I Have You Covered!
A little Tree Swallow zeros in for landing... on top of another Tree Swallow! Photograph taken along the shores of the Bay of Quinte on May 12, 2015. Trenton, O...
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A little Tree Swallow zeros in for landing... on top of another Tree Swallow! Photograph taken along the shores of the Bay of Quinte on May 12, 2015. Trenton, Ontario, Canada
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May, 2015Views
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MagicalMomentsByPamela
June 23, 2015
O my absolutely amazing capture here! Love love love! Amazing. .... Thank you for sharing this
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in our back yard, which thankfully is located along the shores of the beautiful Bay of Quinte in Quinte West, Ontario.Time
It was late afternoon and as I walked along the water's edge, I noticed this little tree swallow standing there on a twig. I slowly brought the camera up and just as I clicked his portrait, the second tree swallow came into my viewfinder. It was really just luck... so I took advantage and snapped a few frames. This was one of them!Lighting
This was taken with natural outdoor daylight. Earlier, I had adjusted my ISO up to 4000 due to the overcast sky and darker conditions along the shaded water's edge. This allowed a shutter speed of 1/640 of a second and aperture of 7.1.Equipment
My camera for this image was a Canon 5D Mkiii with a Canon 100-400mm at 350mm. The camera was hand held with no tripod. I prefer hand holding versus using a tripod as there is much more flexibility to be spontaneous. Of course, the trade off comes with higher ISO's and so on, but for me, it is well worth it to be ready for any situation or angle in a split second.Inspiration
It is always inspiring to walk along the water as we live along a protected water shed area. This brings so much variety on a daily basis and you never know what is yet to appear. With changing climates, we also see a lot of migration at different times of the year... often bringing rare species to our area, even if only for a very short time as they pass through. In this instance though, the cute little tree swallows are plentiful in our yard for much of the year.Editing
There was a little post-processing to bring out some of the darker shadows, and to remove a small little twig in the foreground. I used Picasa which was a free download, but they have since cancelled it so I am looking into other options.In my camera bag
Since I prefer nature and wildlife photography, my favorite items to have are... Canon 5D Mkiii, Canon 7D Mkii, 70-200mm 2.8, 100-400mm 4.5-5.6, 600mm f4, 2x and 1.4x tele-converters.Feedback
No matter how quiet an environment initially appears when you arrive, there is ALWAYS a ton activity going on... or something "just around the corner". You have to be patient and sort of get into the rhythm of where you are. Be mindful of the subtle activities of nature constantly going on around you and move slowly and methodically as you explore. I usually have a pretty good idea of what I will be shooting so I start out by taking a couple of quick test shots at something that would require a similar exposure. For example... click a shot of a tree trunk to verify exposure if you knew you were about to find a ground hog or maybe a cloud if you knew a white egret was close by. In other words, have your camera settings pre-adjusted so that you don't lose a spontaneous moment. Be ready to revert back from a light subject to dark, or vice versa, or when the clouds momentarily cover a previously clear blue sky. Always shoot in manual and know your camera to avoid missed opportunities... or at least minimize them. Always have your camera where ever you go... I can't tell you how many missed opportunities I've lost due to short little walks here and there without mine.
