Green Heron hunting tadpoles .
It’s 5:00 AM, it’s windy, rainy and cold (around 8 degree Celcius), but i decided to go anyway and visit a pond close to my home to photograph Frogs. You can see how the pond looks like, it’s a Beaver’s pond with lots of trees fallen in the water are still up.
Pentax K-01 with DA35mm Macro Limited, tripod.
There was not much Frogs because of the cold, they were mostly all hiding with just the head out of the water. After walking along the shore i finally found a Bullfrog and was able to take it’s portrait.
Canon 7D with 400mm/5.6L with Extension tubes, tripod and remote release.
ISO 500, 1/6 sec. at f/9.0
After that shot i decided to do another walk along the shore of the pond to see if i could found more frogs. To my surprise there was a Green Heron that was now hunting for it’s lunch on the fallen logs ! My experience with Herons (Great Blue Heron, Green Heron and Black-Crowned Heron) around my home, is that they are difficult to get close enough to take good photos. So i stopped and waited to see if it would fly away, it stayed there and continued to hunt, it was catching frogs and tadpoles with ease.
Since he seemed to accept me i made a move and walked right to the shore where i would get the best view to take photos, he didn’t even mind and was walking on the logs and catching more tadpoles.
Walking to another hunting spot.
Windy up there !
Another Yummi tadpole !
Taking a break to digest all those Tadpoles !
Last one for the road .
I was really happy to take photos of that Green Heron for more than an hour even if it was cold and humid, it was worth it. All photos were taken with my Canon 7D and 400mm/5.6L on a tripod, ISO 800, 1/125 sec. to 1/160 sec. at f/5.6. The shutter speed was low because of the low light level, so getting sharp photos of action shots was not easy, but i managed to get some sharp ones.
2nd outing with NEX-3 and underwater case.
Yesterday i tried my NEX-3 with my 18-55 kit lens with my underwater case for photographing frogs. Well this morning i switched to my Sigma 19mm because it can focus closer than the Sony kit lens. It was a good decision, i got better shots because i could get closer to the frogs, 5 cm closer makes a big difference at 19mm !
All photos were taken at ISO 400 and f/5.6.
I like that one because we can clearly see it’s legs and body that are under the surface!
This one was cropped on top and right side for composition purposes.
This morning it was sunny and i had difficulties seeing the LCD, too much reflections on the case.
1st Frog shot with Underwater casing and NEX-3.
During the winter i bought a MEIKON underwater casing for my NEX-3 and 18-55 kit lens. My goal was to made different photos than the usual view of frogs. I wasn’t sure if i would be able to view the LCD of my NEX-3 clear enough to be able to compose correctly$. Finally after that 1st try i’m really pleased with the set-up!
Here is my NEX-3 in the underwater casing.
The controls are relatively easy to operate, didn’t had any real problem using all the controls on my NEX-3. You can only use AF since you don’t have access to the focusing ring. Now i need to practice to get better at composition with part of the frog underwater, there is a lot of branches underwater that prevents from a clear view of the frog’s body parts that are underwater. The 18-55mm kit lens was set at 19mm and it can focus down to 0.25 Meter, not close enough. Tomorrow i will try my Sigma 19mm which can focus down to 0.20 Meter, i will loose OSS but i will gain sharpness and i can go to f/2.8 is necessary.
Well here is my first shot.
I cropped the right side and some of the bottom part of this shot, the 18-55 don’t focus close enough and i can only set it from about 18mm up to 19mm within the casing.
Stay tuned, i will try again tomorrow morning, practice will make me better at this!
Visit of a new Frog pond.
This morning i visited a pond where i’ve never been for photographing frogs, i hoped to find at least 2 or 3 species. After that first outing i can say that there is at least the following species: Leopard frog, Green frog, Spring peeper frog and Bullfrog.
Here is a video of the pond (sorry for the bad quality, i’m a photographer not a videast !)
http://s47.photobucket.com/user/leopold44/media/IMGP1276_zps5df55891.mp4.html
I took some shots but the light was becoming harsh, i will go again earlier in the morning or on a cloudy day. I think i will like that pond, with old tree trunks in the water with vegetation growing on them will make great shots if i can find frogs resting there.
Bullfrog .
Canon 7D with 400mm/5.6L and 65mm of Extension tubes, tripod and remote release.
I think this one is a Green frog.
Canon 7D with 400mm/5.6L and 65mm of Extension tubes, tripod and remote release.
Leopard frog, not the best shot but i wanted to show that there is also Leopard frog in that pond.
Canon 7D with 400mm/5.6L and 65mm of Extension tubes, tripod and remote release.
Canada Goose, there is also many bird species that live there.
Canon 7D with 400mm/5.6L, tripod.
I can’t wait to go back at that beautiful pond !
steevemarcoux2 