Larry Ditto Nature Photography

** Did you know that all photos in these newsletters can be enlarged for better viewing?  Just click on the photo.  To view them all like a slide show, move your cursor around in the upper right corner area of each photo until the word “next” appears and click.

I think we are going to have some good fall colors again this year, especially now that the rains have come to the hill country.  If you haven’t considered the Fall Foliage and Bird Photo Tour at the Block Creek Natural Area, take a look at the photo tour schedule on this web site.  Maybe you hadn’t heard that we will have a raptor shoot (on the second morning of the photo tour) conducted by John Karger from “Last Chance Forever” raptor rehabilitation.  The birds are swarming at the photo blinds, too!  Drop me an email or call me; there is space available

Buff-bellied Hummingbird head on

Canon 50D camera, Canon 500 mm IS lens, 1/250 second @ f 22 , ISO 125, 5 flashes to light front, sides, back and background.

Do you ever get caught up in daily events and feel like you don’t really have any control of your life?  That seems to happen to me when I plan a photo trip.  For three years, I’ve tried to get out to New Mexico and Colorado in late September for elk, pronghorns and fall colors.  I haven’t heard a bugle or seen a golden aspen yet.  All of a sudden, it is mid-October.  Oh well, there is always next year.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird hovering

                                                                                                                                                       Same specs as previous photo

So many of you liked the hummingbirds in the last newsletter, I’ve prepared a few more and thrown in a few butterflies as well.  On the butterfly front, it could be a slow year.  The prolonged drought really reduced their numbers and stalled the hatches.  Now that we’ve had some good rains, the butterflies may show up in good numbers, eventually; we’ll just have to wait and see.

Recently, I’d gotten out of the habit of including some technical information with the photographs.  Some of you reminded me of how helpful it was, so a few details will accompany the following shots.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovering over Turk's Cap

  Canon 50 D camera, Canon 500 mm IS lens, ISO 125, 1/200 second @ f 20, 5 flashes, Gitzo tripod and Wimberley head.

Crowded airspace around Rocky Mountain Bee Plant flowers

The above photo shows why you might want to back off a little when you anticipate a lot of activity around the subject flower or when you anticipate a larger species of hummingbird arriving to feed.  There was just enough space to fit both birds into the shot.  Had I fired a burst of three photos (as I usually recommend but sometimes fail to do), I would probably have these birds at a better angle.  ** Note the long bill on the bottom bird  (black-chinned) and shorter bill on the ruby-throated hummer above.

Ceraunus Blue warming on a flower bud.

I shot this butterfly with the Canon 50 D camera, Canon 300 mm IS lens with close-up lens attached, Gitzo tripod and Arca Swiss Monoball head; 1/200 second @ f  11, ISO 400.  The lens was about 1′ from the 3/4 ” long butterfly and I was prone on the ground…hard work but I loved the results.  The depth of field was restricted slightly to keep the background blurred.

Gulf Fritillary recently emerged and drying wings

Same fritillary butterfly as above, waiting for new wings to stiffen

Ruby-throated Hummingbird flicking tongue as it backs away from feeder.

 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovering at a sunflower.

 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird guarding "his/her" sunflower.

 Be watching this website for a spring (mid-April)  hummingbird photography workshop.   These guys are a blast and, in the spring, some beautiful males will be in the mix.

 

 ”So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  II Cor.4:18

Larry

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.