A Winter Day Out To Photograph

Young Whitetail Deer (click to enlarge)

Recently, I found some time on my hands.  Although there are no days off, weekends, holidays and such when retired, I found some time to do one of my favorite things.  I decided to grab a camera, go out and see if I could find something to photograph.  Specifically, I planned to drive the 30 minutes to the Colonial Parkway that winds from Jamestown and Williamsburg to Yorktown, Virginia and the Yorktown Battlefield.  

In the past, in these same locations, I've photographed Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Whitetail Deer and just very recently (finally!) a nice little specimen of an Eastern Screech Owl.  The day was cold, the sky was blue, the wind was almost non-existent and I was feeling good about going.  At the end of the day, I was glad I did.

Here are some of the images I made from that day.  Nothing spectacular nor earth shattering but what I consider a successful photographic day.  If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you then know I'm a casual wildlife photographer not one who seeks out birds and wildlife most of my time.  Most of my photographic endeavors involve travel, landscape, and old Americana.  That being said, I did find the owl again.  I've now seen him twice in two weeks after not being able to see him for about 2 years!  How fortunate am I?

All of these images were made with a Nikon camera and Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens—mostly at 600mm.

Eastern Screech Owl.  (click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

This was made at 600mm handheld with a Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 lens.  The juvenile Bald Eagle is tiny in the frame.
(click to enlarge)

This is a more than 100% crop of the above image.  The image surprisingly really held together well under such
a severe crop. I caught it right when its translucent membrane closed over its eye.  (click to enlarge)

Using a DSLR the highlights in this image were severely overexposed.  I brought back as much highlight detail as I could.  I'm used to looking through a mirrorless EVF where "what you see is what you get."  With a DSLR, unless you take a test image and check the histogram, you can't nail the exposure as quickly as you can with a mirrorless camera.  However, if I had done that, this doe would have been gone. (click to enlarge)

The highlights in this image as well were substantially overexposed. (click to enlarge)

This is the only time I can remember where I've seen deer eating leaves off a tree.  In my experience, they have always
eaten grass and other vegetation on or near the ground.  I found it interesting. (click to enlarge)

Adult Bald Eagle, again with a 600mm lens handheld.  It is, again, tiny in the frame. (click to enlarge)

Here again, is a severe crop of the original.  This didn't hold up quite as well as the juvenile Bald Eagle image above, but
that is my fault.  I saw just a bit of camera movement in the frame when pixel peeping.  But, still you would never notice
it unless you did look at 100% or more. That brings up another issue that is seldom discussed.  Images that are just a tad out of focus or suffer from a tiny bit of blur from camera movement are still usable for certain things but not necessarily others.  The pundits tend to emphasize everything having to be tack sharp or the image is just no good.  Not true.  (click to enlarge)

Young Whitetail Deer (click to enlarge)

She's peeking at me! (click to enlarge)

As I mentioned above, these are not award winning nor spectacular images by any means.  But my point is that whenever I go out and photograph, no matter what the subject, it is a good day.  Once in a while I even bring back some images that I find satisfying.  I chose that last word carefully.  Staying home, watching TV or keeping your eyes glued to your electronic devices won't get you the same kind of creative satisfaction that you can get with your camera and favorite lens in your hands.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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