Clovis' 2025 images

[Ernie]

Yes

[clovishound]

Made it out to Magnolia this morning. Twisted my ankle on the way out and turned myself into a pretzel trying to keep the new camera with the long lens from hitting the ground. The ankle and arm will heal. Camera seemed to survive OK. Got a few decent shots despite having to hobble from site to site.

All the other photographers were excited about getting shots of this bittern.

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Got several decent shots up fairly close of this female red wing blackbird.

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[clovishound]

Been getting some more insect action in my backyard.

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And just one of the flowers for something a little different.

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[clovishound]

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[CT_Shooter]

Thanks again for sharing your beautiful photos with us. The photo of the ducks should be opened in a new window to see the true dimensions of the image. They always seem to be smiling, which, of course, is contagious.

[clovishound]

Yeah, I forgot about the funky way this forum displays wide aspect ratios. I know better.

I have found myself choosing some custom aspect ratios for certain images that I feel need it. One of the of types of images that seem to beg for this is ducks/geese with their young trailing along behind.

Here's my work around for this issue, but it's more work that I normally feel like doing, unless it's an image I am particularly proud of.

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[clovishound]

Had a Micrathena show up today. She got a fly in her web. I got one shot of her upside down under her web with the fly in her embrace. Went back out a little later and she had him trussed up like Frodo in Cirith Ungol. I managed to get her good side with that one. Hope she sticks around.

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[CT_Shooter]

Had a Micrathena show up today. She got a fly in her web. I got one shot of her upside down under her web with the fly in her embrace. Went back out a little later and she had him trussed up like Frodo in Cirith Ungol. I managed to get her good side with that one. Hope she sticks around.

Great photos. I hope she sticks around, too.

[clovishound]

Well, tonight she was in a position to get her from the top. Not terribly artistic, but interesting.

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And a grasshopper I got yesterday. I made this one with a focus stack in order to get the entire bug in focus.

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[clovishound]

Tried my hand at dragonflies in flight yesterday. I was pleased with the initial results. The big hurdle for me to overcome is sharpness. None of the shots I got yesterday are what I consider sharp. They are barely passable for social media posting. I think the issue is focus. They are much too fast for the camera to be able to track them. I think the answer is to prefocus slightly behind where they are perching, and hope they fly into the zone of focus.

I like the head swiveled to keep an eye on me while flying off his perch. Although, with compound eyes, who knows where he's actually looking.

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I was lucky to get the wasp in frame. He buzzed by the dragonfly, scaring him off his perch.

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And here's one of the static shots.

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[BrokenolMarine]

The pics keep coming, and the images you capture are amazing. Some beautiful, some stark, some could lead in a Stephen King movie. I love it. Thanks for sharing.

[clovishound]

The pics keep coming, and the images you capture are amazing. Some beautiful, some stark, some could lead in a Stephen King movie. I love it. Thanks for sharing.

Well, I've spared you some of the gorier bug eating bug shots.

[BrokenolMarine]

The pics keep coming, and the images you capture are amazing. Some beautiful, some stark, some could lead in a Stephen King movie. I love it. Thanks for sharing.

Well, I've spared you some of the gorier bug eating bug shots.

I have a couple of those myself. A praying Mantis eating a roach, a lizard having lunch. An otter eating a snake. I LOVE Those shots. Circle of life brother. Keep shooting... your equipment and skill level puts you in the PRO class.

I take off my hat and sweep it wide in a salute.

[Ernie]

Thanks again for the pictures. Well done.

[clovishound]

Well, I went back to Cypress this morning with the CNPA outing. I tried some different settings and a different lens. Some things worked out, and others didn't. I got some sharper images for some of the in flight pictures. The big thing holding these images back is the background. I was too focused on getting the dragonflies sharp that I didn't really pay attention to the background properly. I assumed it would be blurred enough not to matter. Well, there's always next time. It's always a learning experience when you start something new.

These two were decently sharp. I need to get a little closer with this lens, as I had to crop more than I would like to. Thank goodness for the high resolution sensor. I never could have gotten by with this with 24 MP.

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This one was a static shot, but I liked the color of the dragonfly, and the detail, so I included it.

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[clovishound]

The stuff of nightmares:

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I sure am glad these guys aren't the size of a pony.

[clovishound]

I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to shoot these two praying mantises in my back yard the last couple days. Been playing around with flash, available light, using a scrim, and different flash settings to bring out the background.

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I actually saw this mantis grab this bee out of the air. Unfortunately, my camera was on the tripod pointed at another mantis nearby. I did manage to get over and snap a few while he was chowing down.

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[clovishound]

Made it out to Cypress Gardens this morning. Not much happening. Dragonflies were nowhere to be seen. Then it started to rain. Thank goodness I had one of my disposable rain covers for the camera/lens. This was my first opportunity to actually use one in the rain. I took about 4 or 5 really ho hum pictures just to take something. The Pup and I decided to leave. On the way out, we noticed there were a few hummingbirds on the feeders, which had recently been moved to a more accessible location. I set up the tripod and shot a bunch of pictures even though the light levels were low. Keep in mind I have little experience shooting hummingbirds. They can be quite challenging.

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[clovishound]

I went back over this morning. Light was still not what I wanted, these high ISOs are killing me! Still, I was able to apply a few learned lessons from yesterday. There were almost too many birds there this morning. They spent more of their time fighting than feeding. I would have loved to have gotten some pictures of their confrontations, but they are WAY too fast for me to follow them. I also noticed that my camera managed to follow focus on the birds fairly well when they took off from their perch. I didn't think it would be able to keep up. Those little suckers are fast!

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[BrokenolMarine]

Amazing shots as always. Love the hummingbird shots my friend.