Some Recent Images

It's been a busy summer and though I've shot a lot, I haven't posted any of it here. In fact, I have a lot of processing to catch up on.

In the meantime, I thought I would start posting a link to some of my favorite shots as I get them processed. So here is the first installment. The Green Heron capture is from a pond where I work. I found the tree frog in my yard this past weekend (before hurricane Ike blew through). The same goes for the toadstools. Click the image to go to the slideshow.

Close Encounter with a Red-Tailed Hawk

This encounter is the closest I have ever been to a Red-Tailed Hawk and the best view I've had of one eating. I was walking on the same trail where I have had a couple of other close encounters. This time I was really fortunate to even have noticed it because it was basically at ground level on a log, surrounded by an environment that it blended into very well. The truth is, I don't remember if it was a sound or the shape of the bird that I detected first. All I know is in an instant, I was aware that the hawk was just up the trail.

I started shooting and cautiously moved forward. I could see that it was eating something and that whatever it had was a fairly good sized meal. After shooting only for a minute or so, I heard voices coming down the trail from the other direction. I figured my time was about up with the hawk as I snapped a few shots. Instead, the hawk watched them carefully, apparently unwilling to leave its meal. The people walked by unaware of the hawk, but stopped to speak to me. By now I was changing cards, as I had filled up the space I had available on the first one. After a brief conversation, I moved up closer to the hawk since it was not ready to fly off.

Eventually I was able to move up the hill so that I was shooting down toward the hawk. Several more hikers passed me, some noticing the hawk I was shooting, others ignoring me altogether and not seeing the hawk. I was pretty close by now. As close as I would dare to get to an animal while it was eating and closer than I had ever hoped I could get. I was quickly running out of time and would have to leave soon, when I heard another hawk. This was the angry call that I heard last spring when I saw some fledglings and the parents were not too happy about the hikers who were walking through the area.

At the time, I was not sure if the cry was directed at me or the dining hawk. I soon realized it was directed at the hawk, because as I headed back up the trail to my car I saw three Red-Tailed Hawks swooping after each other and calling that same call. It was a battle over territory, and not a beef with the photographer.

New Art Director

These four shots are my son's idea. I was shooting his portrait when he said, "Hey Dad, wouldn't it be funny if I..." and proceeded with all four poses.

I didn't give him any direction once he started. He even managed to put his right foot forward in all four shots - not bad for an 'almost 6 year-old'!

Summer Afternoon By the Creek

This is an image I happened on while walking a trail at a MetroPark last year. Some kids were walking in the stream that runs through the park and had left their shoes next to the water. The sun was just making it through all the leaves and illuminating the shoes.

I shot a couple of frames and moved on. Every once in a while I think of this shot, so I finally did something with it. To me, this shot says 'summer'. You just know there are barefoot kids around there somewhere enjoying the warm day and the cool water.

Drive By - The Water Balloon

This is another example of why I carry my camera with me as much as possible. I shot these images about a year and a half ago on my way to work one morning. I saw the balloon ahead descending into the reservoir...I jumped out of my car and ran to the water's edge and got these shots.

Nikon's ViewNX

I recently discovered that Nikon now has a software product called View NX. It appears they added this product in October, and in my opinion it fills a major gap in the consumer level RAW workflow. At least for Nikon shooters. If you shoot RAW the most painful part of the workflow is the conversion from RAW to some other format. And if you have to adjust anything - say, white balance - it can become really painful. If you use Photoshop Elements, it becomes really daunting because you have to view and edit each image, one by one. There may be some short cuts, but they only lessen the pain a little.

Enter ViewNX. It is a RAW viewer and a companion product to CaptureNX. Best of all, it is a free download from Nikon's site. They have a Mac and PC version. (I just checked the new version of their site and it is not easy to find the download now, so you need the link above.) ViewNX lets you view your .NEF files in thumbnail format. It has basic controls that let you adjust white-balance and exposure compensation while viewing the thumbnail, or you can launch a utility to do some fine tuning.

What makes this so great is that you can see all of your .NEF files at once and make basic compensations right there. You can select more than one image, make an adjustment and it is applied to all selected. Then, when you are satisfied with your files, you can select multiple files and convert them to .jpg or .tiff format. That's right, you can batch process your RAW files and you don't have to spend a dime to do it.

Now this product won't compete with Lightroom and the likes. But it beats the other free RAW processors that I've run across hands down and definitely a time saver for any basic Nikon workflow.

About My Hawk Photos

NOTE: I thought I'd cover some of my favorite hawk photos and how I got the shots. This first one is not the earliest encounter, but it was the first in a series I've gotten in the same section of woods in a Columbus MetroPark.

I ran across this hawk while I was walking a trail in a nearby MetroPark. I saw movement across the trail ahead of me and immediately realized it was a hawk. I could tell it was carrying something. The most amazing thing was that it landed on a branch nearby, hardly taking any notice of me at all! I had to move a bit to get a decent view of him and while I was carefully moving over, he ate his lunch, probably a garter snake.

Since he was sitting still and so close by, I decided to try to get my flash out, and grab a few shots with some decent lighting. Before I could really get set up though, he had taken off to another location that was still visible to me. While I kept an eye on him, I finished setting up my lighting gear. I had my Vivitar 285HV on a light stand, triggered by my "eBay" slaves. The hawk's new location was atop a thin, dead tree at the bottom of a ravine. I made a fairly easy decent halfway down the hillside to a location that was somewhat shielded by trees. I set the light stand against a tree and aimed it at the hawk.

The day was overcast enough that the flash did make a difference. I fired a few shots from this location and then decided to venture further down the ravine. The Red-Tailed Hawk kept an eye on me, but didn't seem to mind my presence too much. I probably had a good fifteen minutes of shooting, moving further down, shooting some more. Finally I decided that if I was going to get a better shot, I was going to have to go back up the hill to get my light stand and move it closer, back down the hill. I did just that and even managed to get a few more shots before the hawk took off for a remote section of the woods.

You can see more of my hawk photos at PatterPhotography.com