2013 Favorites Series II

Here's round two of some of my personal favorites from this year. The main reason I like this first one so much is because it's the closest I've ever been to a hummingbird. I like the pose and the fine detail. The tip of the bill and the feathers on the back of his head are just out of focus, but that's okay because his eye is sharp. That's key to any wildlife portrait.

My daughter was my assistant for this shot. I like the colors and the open scene, but my favorite part of this photo is the fact that it's an illusion to an extent. The hill is not as steep or high as it appears. In fact, it wasn't very high at all and the slope was very gradual. I shot it prone on the ground with a wide angle lens and my daughter was far enough away to give the illusion of height.

Green Herons are secretive and don't spend a lot of time hanging out in the open, especially if there is human activity nearby. I was fortunate to catch this guy perched on a foot bridge. I love the colors and the long toes gripping the railing.

This is my favorite storm cloud shot ever. It was July and the rest of the sky was mostly clear with the exception of this storm system. The Weather Service said this cloud formation reached a height of 55,000 feet. For several days after this, there were photos of the formation all over social media and the local news.

What makes this shot for me are the water droplets on the goose's head and neck and the water running off the bill. The catch light in the eye fits in nicely with the water drops, too. Certain waterfowl are so common around here that it's hard for me to get excited about photographing them unless I can catch something like this. It doesn't hurt that this photo was chosen for a 2015 Ducks Unlimited calendar.

Sunrises mean having to get out of bed early, but I enjoy shooting them when I can. I like the sunburst through the silhouetted trees, the reflection on the lake, and the blue of the sky and water.

2013 Favorites Series

In keeping with a "tradition" I started last year, I decided to choose some of my favorite photos from 2013. One thing I noticed while going through the pics is that I didn't take as many photos this year as last.

Just like before, I didn't choose photos based on popularity, but ones that are extra special to me for whatever reason. I might do two or three posts of favorites, but I haven't decided yet.

I certainly didn't take nearly as many heron photos this year as in the past. Despite that, I was fortunate to get a few good shots. I like this one because the angle is different from what I'd typically get. I like the dual "cowlick" action and the fact that the fish is clearly visible between the heron's chopsticks. It almost looks like the fish is jumping in.

This is a photo I took early in the year at the same lake where I photograph herons. I liked how the grass blades and leaves were completely encased in transparent, temporary tombs. I got prone on my belly for this one.

This is probably my favorite Goldfinch photo ever. I happened to catch the little guy in a one wing mid-stretch. The feathers are fanned out nicely and you can just see the light in the right eye. He looks like a bird ninja with Ginsu blades for feathers.

This is a photo I took at my youngest brother's home back in the summer. They have a beautifully landscaped yard with a big variety of flowers. I'm not sure what caused the nice blue background, but I was pleased with the outcome. I like the contrast of yellow and blue and the fact the flowers aren't perfect.

This is definitely my favorite Downy Woodpecker photo. It was the perfect combination of location, angle, and falling snow. These guys aren't always easy to photograph away from feeders.

The fog was rather heavy on this particular morning and the sun was just visible as it rose above the trees. The lone tree on the right is really the one element that made the photo. It works nicely with the fence and road to show distance and it draws the eye.

Favorites Series VI

I believe I'll end the series with this post. I have more photos I could pick, but I don't wish to belabor the point and we're all going to be busy with the approaching holidays. Choosing photos for this post was the toughest since I knew they would be the last in the series. I hope you've enjoyed the posts and understood my purpose was to share some of my personal favorites and why I like them. It wasn't meant as a bragging exercise.

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I have several photos of female cardinals I really like so it was difficult to choose just one. I like this one because of the feather detail and the overall peaceful look to the shot.

I have two versions of this scene. The one you see here and another with the heron in focus and the gulls blurred. I like them both, but in this photo it is pretty easy to tell the heron is a heron even though it's out of focus. I really like the reflection of the gulls on that narrow patch of ice which isn't as dramatic in the other version because the gulls are out of focus. The distance between the heron and the gulls was actually quite far, but because I used a big lens I was able to compress the distance and make them appear closer.

I have a couple of crow shots that are my personal favorites and it wasn't easy picking which one I was going to post. I like this one because of the way the wing is extended. I think of Ginsu blades. I also like how the crow is looking down and balanced on one leg. Plus, I like the uncluttered look of the photo.

You may or may not have noticed I haven't chosen many landscape or sky photos for the series. As I looked through my shots, I realized there really weren't many that stood out as favorites. Not in the way the wildlife photos do. This storm clouds photo, though, has always been one I really liked. The cloud hanging down in the center looks like a hornets nest which is, ironically, quite appropriate. I also like the area of light near the top and the overall angry look of the clouds.

This is definitely my favorite whitetail deer photo to date even though you can't see much of the deer. I ran into a doe and fawn while out hiking one day and they were curious enough to stick around. The doe walked into the woods and came toward me trying to figure me out. The auto focus was going haywire because of all the branches so I switched to manual and when the doe stopped, I snapped off a few shots. I like how you can see her eyes and ears, but most everything else is covered by the blurry branches. This is a photo where the subject in the center works pretty well.

This photo represents the best shots I have of any bird of prey. I see hawk photos all the time on other blogs, but I rarely see the birds when I'm out, much less get photos of them. This Red-tailed Hawk was sitting in an open field and, if you recall from my original post, I had to pull over and put my camera gear together. I thought for sure the hawk would fly off before I was ready, but it didn't and I got quite a few photos. I like the uncluttered background of the field and the profile of the hawk.

Favorites Series V

Great Blue Herons have kind of been a staple of my photography since I took it back up seriously. I didn't plan to spend so much time photographing them, it just worked out that way. We tend to shoot what's available to us. I mean, I'd like to photograph lions, but hey...

I'm not sure how many more of these posts I'll do, but I wanted to include some of my favorite heron shots before wrapping the series up.

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This is another mid-air fish flip shot that turned out well. I've learned that herons tend to do this only with smaller fish. The big fish still get maneuvered into the head first position, but not in such dramatic fashion due to their size.

This is one of a handful of flight shots that I really like. This is a juvenile Great Blue and I like the straight legs, tucked head, and overall aerodynamic look of the bird. This is about as graceful as a heron can look in flight.

I watched this heron flying across the lake in front of me when it suddenly hit the air brakes and stuck its legs out. I realized it was going to land on this small stump...which it did with perfection. I just like the positioning of the whole body. The head and neck are visible and the outstretched legs are pointed right at the stump.

The biggest reason I like this shot, and the others in the sequence, is because it was the first and only time I've photographed a heron catching something other than fish. This heron plucked a vole out of the bank after watching it for several minutes. I had no idea what the heron was after until it pulled the critter out. It dunked the vole in the lake a few times and swallowed it.

This is my number one favorite flight shot. While not as graceful looking as the juvenile above, I like the outstretched neck, open bill, and the wingtip reflection. Sometimes I wish I had photographed the full reflection, but the wingtips are enough to make it interesting.

Favorites Series IV

This post in my favorites series is all about firsts. Each of these photos represents a first for me in some fashion.

This juvenile Bald Eagle is the only eagle I've ever photographed in the wild. I've taken photos of Bald Eagles at a rehab center, but never in the wild before or since this shot, or shots, since I managed to get three or four as it flew overhead. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and quickly snapped some photos without making camera adjustments. The exposure was way off and I had to correct it as much as I could in post-processing. Despite that, this is a personal achievement since Bald Eagles don't appear regularly around here.

I know there are Wood Ducks in Kentucky, but like many birds, I don't see them. This is another opportunity I had while vacationing in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I could hear the duck in the trees and finally located him perched on this dead limb which is one of the things I like about the photo. Surprisingly, he stayed there long enough for me to get my first Wood Duck shots. If I stare at it, it looks more like a decoy than a real duck.

I had never seen a Green Heron, much less photographed one, until this shot. I remember being very surprised and fumbling with my gear trying to get some photos. The heron picked a great place to perch for my first shots. For a while after this, I saw Green Herons several times and was able to get many shots as you've seen from my posts. Then, as quickly as I started seeing them, they vanished. I can only assume they go elsewhere for the winter.

This was probably my most exciting "first" for heron photos. I had lots of portrait shots and even fishing shots, but this was the first time I had caught a fish being flipped in mid-air. I didn't know it until I downloaded the photos. I've since come to terms with this being just like thousands of other heron photos out there, but it was a big deal to me at the time. I can't help but think the fish was making a last second plea for help in a very tiny voice.

Favorites Series III

Continuing with my series of favorite photos from the past year, here is the next group of shots that made my list.

This young Barn Swallow sat on the ground and waited as the adults brought food. They didn't stop to feed the little one, though. They would fly over and feed in flight and continue on. The whole process happened very quickly and I missed most of the feedings because of it. I did get one sequence, though, including this drop off shot.

I have a lot of moon photos, but none that have another subject with the moon. I was taking shots of the moon early one evening while it was still quite light and was literally looking through the viewfinder when I noticed the jet enter the frame. I had just enough time to get one photo. My step-father saw this after I posted it and asked me if I would send him a high-res version. He had a large print made and framed which now hangs in their home. He even asked me to sign the back and include a quote, so I wrote, "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good".

While we were visiting the Blue Ridge Mountains earlier this year, I had the opportunity to photograph a large number of Canada Goose goslings. In many places that might not be a big deal, but I've never seen goslings here at home. We have lots of adult geese, though. I like this particular photo because of the grass hanging out of his bill and the dew drops on the grass blades. This little guy has kind of a clueless look about him.

Gulls are fairly common in many places, but I normally only see them here during the winter. This gull was flying just above the frozen lake. If you look near the bottom of the photo, you can see a white patch which is actually a dead fish just under the ice. Several birds, including a heron, investigated this fish trying to get at it. I like how the gull's head is framed by his wings as he looks at the fish and the way the wing tips flair out.

Favorites Series II

If you didn't see the first post in this series last week, I'm going back through my photos from the past year and picking out some of my personal favorites. The choices aren't based on technical correctness or popularity, just my own liking.

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This is one of my favorite squirrel photos primarily because the little tree rat is in its natural environment rather than sitting at a feeder where they are usually found. Like the blue jay shot from last week, this has the branch bokeh stuff going on and the squirrel appears to be checking things out before moving in to raid the goods. Tree rats are like furry little ninjas, after all.

I have yet to get many woodpecker photos that I really like, but this is one of those "I got lucky" shots that has become my favorite. This female Red-bellied Woodpecker visited the big platform feeder and grabbed a sunflower seed. She was kind enough to pause so I could trip the shutter.

Of the snake photos I've taken, which isn't many, this is among the top two or three I really like. To me, the outstretched tongue exemplifies what snakes are all about and Mother Luck helped me get this. Even though this was just a little garter snake in my backyard, it still has that classic mean snake look. Snakes just look mad even when they smile.

This is one of my favorite waterfowl photos, period. This is a situation where burst mode was my friend. The rest is just the right place at the right time and paying attention. I have nothing else that comes close to the bubble formed by this Mute Swan. It definitely made the shot.

Favorites Series

I thought I would go through my photos and pick out some of my personal favorites from the past year or so. These aren't necessarily technically perfect shots or photos that were the most popular from a comment standpoint. These are shots that I like for whatever reason. I'm not even going to go into the exposure info with these because that would take away from the whole point. I'll do a series of posts, but I'm not going to overload each post with a bunch of photos. Depending on how long you've been following my blog, these may be old news or something you've never seen.

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This is one of my favorite Great Blue Heron photos. There's no action going on to speak of and the lighting is one-sided, but I like the glass surface of the water except the point where the heron's beak is touching it. It looks like the heron is being delicate, although in reality he was in the process of getting a drink. And the reflection is quite nice.

I like this shot because the background is a muted brown with some bokeh-type branch design going on. The broken dead perch leads into the photo and the lighting brought out softer colors in the Blue Jay.

This is a situation where burst mode on the camera is king! The wing feathers gradually spread out farther as they get to the wing tips giving the appearance of a paper fan. I also like the shadow of the left wing inside the right wing and the drops of water on the goose's head and neck. To me, it appears he's directing an orchestra.