My Wildlife Photography

[mikeschmeee]

Hello,

Thought I'd share my wildlife photos as I really enjoy being outdoors especially photographing birds. Currently all my photos are done with a Nikon D90 + 18-200mm VR. If only my body was popular on the streets I'd be able to sell myself and get a nice 300mm f2.8 VR or perhaps 400mm. So for now, my lame equipment along with patience and warm clothing will have to do. I'll keep this thread updated as I shoot at least once a week but usually end up shooting more then that. None of these photos are prefect so don't expect awesome stuff. I just try my best with everything that I have.

I'll start with a few recent photos that got.













A few these are old photos taken earlier in the year with a 300mm f4 that I sold a while ago. Kind of wish I still had it but it was a bit tricky without VR, even with a tripod and steady smooth hands. The rest of the photos were taken this week with a 18-200mm VR at f5.6. My strategy is waiting for the right moment when the birds get close enough to me. The places I frequently visit have different types of species that wiz by fairly close so I'm usually able to get a decent photo or two... with tons of crop

Anyways, hope you all like the photos.
More to come! Stay tuned.

Cheers
Thanks
Mike

[TPF Sponsor]

[Bios.]

They look very good considering the lens you used! I need to stop being so lazy about my bird photography.

[SCraig]

... Currently all my photos are done with a Nikon D90 + 18-200mm VR...

Good shots considering the lens. Recovering some of the shadow details would help with the eagle on the utility pole.

There's certainly nothing wrong with a D90. That's what I use and I love mine. A bit more lens would help, certainly, but there is no end to that road. I use a Sigma 150-500 and it isn't enough a lot of the time.

[Joel_W]

Very impressive. I especially like the last Eagle shot.

[MaoZeBong]

mikeschmee are you the same one who is on peepee.com?

either way, excellent shots.

[mikeschmeee]

^
What is peepee.com? I did a quick search and there is no website by that name but no I am not on peepee. However, your username looks familiar so if you are referring to PP.com as in PreludePower.com then yes! I am on PreludePower

Some more photos...













Nothing special but its as close as I can get with this crappy zoom lens. Still working on getting a better lens. It'll be a while though until money starts falling from the sky.

[cgipson1]

Some nice shots! I would love to see birds like that... seldom do!

[Frequency]

Most of these photos are fantastic... and my most fav. one is the owl photograph, the first one of the first set. Hope you soon get your 500mm, so that we can all see more close ups of birds in flight, rest and roost

Regards

[Joel_W]

Wow!! The 2nd set is even better then the 1st. I really like #3. The look as the Hawk is staring right at you. Talk about eye contact.

[mikeschmeee]

Took these photo in the last few days of December 2011 and I was hoping to have some more from the first week of January but its been raining non stop so its kind of tough to get some nice photos with my gear and current weather conditions.















I couldn't get many in flight photos, for some reason they wouldn't fly much. A lot of sitting. Oh well, next time.

[chanik]

Mikeschmeee, great pictures! I especially love these with mountains in the background!

Could you write something about technique (how you find birds, what you do that they are not afraid etc)?

Maybe you can add numbers to the photos? Would be easier to comment.

[z1rick]

Fantastic photos, hope to see more soon.

[mikeschmeee]

Hey guys!

I've been a bit out of the birding game lately as I'm a bit busy with school and trying to save as much money as possible for a 300mm f/2.8 VR but I got a few here and there. Nothing special but here you go...

I heard a few Eagles chuckling on top of a very in my backyard so naturally I got as close as I could.



They flew away after about an hour of watching everything that moves around my place..



A bunch of Cormorants have been swimming around a little lake/pond not too far away from my place. I got a sequence of this one catching some fish as well! Swallowed a huge fish! It was massive!



This little guy getting some free food from my fathers suet cage feeder thingy.



That's it for now. I'll try to get some better shots soon!

Thanks
Mike