![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Brown-Pelicans_70K3314.jpg\" "\\"Brown")
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Even with some rain coming down, several of us got this nice pose of brown pelicans on pilings.\u00a0 By using a layer mask technique, I was able to brighten the birds and darken the gray sky a bit to help the birds “pop” a little more.\u00a0 I keep a camera with the 100-400 mm lens on a sling around my shoulder for shots like this.\u00a0 We approached the birds quickly\u00a0but I was able to rip off quite a few shots as we passed them because the second camera was handy at arm’s length.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By panning from a speeding boat, I was able to keep the focus point stable and\u00a0get an acceptable shot of the Goose Island Park pier (above)\u00a0well after sunset… 1\/30 second, ISO 1600 with some noise reduction in Adobe Camera RAW.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After\u00a0a morning of\u00a0crane photography, we worked our way back to the docks by drifting up to several oyster bars.\u00a0\u00a0As usual, there was a\u00a0the wide variety of birds\u00a0watching the boat traffic.\u00a0\u00a0As the shots above and below attest, we were able to get flight shots of willets and American oyster catchers.\u00a0 I try to keep the shutter speed close to 1\/2000 second when shots of flying birds are likely.\u00a0 That is a good speed\u00a0for\u00a0stopping wing motion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The oyster catcher was photographed with a Canon 7D and 500 mm IS lens, hand-held.\u00a0 With this type of shooting, it isn’t always possible to get the light and wind\u00a0at optimum angles, but some really nice shots\u00a0can result\u00a0if things fall into place.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whooping cranes\u00a0were our\u00a0the prime photo target, but most of us remained ready to capture a few images of just about anything within range.\u00a0 This vulture glided past us several times.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As we watched their backsides from the south, this group of whoopers and sandhill cranes landed into the north\u00a0wind, offering a shot that was far from ideal but, nevertheless, interesting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shame on me for not being prepared for these\u00a0whoopers (above) as they landed\u00a0after sunset.\u00a0 My ISO was still set at 400.\u00a0 At ISO 1000, this could have been a very nice capture.\u00a0 Note the\u00a0stand of old\u00a0live oak in the background.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Several of you liked a similar shot in the last newsletter, so I decided to share another frame from that fly-by.\u00a0 During this photo tour, we had a couple of evenings when the sky was incredible.\u00a0 With 6 photographers keeping their fingers crossed as the\u00a0sky turned to orange and gold, something good had to happen.\u00a0\u00a0Patience paid off and everybody got\u00a0a good burst of shots at these guys.<\/p>\n Thanks for dropping by to take a look.<\/p>\n Larry<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once I had time to go through all the whooping crane trip photos from early January, I decided to offer a few more images here.\u00a0 I hope you don’t mind.\u00a0 I’ll be out looking for birds and landscapes next week, so the subjects will be a little different.\u00a0 Let me know what you think about … Continue reading More From the Whooping Crane Trip<\/span> <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>