I had a great morning with a pair of nesting Sandhill cranes. This nest location is no secret amongst local nature photographers, so they have had quite a few visitors. I welcomed the solitude I had with them this morning. They are quite tolerant of having people around within reason. This image was made with a 500mm lens, a 1.4 converter, and a 1.5 crop factor using a digital SLR – so the equivalent of a 1050mm lens. It is also cropped slightly from the bottom to strengthen the composition. Very slow movements and keeping a good distance away made them very comfortable in going about their routines, including egg turning, switching nest duties between parents, and of course keeping an eye on a clumsy little one that occasionally fell off the nest. The second egg was nearly ready to hatch as it had a small hole started in it already.
Moments like this with wildlife, particularly beautiful animals such as sandhill cranes, where you are trusted to be in their world for a while, are extremely rewarding experiences. Of course, they can lead to some nice images, but you get to witness a crucial event in their world – one not free from many threats to their survival. As tolerant as they are, visiting them still deserves the utmost respect for the situation. I just hope all photographers that now know about this site are respectful of the opportunity that exists here and are respectful of the tolerance of the parents and the success of the chicks.
Wow Mark such vivid colors and texture. I enjoyed looking at your work.
ps- how did you incorporate the security code into your comments? a plug in? I’d like to do the same. Even with spam filters, I get way too much junk to sift through.
such an intimate portrait- just lovely. I’ve always respected your view of nature photography, as it mirrors my own. No photo is worth harming the bird- ever. Your caring shows in your work.
We have nesting cranes in neighboring property, but since I haven’t got a longer prime yet, I’m content to just listen to their calls.
Oh my!! What a FIND this is!! Coloring, positioning, subject, everything is PERFECT. Nice! From a bird lover.
Paul,
Well everyone has to work with what they have and what they can afford. My lens is a Nikon 500 f4 AFS. Yes, expensive – I had to save for quite awhile, but the rewards and opportunities such a lens yields makes it well worth it for me. In addition, it allows me to work from distances that don’t threaten a lot of wildlife.
I don’t know a lot about mirror lenses, except that they sometimes have problems with specular highlights looking like donuts, and usually aren’t as fast apertures. I am sure used with caution and in the appropriate situations, it will serve you well. I don’t think they work well with teleconverters though, but I may be wrong on that one.
~m
Mark, what type of lens are you using? Obviously, from the clarity, it is of high quality, especially given the fact that you are viewing at 1050mm, or so.
I just purchased a mirror lens and I don’t think that I can get that kind of clarity if I added a 1.4x to get to the same effective focal length + crop factor. I didn’t get the “Real thing” because, well, it costs $8,000 and my pockets just aren’t that deep at this time.
Any tips and tricks? 🙂
Regards,
Paul
Wow. What a lovely shot! I need to come back to explore…
Mark, I enjoyed the visit. I’ll be a regular visitor. I too am experimenting with blog entries, etc. I just now changed it to allow anyone to post, but that I moderate it as well as require verification, just like you have. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Paul
Wow, this was my first time here, but I’ll be back. You have some amazing work here. I’m a rookie photographer who has lots to learn. Looks like I will learn lots by viewing your work. Beautiful stuff.
Thanks for visiting Paul, I am glad you are enjoying the visit. I am still playing around with my comment options, trying to make it easy for people to input comments without getting the dreaded comment spam. I’ll also check out your blog.
~m
I’m terribly sorry about posting to the wrong picture. I meant to post this here:
I looked for a place to edit or delete the message, but didn’t find it.
Excellent photo! This is what I strive for. I just found the site and am enjoying it immensely, I’ve even included a link to it from my blog. I hope that you don’t mind.
It is quite nice of these animals to trust us with taking their photos, especially when there are a number of people who are quite callous in their treatment of animals and the environment. At least some folks are thoughtful enough to provide refuge for them.
Regards,
Paul
http://photogravision.blogspot.com
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