The scissor-tail flycatcher, aka Texas bird-of-paradise, can hover with its tail spread and make abrupt turns in midair. It’s numbers have declined by about 31% between 1966 and 2014.
I found this flycatcher in October, sitting pretty on the barb-wire fence at the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge back in 2013.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
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Filed under 1DX, birds, Brazoria NWR, Canon, Fun Fact Friday, nature, Photography, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
I’m up early because the inside of my cheek is killing me. I had a back molar implant put in this past Wednesday and my cheek got the brunt of some burring work on the cap and the upper back molar. Bleah. So, I can’t sleep. I’ll take an aspirin after I have something for breakfast later. Whenever I can’t sleep, I get up, turn on the laptop, and work on photos. I’m still (and will be for months, I’m sure) cleaning up my photo website and I happened upon this image in my Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge gallery. It was an awesome morning on that June day. Sometimes, going to the refuge was a hit or miss prospect. I either saw lots of birdlife, like here, or no birdlife. On this stormy morning, not only were there large numbers of egrets and spoon bills, but the clouds were awesomely dramatic. Out of all the images I took at the refuge, this photo numbers as one of my favorites.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved
Filed under birds, Brazoria NWR, nature, Photography, Seasons, summer, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
I finished every single one of my errands/chores yesterday so I could drive out to the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge this morning to see what might be there: tall grass and reeds and cattails with lots of water but not much birdlife – at least, not in the area in which I found myself and nothing near to me and my 500mm lens. The clouds on this morning, however, were dark and fluffy and big and presaged the coming storms predicted for today. So I pulled out the other tripod and my Canon 5DSR with the 16-35mm f//4 IS lens, affixed a circular polarizer to it and used my grad ND filter to bring out the texture in the clouds.
Clouds are a photographer’s best friend. They add drama and character to an already lovely scene and can really spice up an otherwise ordinary or ho-hum scene. The thing about photographing awesome clouds, though, is that you also need a frame of reference or some scale. So don’t just photograph the clouds themselves. Your viewers won’t know whether this was a horizon-filling scene or just a small spot in the sky. Add some ground or buildings or *something* to the cloud scene.
Copyright Rebecca L Latson, all rights reserved.
Filed under 5DSR, Brazoria NWR, Canon, Landscape, nature, Photography, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
It’s been dull, gloomy, foggy, chilly and rainy for over a week now. The sky has been a matte pewter-gray without even the benefit of interesting clouds. This is more Pacific Northwest weather as opposed to southeast Texas weather. A little depressing, actually. Enough to make me want to return to work on Monday…and it’s only Saturday! Sigh. I and my cameras are definitely going to travel somewhere next December Christmastime; staying static in Texas is just not me.
C’mon, 2015! Let’s get to the interesting stuff I have planned for this year!
Filed under Canon, Canon Lens, Life, Photography, rain
Soooo, in my last post, where I describe my weekend trying out a rental Sigma 50-500mm on my Canon 1DX, I mentioned my next bit of fun would be with the brand spankin’ new Tamron 150-600mm lens. Unfortunately, Lensrentals doesn’t have them in stock yet, so my reservation had to be moved further back for a time when the lens *is* in stock.
Therefore, I thought I would publish a post with more photos taken using the Sigma and my 1DX. Apertures were set between f8 – f10 and the ISO ranged anywhere from 250 to 2000. This setup was either anchored to a Wimberely gimbal head and tripod, or it was steadied atop a pillow as I photographed from my car window (I now own a Grizzly bean bag as this taught me a lesson about big lenses and shooting from car windows)
Migratory Snow Geese
Ibis and Geese Amicably Breakfasting Together
Ready to Do Battle (Crayfish aka Crawfish aka Crawdad)
The Runway is Clear for Landing…..?
Poetry in Motion
This coming week, I will be receiving from Lensrentals the Canon 600mm L II lens. I want to see if it fits into my new Tamrac backpack that I ordered specifically to fit this lens during my 2-week stay in Alaska this August. Plus, I just couldn’t stand it and wanted to play with another big honkin’ lens on my 1DX and Wimberley.
Filed under Brazoria NWR, Canon, Equipment, Photography, Sigma lens, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
Blue-winged teal (I think) at Brazos Bend State Park, Texas
As of late, I’ve been suffering a little cabin fever on the weekends. I want to do something photographically (other than edit archived images), but don’t know what. My part of southeast Texas is not the most photogenic for landscape imagery, but it is definitely a treasure trove for bird photography; Brazos Bend State Park, a number of wildlife refuges including Brazoria and Aransas NWRs, the wetlands parallel to the Gulf Coast and Padre Island National Seashore are all within a 30-minute to 4-hour drive away.
I go out to the nearby state park and Brazoria NWR often, but the birds tend to be skittish and are generally too distant for the reach of my Canon 100-400mm lens, thus requiring some degree of image cropping during the editing stage. After seeing others with their big honkin’ primes out at these places, I always suffer a little angst over the fact that I don’t own a super-telephoto, myself. So for yucks and giggles, I reserved a number of super-telephoto lenses with Lensrentals.com to try out over the next couple of months: The Sigma 50-500mm, Tamron’s new 150-600mm lens, Canon’s 800mm prime and I even decided to try out (for the fun of it) the Nikon D800 camera and Nikkor 600mm lens.
This particular post is about my thoughts (with samples) of the Sigma 50-500mm lens at its longest focal length (because I only want the long length for birds – I’m not interested in any of the shorter focal lengths since I already own that aforementioned Canon 100-400mm which I love…well, except for that damned push-pull zoom mechanism).
This is a TOTALLY unscientific review. Everything written here is my opinion only. I’m going to try not to be much of a “pixel-peeper”, either, but I do have high standards that I expect from my full-frame Canons and a good lens.
The photos in this post are relatively low-res; if you want to see a higher-res shot, just click on the photo and it will take you to that image that I’ve uploaded to my photography website.
My thoughts:
A Canon 1DX and this lens are a little bit heavier for my small hands than my 1DX and 100-400. But then I had no intention of hand-holding this lens as I planned on attaching it to the Wimberley gimbal tripod head I recently won off of eBay (saved myself $200 and it works like a charm).
The Sigma 50-500 at it’s 500mm length, attached to my Canon 1DX on a Wimberley gimbal head and Induro tripod legs
I like Sigma’s focus ring (unlike that stupid push-pull of the Canon 100-400 – what the hell was this company thinking at the time it did that??).
I also like the easy lock switch (My Canon 100-400 has a ring that you have to turn to get the lens to lock at a certain focal length – to get it to stay locked, you need to make sure that ring is turned clockwise as tight as possible).
I’d read in other reviews of this lens that one needed to set the f-stop to at least 8 for optimal sharpness. So all of my images taken at Brazos Bend State Park and the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge were between f8 and f10. Because the weekend has been warm but cloudy and overcast with some rain (and a little bit of sun here and there), and to offset the small amount of light getting in through the aperture because of the f-stop settings, the ISO ranged between 400 to 2000 depending upon the outdoor lighting conditions at any particular moment.
A goldfinch (I think) at Brazos Bend State Park, Texas
Sigma’s OS (analogous to Canon’s IS and Nikon’s VR – image stabilization) is really odd and I don’t like it at all. It was as if the lens took on a life of its own whenever I switched from non-OS to OS. I’d look through the viewfinder and try to focus on a subject only to have the lens actually jump to a slightly different point in the composition. I had to keep moving the lens back to where I wanted the center focal point to be and then quickly snapping the shutter button. I don’t have that issue with my Canon 100-400 or 70-200. As a result, I only snapped a few shots with the OS turned on.
I captured a few images from my car window (cars make good blinds). I did this because had I gotten out of the car (heck, had I even opened the car door), my subject would have flown away. With my 100-400 lens, I don’t need a bean bag for stabilization and it’s easy to hand-hold. With this Sigma lens, I wished I had a bean bag. I’d anticipated this issue, though, so I used a pillow I’d brought from home on which I rested the camera and Sigma lens for stabilization. The bean bag is going to be a near-future purchase.
A hawk on a fencepost at the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Texas – taken from my car window
I had pretty much figured this lens just wasn’t going to cut it for me. I’d read too many reviews about Sigma’s inconsistent QC issues, but I figured Lensrentals would have tested the lenses before putting them out for rent (and this lens was inexpensive to rent for a few days). Nonetheless, I would magnify the view of an image on my camera LCD and what I saw caused me some consternation. So imagine my total (and very pleasant) surprise when I got home and saw the day’s photos after they’d been downloaded to my computer. Ok, some of the shots were a little grainy because of the high ISO, but at an f-stop of at least 8, and on a tripod, my images turned out quite nice! Moral of this story: don’t base your judgment solely by what you see on your camera’s magnified LCD screen.
Conclusion:
I know I only had this Sigma 50-500mm for a couple of days. So, this review is not in-depth. That being said, I totally agree with the comment of one of my Facebook Fans:
This lens will never take the place of a Canon or Nikon prime, but it’s definitely an affordable substitute.
Migrating geese making a stopover at Cross Trails Pond, Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
Next weekend (hopefully), I’ll see how the newly-released Tamron 150-600mm measures up.
Filed under Brazoria NWR, Brazos Bend State Park, Canon, Equipment, Parks, Photography, Sigma lens, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
I was going through photography withdrawal, having not taken a picture of anything since my return from my Maine trip . It’s been 3-4 months since I last visited the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge in my part of southeast Texas, so I thought that would be a worthwhile thing to do over the weekend (now that the government shutdown is over and the refuge is open again).
So I got up Saturday morning (Oct 26) at 5:11AM and was out the door by about 5:45AM. I arrived at the entrance gate, parked my car, and waited in the dark. The sign says the gate opens at “dawn’” and closes at “dusk” (whatever hours constitute dawn and dusk times is anybody’s guess).
At 7AM, I heard the rumbling of the gate as it automatically opened up. So now know – 7AM is dawn.
As I sat there, watching the distant horizon turn from indigo to a deep pink-orange while deep blue clouds drifted past, I kept thinking jeez – I’m missing some good photo ops. Luckily the gate opened up with time for me to get to the spot I wanted.
Once I got there, though, I was a little unimpressed. Nonetheless, I affixed the polarizer to my lens because I wanted to saturate the colors. I also used a graduated ND filter because the area below the horizon was naturally darker than the area above the horizon. Aperture was set at either f7.1 or (in those instances when I wanted to try and achieve a sunburst) f22. ISO was 160 to 250 and I played around with the shutter speed, anywhere from 1/30 to 1 second (I shoot in Manual mode).
I took a few shots (the ones above) then proceeded to take the camera off the tripod.
I happened to look back toward the horizon to see the clouds lined with a brilliant golden-yellow and sunrays reaching past the cloud blockade.
Camera went back on tripod.
Not a bad way to start a Saturday morning.
Here’s a link to the video I uploaded to YouTube of my morning visit to the refuge. I mention in my video commentary that it’s winter. It’s still fall, but here in southeast Texas, the two seasons are interchangeable. And while you may not see much birdlife, you can hear it in the background, along with the crickets and the wind.
Filed under Brazoria NWR, Clouds, Photography, sunrise, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
I’m going to be traveling to the Katmai Peninsula in Alaska later this year to photograph the brown bears (aka grizzly bears) during the salmon spawning season. You’ve seen those photos of the bears standing in the waterfalls while the fish literally jump into their open mouths, right? Well, that’s where I’m going. Needless to say, I am totally stoked (and near broke after paying for the entire trip). Which is why I will be renting (not buying) a 500mm lens to take with me.
Oh, I’ll be taking other lenses too, but that 500mm is going to be special for me. It’s 100mm longer than my 100-400mm lens, and it’s a prime. Prime lenses (aka fixed-focus lenses) on the whole, tend to be sharper than zoom lenses (not always true, but for the most part, yes). This lens that I am renting is going to be a little on the weighty size and –well – it’s gonna be a big honkin’ lens that requires a special tripod head called a gimbal head.
I figured I should perhaps get used to working with such a lens, so I went to my favorite online lens rental outfit and plunked down the money for a 3-day rental of the Canon 500mm f4L lens. Now, this is not the lens I will be taking with me on my Alaska trip. That lens will be the Mk II version of this lens. However, even the rental price for the Mk II version for a 3-day jaunt was more than I wanted to spend at this particular point in time – I’d just paid for my Alaska trip, including airfare – which is why I also did not opt for renting the 600mm lens. Instead, I stuck with the original version of the 500 (which has since been discontinued but you can still rent it).
I wish now I would have measured the lens (with its lens hood) so I could add this to the description, but I was so excited when I received the rental package that I never once thought about anything other than attaching it to the gimbal head and taking it out for a spin.
What’s a gimbal head? Well, it’s a tripod head (just like a ballhead or a panhead) that screws onto your tripod legs. A gimbal head not only accepts the weight of a large and heavy camera/lens combo, but it allows one to move such a combo up and down and around with the lightest of movements. The thing about a gimbal head, though, is that – unlike a ballhead, which allows you to move your camera over all angles in order to get a level position even if the tripod legs are not level – you must get that tripod level to begin with, because the gimbal head itself is not moveable like a ballhead. Oh, I can pan the camera up and down and left and right, but I can’t make the minute sideways or oblique adjustments to get it level on a gimbal if the tripod legs are not already level. You’ll see what I mean from the following photos.
Yeah, so did I mention that the lens is heavy? It weighs 8.5 lbs. I attached it to my Canon 1-DX which weighs about 3.5 lbs. This combination is far too heavy to carry around my neck while walking along a path, so I did what I have seen other photographers do. I carried this combo on the tripod, which I hefted over my shoulder.
Yeah, I’m smiling for the camera in these photos. In reality, the only time I was smiling while carrying this behemoth setup was inwardly at all the neat photos I planned on capturing.
After my three days were up, I noticed that my left shoulder and arm had quite a number of bruises on them, which were from traipsing around with this setup. I was also pretty sore from the shoulders down to the waist (I am 5’2” and not a bodybuilder). The weight issue was so worth it, though. So how am I going to be packing this for my Alaska trip? That will be a blog post for the future.
I probably would have never rented this lens for the three days except that I live so close to Brazos Bend State Park and the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. So, guess what kind of images I captured?
Bird on a wire. Looks like a red-tailed hawk. Maybe juvenile. Not sure.
Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks and American Coots
Killdeer
A Meadowlark, I think…
Turtle
Sunning. The day before, there were several alligators near each other and their mouths were open and they were emitting this deep, reverberating rumbling noise to warn each other off. They also rumbled whenever a big bird got too close, and they always rumble whenever a human gets too close. In this image, though, this guy’s mouth was open to help regulate its temperature (yes, alligators do that). Apparently, those three reptiles were in accord for the moment.
Now this alligator was definitely rumbling at the other alligators. And it’s the kind of rumble that you can hear quite a distance away, yet it sounds like it’s right next to you. A bit unnerving unless one is standing high above the gator that is doing the rumbling.
Tree ‘shrooms
A yellow-crowned night heron yawning (well, that’s what it appeared to be doing since it wasn’t making any noise when it opened its beak).
An egret and a crawfish lunch.
A little blue heron with a crawfish almost as large as the bird!
The local “lunch stop” that is catty-corner to the observation tower on 40-Acre Lake in Brazos Bend State Park is a plethora of different birds. Egrets and herons are quiet and stealthy and then suddenly, they lunge into the water and bring out some morsel of food.
Three ibis and a frog. Ibis are not stealthy like egrets and herons. They constantly move about the water as they poke their long beaks around in the water until they find something – like this frog (Nature: eat or be eaten). I was tickled with this image not only because of the frog catch, but also because I have a white ibis in three stages of feather pattern. The ibis on the far left is a juvenile. The ibis with the frog is in its summer moult, and the ibis on the right is an adult.
Quite a mouthful. This crawfish was ready to do battle with the ibis.
Grebes
Cardinals – harbingers of spring. My mother calls them “redbirds”.
The only great blue heron I saw that day…..walking away from me….
Natures jewelry: raindrop bedecked orb weaver’s webs gently blowing in the wind. I saw lots of these on the road leaving Brazos Bend State Park.
After processing the images from this lens, I must say I am impressed with the resolution quality. No, I don’t think the 500mm f4L original version is quite as sharp as, say, my 70-200mm f2.8L Mk II, but it’s pretty sweet nonetheless. And, if I am this impressed with the original version of this lens, I can only imagine how it will be with the Mk II version that I’ll be taking with me to Alaska.
Bitterns are among the smallest of the herons. They are secretive, preferring to keep themselves to the dense grasses of the wetlands. Experts at camouflage, it either takes a very sharp eye to spot them or – as in my case – pure chance.
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Filed under birds, Brazoria NWR, Photography, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
I was driving home after a morning photo shoot at the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. I looked over to the right side of the road, toward a concrete water tank. A large, quirky-looking bird was pecking at the ground. I stopped, grabbed my camera with the 70-200mm and 1.4x extender attached, carefully got out of the car, and managed to fire off one shot before the bird flew away.
A check in my Sibley Guide to Birds identified this bird as a Crested Caracara, a falcon that feeds mainly on carrion. I was subsequently informed by several Facebook friends that it’s seen a lot in Costa Rica, and is also known as the “Mexican Eagle”.
On the July morning of Friday the 13th, 2012, (which has always been a rather fortunate day for me), I drove out to the refuge for some neat cloud shots. On my way home, there were two caracaras on the road.
One of them flew onto a fencepost where it posed nicely for me until I started getting a little too close for its comfort level.
Both birds eventually landed high in some tree branches.
It was a good morning.
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Filed under birds, Brazoria NWR, Photography, Texas, Wildlife Refuge
Where The Trails Take You Photography 
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