Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3...

The Better Beamer Tested...and the Canon 300 f4L IS as a "Macro"         

11 June 2013

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Wandering around in nature, I am using what I know to make opportunity.   Today my day began with a bundle of crazy (yes, Crazy!) bird surveys knocking around in back roads made of silt and water, gathering great data with great adventures along the way, decorating my van with mud!  There is glory in this life!  No guts, no glory!

As my day eased into "after work", I came upon a porcupine sampling the minerals of the gravel road.  I parked nearly a quarter of a mile away and spent more than twenty minutes stalking him.  While porcupines are not fast, they quickly leave "clean" photo range by sauntering into the tall grass.  I wanted him in the open, and I didn't want to ruin his day.  He was having fun, after all.  When the porcupine turned away, I stealthed a few paces closer... and closer... and closer...

When this porcupine finally realized my looming form was animate, he bristled and turned away.  I had never looked so closely at the array of quills.  I took a good look and put my 300mm to the test.  How much information about the living porcupine could I capture?  

While I succeeded in making the images, I failed in my efforts to avoid ruining his day.  The bothered rodent sauntered off into the water, hummocks, and leatherleaf of a small bog before climbing the bank to familiar oak forests.  He gave one last show of displeasure, which I captured as a sort of animalian floral bouquet.  Thorny roses, perhaps?

I meandered toward that Ol' Man River, the Mighty Mississippi to see what birds I might find.  I had just purchased a "Better Beamer" for my Canon 320 Speedlight, and I wanted to try it out on the small birds.  A pair of Prothonotary Warblers and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher showed me, as best they could, how to use my new apparatus.  They shared the approval.

Prothonotary Warbler, male...Better Beamer and rainy overcast light

Prothonotary Warbler, male... Better Beamer and filtered sunlight through the canopy...

Prothonotary Warblers, male and female, natural light...

Where the Prothonotary Warblers live... Cavity nests in standing dead wood over open water...

Until more adventures find the page... Good Night! All images were made with a Canon Powershot SX230HS and a refurbished Canon 7D and Canon 300mm f4L IS lens...and a few with the Canon 320 Speed Lite flash unit and Better Beamer fresnel lens.