Steve Gallow - A Year in Photos

With this blog I have begun a journey to improve my photography skills. My goal is to take photos everyday, and post my favorite photo from that day on this blog. So far, I have learned a lot, and try to share my experiences. Many of you have made comments on the blog, via email, or when you see me in person. I really appreciate all of them. I learn a lot from each of you. I hope that you will join me in my journey, and help me along the way. I have so much to learn.

Showing posts with label Hawk. Show all posts

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Week 32, Day 227, December 6, 2009, One Hawk, Two Hawk

As I was driving to a friend's house I noticed a red tailed hawk in a tree. I stopped to take a photo, and the hawk immediately flew to another tree with another red tailed hawk. Very seldom do I see two red tailed hawks in the same tree.

When I was young there were very few hawks in this area. I guess the DDT killed off many of them. We did have a couple of red tailed hawks in our woods behind our house. Because they were rare at that time, some people from Syracuse University came by to study them. Even though there are many more red tailed hawks now, I still feel awe in watching them.

Lessons Learned:

I only had a few moments of photography with these two. I wish I had my polarizer filter on my camera, but I didn't. I figured it would be better to get a few photos before the left, then no photos at all.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/500 sec, Aperture f/7.1, ISO 100, Focal Length 200 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, tripod.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Week 16, Day 111, August 20, 2009, Feathered Visitor

While I was at work this morning I received a phone call from a colleague, Hal Coghill. Hal asked me if I had my camera, and I said, "Of course". He told me that there was a Red Tailed Hawk in the Engineering Quad at Cornell University. I was waiting for matlab to download, so I grabbed by camera and my telephoto lens as was out the door.

Hal and I followed the hawk through 3 trees, and took several photos. The hawk was beautiful, and we posted a link of the photos on face book. Soon stories from people all around campus began to collect. It seems as if there are some hawks living on campus. What a pleasant surprise. I hope to see them often.

Lessons Learned:

I'm glad that more people are knowing that I like to take photographs. Hal gave me a great opportunity to take some photos. Thank you Hal.
Always have the camera ready. It seems like opportunities present themselves when you least expect it.
Once change in shutter speed has a great effect. I had a few photos from this angle. The shutter speed of 1/1000 gave me a blue sky. A shutter speed of 1/800 gave me a white sky. I need to pay more attention to this.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/1000, Aperture f/3.5, ISO 100, Focal Length 200 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 323mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, hand held.