Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Ducks-Near Collision

Three mallards in descending flight.  The two drakes are almost colliding with each other as they try to stay with the hen.  There is some distance compression with a 400mm lens but the two ducks were still very close to bumping.
It happened quickly.  The motor drive was running on slow speed (3.5 fps) as I tracked the ducks yet the images both before and after this one did not show any potential mid-air problem.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Mallard in descending flight-2.

This drake mallard duck is in the same rapid descent as in the previous post but was shot from a different angle.  The wings are deeply cupped and the feet are deployed.
The clear blue sky and the low camera angle allow for a better view than the side angle shot posted yesterday.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Mallard in descending flight.

This drake mallard is in rapid descent as can be seen by his sharply cupped wings.  The feet are deployed as air brakes.
The duck is beginning to slow its airspeed yet it is still so fast that it is hard to track when using a long lens with minimal field of view.  A duck passing to the side, like this one, requires swinging the camera rapidly to keep up with the bird as well as trying to keep the focus locked on.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Freestyle skier.

This photograph was one of the last that I shot of the freestyle skiers and the location was my favorite.  I was on the side and slightly up from the bottom.  The hill is very steep but not very long so I was almost directly underneath the skiers after they came off the ramp.  I was shooting almost straight up so I didn't have any background items in the image (except for the top of the ramp, but this helps orient the viewer perhaps).

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Freestyle skiing hill.

This image shows the top of the freestyle hill where all the action takes place.  The lens was at 90mm.  For the close-ups the lens was usually zoomed out to 350mm.

I could not get to the left side of the hill.  If I got too far to the right the building would be in the background.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

More freestyle.

This is another freestyle skier that I shot from the bottom of the hill like yesterday's photo, only more to the side.  I think the trees help give the viewer perspective on where the skier is in relation to the ground.

The bright colors are a big help on the otherwise gray day.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Freestyle skiers

We saw some freestyle skiers training at the Olympic Park in Park City.  I moved around and tried different spots for getting photographs.  This shot was made from the bottom of the hill and in front.

Too bad about the overcast sky but the skiers gave us a great show.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Park City, Utah


Here are a couple images from Park City, Utah.  They were taken on different days, and I wouldn't have taken the second one except for the presence of the moon.  How fortunate to get that opportunity!

Shot from the balcony of the condo overlooking the plaza.  No tripod available so I used the railing as a rest.