Juvenile Peregrine Falcons

as won't have any of mine (ospreys) this year.

take advantage of it!

I tried something different today. I left the R5 at home and took the Rebel T6s and the Sigma 150-600mm. I was curious to see if the extra reach would help. It did, but the autofocus just wasn't up to snuff. I didn't get many good BIF shots.

https://www.amazon.com/Olympus-V329200BU000-Dot-Sight-EE-1/dp/B00STR9K1G

Nikon has one as well and there are some third party sources. They don't interface with the camera so any sight will work on any camera. In theory you can hold the camera at arm's length and find the subject while composing on the LCD. I'm not there yet, have to look at one or the other not both.

It allows you to see the entire environment, locate the subject and lock focus. Trying to find a BIF while looking through a straw is an uphill battle. Keep rate goes up and the throw aways are usually due to bad cropping.

I've been thinking about getting one ever since. Maybe it's time.

Now I'm not sure how you obtained access to the training site for the Corellian Engineering Corporation, however, they do create and produce excellent flyers. And these beauties will definitely become assets for the Rebel Alliance.

Love them all!

👍🏻

But seriously, wow! Excellent shots. Just beautiful.

I shoot with Canons, but all the digital cameras are great in their own way now.

Excellent photos.

I shot these with a Sigma 150-600mm lens mounted on a crop sensor Canon T6s. However, my usual setup is a Canon R5 mirrorless and a Canon RF 100-500mm.

falcon nests. Thank goodness the birds were brought back from the brink of extinction. Our world is a much better place with these majestic birds in it.

https://www.wecenergygroup.com/environment/falcons/

I would have loved to have seen peregrine falcons back in those days. I share your sentiments. They are beautiful to watch. Their acrobatics are amazing.

Stunning photographs, with amazing, depth and detail. The young Peregrines are right there, up close.

I was very lucky today. The young ones were hanging out high on the cliffs we were standing on. They were just below us. It was a little scary, because there were quite a few photographers standing too close to the edge. That area is known for sudden landslides. I stayed safely behind the safety walls and still managed to get some good shots.

I think it was checking up on the kids. 😉

Thanks for sharing!

I haven't forgotten that print I promised you.

I could only skim the comments to see if you let out any technical data. (and Adobe scrubbed the EXIF data)
It's OK to share the info even if folks don't want to see it (happened to me!).

Anyway, this is so damn good that I'll wait to post some hummingbirds that "got in the way" when I was photographing the daisies here.

I'll just say on the technical end that I am still using the old Coolpix P510 -- and it did a fab job of autofocus because the birds were moving so so so fast. Just curious what gear you're using for these splendid pix.

Such beautiful creatures. The coast must be wonderful. It got hot here and I had to cut the photo session short.

Will post some later. (gets out neuralyzer )

Thanks Usonian, your comments are greatly appreciated.

Funny you should ask.

My normal rig is a Canon EOS R5 mirrorless, with an RF 100-500mm zoom. However, just for fun, I used my rig from five years ago for this shoot. which is a Canon EOS T6s, (760D), and a Sigma 150-600mm zoom. As you probably know, using a lens designed for a full frame camera on a crop sensor body increases the effective focal length by a factor of 1.5 (Nikon) or 1.6 (Canon). That made the effective focal length for this lens approximately 950mm. The result was some really stunning photos of the birds that were stationary. Unfortunately, the focus system of the older T6s body really wasn't up to the task, and I got very few good shots of the birds in flight.

I normally don't post the exif data because most people find them boring. I'm also too lazy to keep track of it, but I am happy to share it. We all learn from each other.

Here are my general settings. I usually put my cameras into apeture priority mode at f/8 and auto iso when I'm finished shooting. That way, I'm ready to start shooting again as soon as I pick them up, in case something unexpected happens. However, I almost always switch to manual mode as soon as I can. That's probably because I started shooting back in the sixties when a match-needle TTL system was considered state of the art. I have a mirrorless camera, and I keep a small histogram in the upper right of the frame, which takes the place of the old match needle. I try to practice ETTR, which is "expose to the right." That's because it seems to be easier to recover detail in the highlights vs details in the shadows. I process almost of my photos in Adobe Camera Raw and occasionally add some processing in Photoshop CC. I also use Topaz DeNoiseAI and SharpenAI as needed.

My usual bird and wildlife settings are as follow. Shutter speed are 1/2000th to 1/4000th, occasionally dropping to 1/1000th in low light. Apeture is almost always f/8, which I consider the "sweet spot" for most lenses. A lot of birders prefer to shoot wide open for bokeh, (I really hate that word), but I don't think that's necessary because you naturally get shallow depth of field with telephoto lenses. Also, it's easy to blur the background later in post. I have my camera set up to adjust ISO with a dial on the back of my camera, which I can reach with my thumb while shooting. I open up a full stop when shooting a small bird against a bright sky, and I close down a full stop when shooting a bird with a lot of white feathers, e.g. an egret, osprey or gull. I continually monitor the exposure while shooting, adjusting the exposure on the fly.

I try to keep my post processing simple. I adjust the overall exposure, bringing the shadows up and the highlights down, to avoid losing detail. I usually boost the saturation a little, and I try to add some color to a dingy sky. I add some clarity or detail for sharpness. I usually crop as tightly as I can.

L.A. isn't always the greatest place to live, but we are blessed with a beautiful coastline. I've connected with a lot of birders in recent years, and I've learned some of the best places to find certain species. It keeps me busy.

This was probably more than you wanted to know.

Thanks,

Ross
aka Grumpy Old Guy

I love the coast, if not L.A.
I lived in SF Bay for some 30 years (?) and am in the Sierra Foothills now.

I will take some time to digest the info.
I did optical engineering. I love the stuff, and since my Dad was an artist, I got some major appreciation for beauty as well.

It's just that you and George and others set the bar so high with your amazing photos!

However, I realize, it's just about the sharing. I'm not into competitive stuff. I was the kid that got "All A's" and it wasn't terribly well appreciated by the other kids, so I just do my best and keep a low profile.

Thanks so much for everything.

I do similar real simple post-processing. It gets the job done, and usually lasts till bedtime anyway.

My happy place is anywhere in the Eastern Sierra, but I love the Western Slope as well. My preferred getaway is anywhere on Hwy 395 from Olancha up to Bridgeport and beyond. I make regular trips to Lone Pine, June Lake, Mono Lake and Bishop, but my trips have been cancelled due to wild fires in recent years. I've been to Yosemite, Sequoia (Three Rivers), Shaver Lake, Kings Canyon, Placerville and other spots as well. California is a beautiful place.

I am on the western side, living on a ridge, which unfortunately makes a great fire lookout. I can see two real fire lookouts from here.

The special feature here, given a view of about 140 degrees on both the east and west sides, is sunrises and sunsets.

I don't get a huge variety of flowers and birds here, given the elevation (2750) but this has been a great year for Indian Paintbrush, Mariposa Lilies, and now, the Mule Ear Daisies (wyethia). The east side has rock walls, go figure, they're photogenic and the west side has tons of manzanitas. I cleared trails through them.

Almost all the poison oak is gone, my labor of hate.

Love the coast, though. My time here has been the farthest from the coast that I've ever been.

I'm still relatively new to DU and will share some over time. Including some of that extraterrestrial geology.

Bird photos are entirely opportunistic. Only the red-tailed hawk poses for more than a second or two.