Goldfinches & Hawks (Dec 3, 2021)

Very fortunate on a walk this particular morning. I took the Nikon d5300 with my new Tamron 18-400mm super zoom lens. Both paired really well and the images I have been getting are great both indoors and out. Since the d5300 has a 1.5x crop sensor, the effective focal length of this Tamron lens converts to 27-600mm which really helps in wildlife photography since animals and birds keep their distance.

The first stop was the Butler Prairie around 8:30 am. Was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of goldfinches flying around and staying within this habitat this late in the year. Looks like they will be here through the Winter which is going to be great for photography in this area throughout all seasons. Can't wait for the snow!

The second stop was the Butler Botanical Gardens and to my amazement I happened to see a pair of Hawks swooping down hunting for prey and I was able to capture some really great photos of each of them perched in their respective trees. They were very high up so the 600mm effective focal length really came in handy. Out of necessity, almost all of the pictures below were taken at this focal length and because the Hawks stayed around so long I was able to try quite a few Aperture and Shutter Speed settings. The camera was set to Auto ISO which I have found to be the best setting for my type of photography. I'd rather a little bit of noise than a blurry picture. Noise can be managed in post processing.

Thanks to the Hawks long visit at the gardens I was able to shoot with various camera settings and see and understand the effect better while at least in that type of habitat with that level of lighting. Knowing and understanding my equipment better and getting experience with what the best settings are will help improve future images or at least get to the best camera settings faster.

For the Goldfinches, a shutter speed of 1/640s worked very well freezing their motion and the ISO never reached levels that the camera couldn't handle. This was a good thing because I didn't change the shutter speed during this part of the walk.

For the Hawks, again a shutter speed of 1/640s worked well since they were perched and not flying and in most shots this shutter speed kept the ISO near the base ISO of 100, although I thought probably the best shot was taken at 1/800s where the lighting was good enough to keep the ISO at 3200 (a little high but easily manageable) and it does not detract from the quality of the image at all.

Looking at these photos in total, in early morning light for birds that are perched, I would probably start at a shutter speed of 1/640s with an aperture of f8 and adjust slightly up or down depending on the exposure. For birds in flight, this shutter speed would likely have to double.

Anyway, wildlife photography provides good exercise, learning experience, allows you to see nature differently (up close and personal) and then share it with others. A great hobby.