I went to one of the local Nature Area's that I run, the one around the Red Barn. It's where people had seen me with my camera there and pointed out on different days that they had seen Bald Eagles and an Owl in 2 different areas of the Nature area, but off the same trail. So yesterday I went off with my Nikon Z8 and my trusty Tamron 150-600mm F mount, using the Z Mount adapter.
It was rather windy when I got there, it was maybe an hour before sunset. I headed on the trail which first goes past the Bald Eagle area. No Bald Eagles, so I kept walking while also running for short bits. I headed towards where the people said they saw the Owl the other day. I stopped and looked closely at the small clump of trees next to the trail, nothing. It was still pretty windy and that made it a bit noisy with the wind going through the trees, I couldn't hear the owl either.
Now the other day that I went after the Owl, it wasn't in the clump of trees, but I had heard it hooting, so I knew it was real. But it was hooting across the river and there were hundreds of trees in the way, and the river
. So I heard it but never saw. So today I took a spur branch off the main trail in search for the owl in that area I had heard it before. As I head back there, I still don't see any owl, but I the clouds are turning kind of cool looking, so I pause and take some landscape images with my Nikon Z6II and Viltrox 16mm f1.8 lens.
I am just having fun. No Bald Eagles, no Owl, but I am having fun with my mix of running and walking, and exploring as I capture some landscape photos all while keeping my eyes peeled for birds. I spot some a flock of small birds up in the bare branched Cottonwoods. I stop and use the Z8 and the 150-600mm to get in close and frame their constant flittering and sitting and the branches at the very tops of the trees as they sway. I have no idea if they will turn out or if I will ever process them, but it was fun to pause for a minute and capture them. After 20 shots or so, I continue on the branch trail. Looking and listening intently for the Owl. Nothing....
So sunset is hitting, so I take a small little trail that goes along the river that I am guessing will take me back to the main trail. It does and along the way I spot a couple of ducks in the water, I stop and grab some images of the ducks with the 150-600mm. They never quite position themselves as they swim in the water in a way that's totally pleasing, but I am happy I saw the ducks and maybe got some photos. It's dark on the river as sunset approaches, so the ISO goes up to 1600 to keep up a high enough shutter speed. I then move along the trail to capture the sunset in the clouds above the river and some of the last remaining ice along the edges with the 16mm.
I continue along, now it's all about the Nikon Z6II and the Viltrox 16mm f1.8. I am capturing the sunset and the cool cloud shapes along with trees and such for nice looking landscape images. Probably nothing spectacular, but fun to do still. No Bald Eagles, no Owl, but I am still having so much fun just being out in this little slice of nature on the edge of the city.
I am feeling peaceful and content as the sunset is over and I retrace my steps back to my truck. It's still super windy out, I am maybe a hundred yards away from the parking area when I hear a Hoot! Now I quickly start scanning the trees for an owl, there are more hoots. It sounds like multiple owls! I still can't see them as it's getting darker in the trees. Finally I spot one as I see it flying through the trees, but on the far side of me. It takes a minute but I find where it's sitting.
It's past sunset, so it's really dark, I look at the owl but can't tell if it's facing me or away from me, because all I can see by my eyes is a dark silhouette. I increase the ISO to 3200, shutter speed is still too low, even with VR. So I underexpose by 2 stops to get the shutter speed up. I grab a few photos, but I really want to know I am capturing the front or backside of him. So I change my exposure to 1 stop overexpose, take an image, and the owl is facing me! So exciting. I now drop it back to 2 stops underexposed so that I can keep my shutter speed up. It's not super fast, but it's at least up 1/100th of a second. The in camera and lens stabilization do it's job. It's still windy so I can see the feathers on the owl blowing around a bit as I keep taking photos.
After a few minutes it flies off to another tree, I grab a couple of images as it flies off, but I am not too hopeful for them (the bird ended up being out of focus on those). I walk down 20 or 30 feet and find the owl again, I have to move around to find a clear path through all of the bare branches between myself and the owl. I find that clear window and start shooting again. It's now an hour past sunset and really dark. I think I got as many good poses as I could get.
As I walk the 100 yards back to my truck, I am thinking just what a great evening it was. I was totally happy not having captured the Owl, there was no disappointment, and then just as I am almost back to my truck I find the Owl, and actually more then 1 Owl, and I get take photos? That was the frosting on my cake!
I had to use the DeNoise in ACR to clean up all of the noise, there was lot's of color noise in the details of the Owl. I think the images are good enough to keep. Not as great of detail as @Joe Colozzo captured in his Owl, but still I am happy though also hopeful I can capture them again but when it's not so dark out.
I think this is a Great Horned Owl, correct me if I am wrong.
Here are 2 of the images, 1 from each of the 2 spots I captured the Owl from.
All comments are welcome,
Jim
#1
#2
It was rather windy when I got there, it was maybe an hour before sunset. I headed on the trail which first goes past the Bald Eagle area. No Bald Eagles, so I kept walking while also running for short bits. I headed towards where the people said they saw the Owl the other day. I stopped and looked closely at the small clump of trees next to the trail, nothing. It was still pretty windy and that made it a bit noisy with the wind going through the trees, I couldn't hear the owl either.
Now the other day that I went after the Owl, it wasn't in the clump of trees, but I had heard it hooting, so I knew it was real. But it was hooting across the river and there were hundreds of trees in the way, and the river
. So I heard it but never saw. So today I took a spur branch off the main trail in search for the owl in that area I had heard it before. As I head back there, I still don't see any owl, but I the clouds are turning kind of cool looking, so I pause and take some landscape images with my Nikon Z6II and Viltrox 16mm f1.8 lens. I am just having fun. No Bald Eagles, no Owl, but I am having fun with my mix of running and walking, and exploring as I capture some landscape photos all while keeping my eyes peeled for birds. I spot some a flock of small birds up in the bare branched Cottonwoods. I stop and use the Z8 and the 150-600mm to get in close and frame their constant flittering and sitting and the branches at the very tops of the trees as they sway. I have no idea if they will turn out or if I will ever process them, but it was fun to pause for a minute and capture them. After 20 shots or so, I continue on the branch trail. Looking and listening intently for the Owl. Nothing....
So sunset is hitting, so I take a small little trail that goes along the river that I am guessing will take me back to the main trail. It does and along the way I spot a couple of ducks in the water, I stop and grab some images of the ducks with the 150-600mm. They never quite position themselves as they swim in the water in a way that's totally pleasing, but I am happy I saw the ducks and maybe got some photos. It's dark on the river as sunset approaches, so the ISO goes up to 1600 to keep up a high enough shutter speed. I then move along the trail to capture the sunset in the clouds above the river and some of the last remaining ice along the edges with the 16mm.
I continue along, now it's all about the Nikon Z6II and the Viltrox 16mm f1.8. I am capturing the sunset and the cool cloud shapes along with trees and such for nice looking landscape images. Probably nothing spectacular, but fun to do still. No Bald Eagles, no Owl, but I am still having so much fun just being out in this little slice of nature on the edge of the city.
I am feeling peaceful and content as the sunset is over and I retrace my steps back to my truck. It's still super windy out, I am maybe a hundred yards away from the parking area when I hear a Hoot! Now I quickly start scanning the trees for an owl, there are more hoots. It sounds like multiple owls! I still can't see them as it's getting darker in the trees. Finally I spot one as I see it flying through the trees, but on the far side of me. It takes a minute but I find where it's sitting.
It's past sunset, so it's really dark, I look at the owl but can't tell if it's facing me or away from me, because all I can see by my eyes is a dark silhouette. I increase the ISO to 3200, shutter speed is still too low, even with VR. So I underexpose by 2 stops to get the shutter speed up. I grab a few photos, but I really want to know I am capturing the front or backside of him. So I change my exposure to 1 stop overexpose, take an image, and the owl is facing me! So exciting. I now drop it back to 2 stops underexposed so that I can keep my shutter speed up. It's not super fast, but it's at least up 1/100th of a second. The in camera and lens stabilization do it's job. It's still windy so I can see the feathers on the owl blowing around a bit as I keep taking photos.
After a few minutes it flies off to another tree, I grab a couple of images as it flies off, but I am not too hopeful for them (the bird ended up being out of focus on those). I walk down 20 or 30 feet and find the owl again, I have to move around to find a clear path through all of the bare branches between myself and the owl. I find that clear window and start shooting again. It's now an hour past sunset and really dark. I think I got as many good poses as I could get.
As I walk the 100 yards back to my truck, I am thinking just what a great evening it was. I was totally happy not having captured the Owl, there was no disappointment, and then just as I am almost back to my truck I find the Owl, and actually more then 1 Owl, and I get take photos? That was the frosting on my cake!
I had to use the DeNoise in ACR to clean up all of the noise, there was lot's of color noise in the details of the Owl. I think the images are good enough to keep. Not as great of detail as @Joe Colozzo captured in his Owl, but still I am happy though also hopeful I can capture them again but when it's not so dark out.
I think this is a Great Horned Owl, correct me if I am wrong.
Here are 2 of the images, 1 from each of the 2 spots I captured the Owl from.
All comments are welcome,
Jim
#1
#2
