Wings

Anas  platyrhynchos (Family: Anatidae; common name: Mallard)

On a warm and sunny January Wednesday afternoon when I was home alone, I decided to go to the small nature park in our village. I already went there in summer to shoot damselflies and I remembered that there were quite a lot of ducks in the two ponds there. They were indeed still there. I had my 180mm macro lens with me, as it's the fastest sharp telephoto prime that I have (optically, f3.5 wide open) The AF speed with the D70 is pathetically slow, but I gave it a try though. I boosted the ISO to 400 what would result in faster shutter speeds. I walked around the pond with the camera ready and the subject framed and in focus. When I made another small step movement towards the pond, the ducks in there felt threatened and decided to fly away, so I took my picture. I realize that I was very lucky to have a good sharp picture with this D70 + Tamron 180mm macro lens. A pro camera like the D2H and an AF-S lens would have much higher success rate. I used the same technique to approach the second duck that walked on the pavement, so being prepared seemed to work ...

Photos by Frank Panis

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO400
Shutter speed: 1/1600sec f/3.5
Flash:none
Image: RAW, converted in Nikon Capture editor, WB adjusted, cropped, openened with PS7, added USM and saved.

Anser anser (Greylag Goose)
 
In April 2005 we went to the Belgian coast for a long weekend with the kids. I enjoyed the holiday very much, but the absolute highlight of this holiday was a visit to the unique nature preservation "Het Zwin". The expectation of photographing large flying birds made me wildly enthusiastic, and once arrived there this dream indeed came true! We first walked through the park and then we climbed up the bank where we had a fantastic view over the pools and the countless birds. Then I heard the call of 2 greylag geese flying towards us. I zoomed in on them and focused. The D70 was able to keep tracking of them and right at the moment that they were in the perfect position I was able to take multiple shots of them. You can see both the full picture for the beautiful landscape and the crop as the detail on the birds is also very nice.
 
 
Photo by Frank Panis

Shooting data:

Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: AF VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED at 220mm
Sensitivity: ISO200
Shutter speed: 1/2000sec @ f/5.3
Flash: none
Image: RAW, converted in Nikon Capture editor, sharpening none, USM, Color mode changed to mode II, WB adjusted, Cropped, resized and saved.

Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus)
 
Fall is the time for many birds to migrate. I've seen many flocks of geese flying south last week to escape from the cold winter weather, but that was mostly in very cloudy circumstances, so most pictures that I made were very dull with very poor detail. On a sunny morning when I was outside with my photographic gear I saw a group of 4 geese flying by and I took some shots. Once I downloaded the pictures on the computer I saw it were no migrating geese, but Egyptian geese that are quite common here these days (they descend from Alopochen aegyptiacus that escaped from captivity). On a technical note I want to say that I sharpened these pictures only very slightly to preserve detail as much as possible.
 
Photo by Frank Panis

Shooting Data:
 
Camera: Nikon D2x
Lens: AF-S 300mm f/2.8D IF-ED
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/750 - f2.8
Flash:none
Image: RAW, converted in Nikon Capture 4.3.2

Migrating geese
 
When fall is near it's end and the temperatures are dropping, the geese migrate to warmer regions. This small group passed by in formation on a dark cloudy day. I took several pics, but was unable to extract detail out of these muddy grey bird silhouettes. I decided to do some editing, and by using the warmest possible white balance and applying severe curves I finally came to this result. I agree that it's not realistic any more, but at least to my own taste it became a much more attractive picture.
 
Photo by Frank Panis

Shooting Data:
 
Camera: Nikon D2x
Lens: AF-S 300mm f/2.8D IF-ED
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/400 - f2.8
Flash:none
Image: RAW, converted in Nikon Capture 4.3.2