An Increible Glimpse at Some of the Colors of Nature
A Wood Duck basking in the sun. A truly remarkable bird with extraordinary colors.
A Wood Duck basking in the sun. A truly remarkable bird with extraordinary colors.
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Feb, 2016Views
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Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken during the spring at Reid Park in Tucson, AZ. As new nature photographer, I'm always looking for opportunities to capture animals in their natural habitats. While shooting other animals at another area in Tucson, a fellow photographer said he had spotted this male Wood Duck at one of the city parks. As these ducks are very rare in southern Arizona, I headed over to the park and was fortunate to spot and photograph him. The odd thing, he was the only Wood Duck in the pond. Plenty of Cormorants, Rednecks, Canvas Backs and Wigeons, but he was the lone Wood Duck. As you can see, he was in full color with unfortunately no females to attract. He only stayed a few days, before leaving to go find other Wood Ducks.Time
This photo was taken at approximately 8:00 am. I wanted to get there early in order to catch the duck in a more active state as well as catching a the sunlight in a good spot.Lighting
It was early morning, so I was able to catch the sun at a great angle. Fortunately, there weren't too many trees around the pond (as it is Tucson), so I was able to get full sun on all the ducks. Especially this male Wood Duck. The ducks were on the side of the pond which allowed me to have the sun at my back. This allowed me to get great lighting with the sun still being low on the horizon and really bring those colors out.Equipment
The camera I used for this shot was a Nikon D7100 with a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens. This combination really allowed me to get the close up detail while not spooking the ducks. I have since upgraded to a Nikon D810, and added a 1.4 teleconvertor. This has improved the quality of my photos greatly, while giving the further reach needed to catch some wildlife I want.Inspiration
As a new nature photographer when I took this photo, I was always looking to photo any and everything. More the better was my initial motto. So when I heard about the Wood Duck being close by, I jumped on it. Now my focus is more on quality, capturing specific animals, and positioning myself in the right spot in order to capture those moments. This photo had a lot of luck behind it, but it inspired me to continue to better myself every time I go out for a shoot. It wasn't until I looked through the lens of my camera did I realize how much beauty is in the nature around us which we take for granted or don;t realize is there. Taking nature photos has inspired to share with the world and help other find their "Glimpse Into Nature.'Editing
Of course but only a very minimal amount. I cropped the image down and slightly enhanced image using the auto enhance function of my post-processing software.In my camera bag
In my camera bag, I have a Nikon D810 and D7100 camera bodies. I kept the D7100 when I upgraded to the D810 to aid in reducing time between switching lenses for landscape and wildlife shot. For lenses, I have a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, a Nikon AF-SNikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 and a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR. Additionally, I have Nikon 1.4 telecovertor, a multitude of Scandisk memory cards, two extra batteries, a tripod and a monopod. Lastly and most importantly, I always carry my battery charger.Feedback
As I'm still relatively new to the photographing world, I'm still learning myself. My big advice is to always look for ways to improve. Try different settings, take tons of photos, don't be discouraged if a shot turns out bad (learn from those), stay patient, and most importantly have fun. If you do these things, I believe you will be successful no matter how you measure it by.
