Osprey...
Hi Guys,
I decided last weekend that I should go out and check an Osprey stack about an hours drive from home.. I had found this stack 6 months earlier, and because it was in a perfect spot to look into (in a tree half way up a cliff) and close to the road I thought "must come back in the nesting season and check it out". When I got there it was nowhere to be seen..! After a bit of looking around it became obvious the tree had been damaged in a storm and the branch with the nest had broken off... not happy..!
So I turned around to head home and decided to drive up the coast because occasionally (twice that I can remember in about 10 years) I have seen ospreys flying along the coast. Never thought I really would see one this day but its a nice drive anyway so off I go... Well to my amazement about 5 miles from home I saw an Osprey almost hovering above a small cliff in the updraft. There was a good breeze blowing and the bird was almost motionless as it scanned back and forth over a shallow pool below, obviously hunting. I careered up a side street, parked the car and ran back with my camera. The bird was still hovering (that usually never happens...) and actually circled around for a second pass over the pool when I got there. I got a good 5 minutes photo time, but was wishing I had bought my 1.4 converter which was back in the car as the bird was just a bit smaller in the frame than I would have liked. The bird was then joined by a second(its partner I presume) and they headed off down the coast slowly, obviously still hunting..
So run back to the car, drive back down the coast past the birds and find another spot where I think they might pass by. I get out the tripod, one eye assembling gear the other watching the two black specks very quickly getting larger and larger.... they were quite close when I decided to fit the 1.4 converter but I didn't panic.... By the time the converter is fitted they are too close to mount the camera on the tripod (no time now) and they are low and coming straight for me...! I lift up, focus and start shooting but this time they are so close I wish I did not have the converter on...! Can't win..! I got a few shots as they approached and passed by, including a real close up of a talon, bit of wing and head and the shot attached.
I decide not to chase again, the road is very busy and parking would have been even more difficult so I opt to wait and watch. I stick the camera in the Wimberley, and follow the progress of the birds down the beach through the lens. They seem to circle about a spot 2 miles down the coast where the reef ends, a good fishing spot known as Trig Island. After about 20 minutes watching and occasionally loosing sight I decide to pack up when I caught a glimpse of them again, heading back. They each had a large fish in the talons and were obviously heading home, which I think is a cell phone tower close to a local marina. Unfortunately they were too far away to get a good shot.
This shot was just before they got too big in the frame in the close fly by... It was hand held and is full frame, actually the LH wing tip was touching the edge if the frame and so I added a bit of canvas (10%), and then cropped to 16 x 9. I have also added a bit of gradient to the sky as it was a sunny afternoon and plain blue is boring....
1D4 + 500 F4 series 1 with 1.4TC. hand held...
1/1600 @ F9 and ISO 1000.
Adjusted levels in ACR, (CS6) and a bit of NR on the sky and sharpening of bird...
DON
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