds since I was shooting from a tripod. The ducks were moving fairly slowly, but I let my shutter speeds dip down to around 1/125 of a second and that introduced a little bit of blur. It's not evident until you blow them up. The one I posted is not quite tack sharp in the ducks. Good enough for posting, but not good enough for the wall.

I was fortunate enough to get pretty close to the white heron, but there was a lot of trash in the way. Still, if you could go get perfect photos the first time out with new equipment, everyone would have perfect images.

Just for fun, I tried something artsy. Perhaps not to everyone's taste.

And another heron picture.

Nothing in the world is more photogenic than a Wood Duck. I’ve never seen one in the wild so really appreciate your picture. Love the rippley reflection in the water.

The Pup and I made it out to Magnolia Plantation today. The wading birds were out in force.

Got up this morning at 5:30 and went over to Magnolia again. They have an early opening for members twice a month. I got there at daybreak with unusually cold weather for the area, 28 degrees. Lots of birds out, and different species than what I usually see there.

First off was a small group of roseate spoonbills.
Next, an ibis.
Then, a snowy egret, I think.
And lastly, a bald eagle. I'm just starting out trying birds in flight. I've got a lot to learn. This is one of a pair of eagles that had a group of photographers under their tree. I was on the other side of the rice field and too far away to get good shots. I thought about going over and joining them (the photographers, not the birds as they were engaged in activities of their own), but decided to stay put and try and get some in flight pics when they flew off. Fortunately, they came nearly overhead.