Russ Campbell’s Blog: The Way I See It

Ring-billed Gull

The Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) proves that one man’s pest can be another’s entertainment. These fellows are excellent flyers and can provide hours of birds-in-flight practice.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 400
1/1500 sec at f/9.5 – handheld

Nikon D90 and Canon 50D announced

I see at Nikonians.org that Nikon has made its new digital SLR official with the announcement of its D90, which is loaded with D300-like features. According to Nikon’s news release:

"…the D90 is a digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera that redefines the creative boundaries of digital photography allowing photographers to easily create stunning still images and High Definition (HD) movie clips with sound—with the same camera. A host of Nikon core technologies were leveraged to develop the D90’s scope of versatility, calling on years of photographic and optical expertise. Whether consumers are graduating from an advanced compact digital camera or are a seasoned D-SLR enthusiast, the Nikon D90 emphasizes brilliant image quality and versatility with its exclusive advanced Scene Recognition System, intuitive creative controls, blazing fast performance and the industry-first ability to create HD movie clips at 720p in the new D-Movie mode.

Inspired by Nikon’s acclaimed flagship DX-format digital SLR camera, the D300, and building on the success of the wildly popular D80, the D90 delivers stunning image quality. The CMOS image sensor and 12.3 effective megapixels combined with Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED™ image processing system deliver outstanding images with fine details, smooth tones, brilliant colors and low noise across a broad ISO range."

According to another post at  Nikonians.org, Canon has unveiled its answer to Nikon D300: Cannon 50D. In the United States, the Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera is scheduled for October delivery and will be sold in a body-only configuration at an estimated selling price of $1,399 USD.

You can read all about this at LetsGoDigital.org.

Birding in Burlington

I spent the morning looking for Osprey, herons and whatever else to photograph. I got three shots I thought were worth publishing here.

Water skiing Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis).

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 320
1/1500 sec at f/5.6 – handheld

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 200
1/1500 sec at f/8 – handheld

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

There seems to be something attached to this fellow’s leg, so he may not always have been a wild bird.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 220
1/1500 sec at f/5.6 – handheld

Lightroom® 2: Graduated Filter

Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 has become an indispensable part of my workflow. One new feature in this latest version of Adobe’s software is a digital graduated filter, which virtually eliminates the need for carrying around an optical filter—in my case it eliminates the need to buy one.

Today, I saw an article at dolcepics.com covering the use of this handy tool. Pretty good stuff.

Osprey flyby

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) taken in Burlington, Ontario, Canada on August 25, 2008.

One of about four individuals that have been hunting along the lower portion of Grindstone Creek in the past two or three weeks.

 
Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 200
1/1500 sec at f/5.6 – handheld

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue on a misty morning at Grindstone March.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Tamron SP AF 2x teleconverter), ISO 1000
1/1000 sec at f/8 – handheld

Flyover at Burlington

Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis) flyover at Burlington, Ontario, Canada. These birds have made such a miraculous recovery in this area over the past fifty years that they have become major pests in the view of many in Ontario. There is no doubt that they do make an awful mess of the parks and playgrounds; I for one, however, still love the sight of these magnificent birds and never tire of photographing them.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Tamron SP AF 2x teleconverter), ISO 640
1/1500 sec at f/8 – handheld

Ospreys in flight

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) in flight in Burlington and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on August 20 and 21, 2008.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 400
1/1500 sec at f/5.6 – handheld

Fishing in Grindstone Creek – Part 2

Another pose of the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that I saw fishing in the eastern pond formed by Grindstone Creek at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington, Ontario, Canada on August 20, 2008.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 400
1/1500 sec at f/5.6 – handheld

Fishing in Grindstone Creek

This Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) was seen fishing in a pond formed by Grindstone Creek in Burlington, Ontario, Canada on August 20, 2008.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 400
1/1500 sec at f/5.6 – handheld

Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron ( Ardea herodias), one of nature’s most patient fishermen.

 
Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Tamron SP AF 2x teleconverter), ISO 200
1/350 sec at f/8 – on a tripod

Another Mallard at Valley Inn Road

I went back to the ponds at Valley Inn Road this morning looking for herons. No luck on that front, but you can almost always count on at least one good shot of a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) to make the outing worthwhile.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Kenko N-AF 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 400
1/1000 sec at f/8 – on a tripod

Mallard at Valley Inn Road

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) are the most abundant and familiar wild duck in Ontario. And, perhaps because of they are so common, they are among the least appreciated specie. I really like Mallards and never tire of photographing them.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Tamron SP AF 2x teleconverter), ISO 200
1/350 sec at f/8 – on a tripod

Black-crowned Night Heron

The Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is—as its name might suggest—mainly a nocturnal bird. Seeing several of them fishing in the mid morning and late afternoon was therefore a pleasant surprise for me. These stocky herons are patient hunters, standing stock still for minutes at a time waiting for its prey to come within reach of its lethal bill.

Yesterday, at about 6:30 p.m., I saw an adult bird and two juveniles on the edge of the lower pond at Valley Inn Road on the border between Burlington and Hamilton. The youngsters were well out of range of my lens, but I did get several decent shots of an adult bird. This was the first time I’ve used my Nikkor 300mm prime lens with a Tamron SP AF 2x teleconverter giving me a focal length of 900mm—after giving effect to the 1.5x crop factor of my Nikon D300 digital SLR.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF-ED (Tamron SP AF 2x teleconverter), ISO 200
1/45 sec at f/8 – on a tripod

Great Blue Heron in flight

I never tire of taking photos of the Great Blue Heron ( Ardea herodias).

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF VR Zoom Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED at 98mm, ISO 200
1/1000 sec at f/8 – handheld

Great Blue Heron

I think I’ve seen more herons this summer than I have in the past five years. Here’s one about to take off.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF VR Zoom Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED at 400mm, ISO 200
1/250 sec at f/8 – handheld

Black-crowned Night Heron at Valley Inn Road

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) seen at Valley Inn Road, Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Three of these young birds were fishing at the gate between the ponds across from the bridge, while an adult supervised from a nearby perch.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF VR Zoom Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED at 400mm, ISO 200
1/250 sec at f/8 – handheld

Great Blue Heron at Valley Inn Road

I spent the morning at Valley Inn Road and what a morning it was: over a dozen herons, Baltimore Oriels, Northern Cardinal, swans, Canada Geese, Mallards, a Cormorant and the usual Red-winged Blackbirds and sparrows.

Here are a couple of shots of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) I saw there. The bird was moving quickly and I didn’t have the time to zoom in more—too bad, would have been a great shot.

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF VR Zoom Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED at 98mm, ISO 200
1/750 sec at f/8 – handheld

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikkor AF VR Zoom Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED at 98mm, ISO 200
1/1000 sec at f/8 – handheld

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 now available

Beginning Tuesday morning, Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 became available—just in time for my birthday. And what a present it is. I’ve been using the Lightroom 2 beta for the past several weeks and found it a great improvement over version 1.x. And apparently, the shipping version of Lightroom 2 contains improvements over the beta. Great news all around.

I won’t delve into the details here since Lightroom 2 is so excellently covered elsewhere by experts such as Scott Kelby over at his Adobe Photoshop Insider blog.

The North American upgrade is a good value at USD $99, however, I gather that the International price (Europe, Australia, etc.) is much higher—go figure. Downloads are available on the Web, but retail copies do not seem to be generally available in Ontario.

Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers

W hen the final version of Adobe Lightroom 2 is released, users will not have to wait weeks for a Lightroom 1 book to be updated to cover the latest version. Famous photographer and best-selling author, Scott Kelby, made sure of that when he based his latest book on the  Lightroom 2 beta so users can preorder it now.

Here’s a quote from Scott’s recent blog post:

I had planned on just doing an update of the book, and including the new features of Lightroom 2, but….well…I wound up rewriting the whole book from scratch (well, at least 95% of it. There’s probably a paragraph or two still left over, but not much).

Obviously, I have not read the book, but I own several of Kelby’s books, including the one on Lightroom 1 and can vouch for how useful his books are. Lightroom 2.0 beta has been available since April of this year, so I’d guess the final will be available this Fall.