Your Canon Photos No. 19: 10th to 16th September 2023

Subject: Wood Ducks

This past Friday and Saturday I was able to find more Wood Ducks. They are still making it difficult for me, but I did manage to get a few of them I liked. I hope you do too.

Photo No. 1 - I took this photo on Saturday. I wanted to show you all how pretty it is this summer, where I find the Wood Ducks. The Wood Ducks swim in this pond and in another one. The lily plants seen at the bottom eventually will go dormant, so the leaves will not be there during the autumn and winter. Meanwhile, the lily plant leaves make it challenging for me to get good photos. I'd rather not have these distracting elements.

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
FocalLength - 150 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 2 - This was also taken on Saturday. It was heavily cropped but I noticed that it was sharp and it was my only female duck in this series. The Wood Ducks were making it the hardest for me that day. It was a better day on Friday.

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 800
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 3 - OK, the rest of these photos were those that I took on Friday. These are all male Wood Ducks. Some of them were heavily cropped so I could avoid the distracting lily plant leaves.

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 4 - OK, here you go. 😀

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 800
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 5 - Enjoy the rest of them. 😀

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 2500
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 6

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 7

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 2000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 8

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Dig,

i liked your Wood Duck reflections. The shots were sharp.

Hey, that could be the title of a book, Reflections of a Wood Duck, by Digirame 😀
Your volleyball pictures were good too. A lot of coiled energy.

Steve Thomas

Steve,

Thanks. I hope to get more Wood Ducks photos in the autumn. For the best pictures, I hope to get the autumn colors reflected in the water.

I've been to that beach volleyball event many times (it occurs once each year). It is amazing to see that energy.

Super action volleyball shots Digirame.
I like the sunset too.

Very nive hiking photos as always Photobygms.

Regarding the heat, a couple of days ago the UK had it's hottest day this year.
"Met Office says heatwave is first time temperature has exceeded 30C for six days in a row in September"

@Digirame I like your wood ducks.
Have you ever photographed wood-duck chicks?

St. Andrews harbour, Scotland.
Part 1/2, because they don't all fit in the same post.
OOC JPGs, resized and (some) cropped, in Digikam.

There were some terns (I think common terns) flying around the harbour. These photos are pretty terrible, but they're good enough to identify the birds. And, coming from this camera, I'm happy with them.

There's a path on the harbour wall, open 24/7 to the public, seen at the right of this photo.

Looking down into the harbour, as a regular photo and a HDR:

Looking the other direction:

St. Andrews harbour, Scotland.
Part 2/2.
OOC JPGs, resized and (some) cropped, in Digikam.

Another tern.

Herring gullls.

House sparrows among the fishermen's equipment.

The ruined castle.

And another gull.

Some extra info, in case anyone cares to read it:
"The early pier was built on the long natural rocky ledge and consisted of double wooden branders fitted to the rocks and inlaid with large boulders. Destroyed by a December storm in 1655, the pier was rebuilt from stone from the ruins of St Andrews Castle.
The length of the pier has varied through the centuries, impacted by storms and breaches. Following repairs and re-builds, the pier reached it's final length of 268.3m in 1900..."

Hope you enjoyed,
Dunlin.

Nice shots @Dunlin makes want to go back the highlands.

Dunlin,

Thanks. I'm glad you like the sunset too. When I'm traveling in the car, I have the camera ready,

Dunlin,

Thanks. I have not taken photos of Wood Duck chicks. I do not believe the Wood Ducks have nests here. I do, although, find juvenile (first year) Wood Ducks.They fly in from another location. Normally I see the Wood Ducks from October to March. I did see them once in August and now this time in September.

Dunlin,

Looking at part 1 of 2, I enjoyed seeing your seven photos. Is the sixth photo a HDR image? What method did you use to get it to look so nice with the blue sky?

Dunlin,

Now looking at Part 2 of 2, that must have been fun to walk along the harbor wall. What a pretty area! So, looking at photo no. 1, can we assume the pier is on the left side?

I especially liked seeing the abandoned castle. That would make a nice series of photos, if a person could reach that area.

Thankyou @Photobygms @Digirame

When I said JPG I meant HDR. Oops. Fixed that.
The HDR was created using 3 bracketed shots, merged in Skylum Aurora HDR 2018, using an automatic preset.

Yup.

Here's a shot I took earlier with a color polarizer filter on:

Just out of curiosity, I switched it over to monochrome and left the polarizer on. I added the red filter"

The polarizer dropped the shutter speed from earlier shots of 1/500 to 1/320

Steve Thomas