Ground Squirrel 2 8-13-2020.JPG
Aug, 2020Views
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Curator's Selection
Spring 21 Award
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Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
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Top 20 rank week 1Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Waller Park in Orcutt, just one hour north of Santa Barbara. This is a great park for bird lovers (ducks, geese, Black Headed Grosbeaks, Sparrows, Hummingbirds, and Western Bluebird).Time
It was late afternoon. The photo was taken on August 13, 2020.Lighting
It was partly overcast, the sun was barely visible through the clouds overhead, therefore the natural light was awesome.Equipment
The camera that I used (new at the time) was my Sony A6100 Mirrorless. The lens that I used was an E 55-210mm lens, as well as my travel tripod.Inspiration
After taking plenty of bird photo's I sat on a large rock to do some bird watching, which was very close to one of the big ponds in the park. Suddenly I heard a little noise just to the right of where I was sitting. Low and behold just 5-6 feet away was this little guy looking up over some of the other nearby rocks, probably hoping that I might have had some food for him. This was a perfect opportunity to take a couple of shots, being that I was close by, the lighting was perfect, and there were no shadows.Editing
I actually cropped the photo, enhanced the clarity slightly, and added a little more color to the photo.In my camera bag
Normally in my bag I have a couple of extra SanDisk memory cards, lens cleaner and lens tissues, travel tripod, as well as my E 55-210 mm lenses.Feedback
In the past I have only owned Point and shoot camera's. The Sony Mirrorless is my first interchangeable lens camera. I would suggest for any newcomers get to know your camera inside and out. When taking any wildlife photo's I started out by using each of the auto settings on my camera for familiarity and branched out to the manual settings a little at a time. I was also able to go online and download a 300 page users manual from Sony which has really helped me get to know my camera inside and out. In the past I had never used a tripod during my point and shoot camera days. Although I only own a very inexpensive travel tripod now, it has certainly improved the quality of my photo's and has proven to be a real necessity. Other than taking photo class's to learn the basics of photography, and being part of the Viewbug community to grow our craft, the best experience to become an awesome wildlife photographer is to just get out there in the wild with your camera, and have fun taking photo's!
