New Camera! The Canon 60D

I finally did it.

After years of having camera envy, I have finally gotten myself a decent camera. Back in the days of film, the camera body itself was of less importance than the quality of the lens and the film you used. The camera body just held the film in place, and the biggest difference between models were the bells and whistles each one had.

Today, with digital cameras, the camera body may be more important than the lens. Now, instead of film, you have a digital sensor, and the quality of that sensor can make all the difference in the world when it comes to the quality of your images.

I have been shooting Canon Rebels, (which are basically a cheap line designed for those making the change from point and shoot cameras to SLR's), since I switched to digital. I went with Canon because I felt there were better options down the road, especially when it came to wildlife photography, than Nikon or Olympus or the other major brands offered. I actually really liked my first Rebel, which I bought in late 2005 primarily to take pictures of my artwork to make prints from.  I bought a second one almost two years ago to get a higher resolution (for bigger prints) and to have a second camera body to eliminate switching lenses back and forth while on the trail.

I have not been nearly as enamored with the second Rebel (a T1i) as I was with my first Rebel. I don't know if it is the T1i line or if it's my particular camera but I have fought with the exposure with it since I got it. I have to manually adjust nearly every shot since to leave the exposure at normal usually means shots are overexposed by at least one stop. So I set the camera to underexpose everything, which is fine until I try to shoot something in dim light and forget--I have missed countless shots because of this.

In addition, I have been wanting something that produced sharper images. I don't necessarily need tack-sharp shots for what I do, but, well, I was envious of others' images and wanted those results for myself.

Enter the Canon 60D. While it is a huge step up from the Rebel, it is still not considered a true professional camera. That's OK--pro cameras are big and heavy, and really, really expensive. We picked this one up at Costco--I love Costco--as a kit that came with an 18mm to 200mm lens. As soon as it was home I popped the lens on and ran outside to try it out.

The first thing that I noticed was the addition of a spot meter, something the Rebels do not have. Your meter determines your exposure, and when you are shooting something like a small bird in a tree, how the camera meters the subject is vital. Even with center-weighted metering, too much of the sky is metered and your subject (here some pine cones) will be under-exposed.

(None of the following images have been adjusted except for cropping and sharpening, which I do with all my images. No color/brightness/contrast adjustments were made.)

Center-weighted metering reads too much light from the sky, causing the subject to be underexposed.

My film cameras had spot metering, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until now. What a difference!

Spot metering uses only the very center to take a reading, exposing only for the subject.

I continued around the yard, shooting in different lighting conditions and different subjects. I left the camera on fully automatic and let it do all the work--determine ISO speed, shutter speed, f-stop, even auto-focus, which I never do with my Rebel. I wanted to see what the camera was going to give me without me fiddling with any settings.

Daddy longlegs on black-eyed Susan

 
We have a new brood of chickens who were out and about, so I used them as test subjects.

Pretty little silver-laced Wyandotte pullet.

So the second thing I noticed about this camera is how accurate the exposure is. Colors are very true, as is the light. I can see that for the most part I will be able to just let the camera do its thing, and not have to second guess every change in light. What joy! You learn to live with the pain until it's gone, and then you utter a long sigh of relief.

Red Star pullet. Generally a cross between a Barred Rock hen and a Rhode Island Red rooster.

I walked around the property, finally ending up at the huge pokeweed growing at the bottom of a hill. No trouble with focusing, metering, or color. Yay!

Pokeweed, one of my favorite plants. Just gorgeous!

The third thing I noticed about this camera is that you can shoot up to ISO 6400. ISO is the equivelant of film speed. The lower the number (say ISO 100) the slower the "film", but the smaller/tighter the grain. Slow ISO means that you need a slow shutter speed to make a proper exposure. The grain is very small so each grain collects very little light. It's great for landscapes and anything that will be blown up really big because it won't be grainy.

The higher the ISO the lower the lighting conditions you can shoot in. Also, it allows for a faster shutter speed so that motion can be stopped (including, of course, photographer motion from hand-holding a long lens). The trade-off is that the image will be grainier. The higher the ISO, the more light-sensitive each grain must be, so they get bigger the higher the number gets.

Shooting at 1600 with the Rebel usually resulted in pretty poor image quality. What I had heard about the 60D was that the grain structure was much better, resulting in better quality images at higher ISO's. So this morning I got out my 300mm and the 1.4x extender to do a little bird photography in the early morning light.

Goldfinch, shot at ISO 5000. At least as good as the Rebel at 1600.

Chickadees make willing subjects, unafraid of me sitting inside the doorwall, the camera clicking away.

ISO 1600 at 1/1000 of a second. Depth of field is short, head is out of focus, but nice tight grain!

Close cropping starts to expose some abberations in color and grain at ISO 1600--notice the sunflower seed. However, the change from the bright white cheek to the dark background is pretty clean, just a tiny bit of ghosting. Since I am using images to draw from this is really an non-issue, just noting what this camera can handle.

A young male ruby-throated hummingbird stopped by for a visit. This is cropped pretty close too, and you can see some noise in the background at ISO 1600 as the grain becomes apparent. This image starts to look pretty soft but again, I need detail and properly exposed images to work from, not necessarily tack sharp images. 

Morning light colors this hummer pink.

Being able to get good quality, properly exposed shots at a high ISO is gong to make a big difference for me and what I can reasonably expect to shoot--thinking primarily birds in motion, being able to hand-hold the camera, shooting in low-light conditions and capturing back-lit subjects. I'm really excited to get out and shoot some more!

*Note: I have to make a correction to a statement I made in this blog, that the Rebel T1i doesn't have spot metering. I was just looking over the settings on the Rebel and see that it does indeed have spot metering. How I never knew this is beyond me--I guess that's why you should always read the manual. What's frustrating is that I would swear I looked for it and didn't find it, but it's right there in the menu. Very silly, really. Can't imagine how many shots I missed because I had to mess with the exposure, or had it set wrong. Ah well, live and learn!

Trapper's Lake, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Pictured Rocks continued:


The hike from the Beaver Creek campground to Trapper's Lake was about two miles. We were really hoping for wind off the small lake as the stable flies were voracious. What a relief when I caught up to the girls parked at an empty site along the banks of Trapper's Lake and discovered that there were only a few of the nasty biting flies. As hoped a 15 to 20 mile an hour wind was belting across the lake and the flies were seeking shelter elsewhere.

Trapper's Lake campground

We sat down--what a joy to be able to sit and not be attacked!--and ate a lunch of very soft cheddar cheese with crackers, apples and gorp. We had ideas about dipping our toes in the water until Lisa talked to the only other people around, a group of young men who had been fishing for perch. They'd had five or six on a stringer only to discover later that a snapper had come along and eaten them all. I'll keep my toes in my boots, thank you very much.

Trapper's Lake

We came across this green frog hanging out along the shore. He let me get quite close yet seemed unconcerned.

Green frog

Lori found this dragonfly larvae casing. Yeesh. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

Dragonfly larvae

Since I had dragged my camera and big lens all the way out to the back country I was determined to get a few shots of something, so I left the campground after a while and picked up the trail. I could hear birds twittering in the trees so I stood still and waited for one to appear.

After a few minutes I saw something flutter across the path. I turned to look and saw this Yellow-rumped warbler working the undersides of the bracken fern. He was gathering food for his little ones and was not interested in sitting still for a portrait. I was happy to get any shots at all he was so quick.

Yellow-rumped warbler

When the warbler left I moved down the path a bit and found this chickadee in a fir. Such a cheerful little bird, they always make me smile.

Black-capped Chickadee

The chickadee led me straight to this Brown creeper, nearly completely camouflaged against this dying birch. Everyone was very busy and didn't stay long for photographs.

Brown creeper

We stayed at Trapper's for several hours, enjoying the solitude and absence of flies. Before we left I decided to check out the rest of the campground. The lake has a bit of an L shape to it, and the campground nestles into the crook of the L, so a few of the sites had views of the water on two sides. I walked over to a short trail that led down to the lake to have a look. I heard a soft honking from nearby on my left, so I peered through the trees and finally spotted this Common merganser resting on a log. She watched me carefully but stood her ground while I took some photos, then I left her in peace.

Common merganser

 
I am usually so busy taking pics of birds and scenery that I often forget to take any of my companions. But I caught the girls just as we were heading back out on the trail for this cute portrait.

Bear Girls Lisa and Lori

The hike back was pretty pleasant, except for the heat. While we hadn't brought quite enough water for the day out, staying hydrated was not the issue--staying cool was. We made several side trips down to the water to soak our bandannas and to rest. The winds had picked up throughout the afternoon, and by the time we reached Beaver Lake there were pretty impressive whitecaps pounding the sandbar.

Beaver Lake with white caps

We made it back to camp without incident. We didn't see any wildlife other than the birds and frog, although that is not surprising. We did see bear and moose scat, so at least we knew they were around. By the time we got back to camp we were exhausted, hot and sticky, so we went down to the mouth of Beaver Creek for a swim. The flies were bad there as the wind was off-shore but we went in with our clothes on (sans undies) and kept ourselves as submerged as possible. The water where the creek meets Superior was a mix of warm and cold, and the creek current was swift and very refreshing. It was one of the best swimming holes I've ever been in and it was a wonderful way to end a long, hot day.

Artwork--Chickadee triptych

Just finished a series of three Black-capped chickadees. I ran across this little fellow at the Shiawasee National Wildlife Refuge last spring. He posed so prettily and did all sorts of cute things like yawn and stretch his wings. He was really checking us out, must have watched him for nearly 5 minutes. It was quite a treat.




The originals will be matted and framed together, though I am not certain of the size yet. The prints will be done like this and matted to 10x20. Be sure to click on the image to get a bigger view.

A Bird in the Hand

We are blessed, here in the Pinckney Michigan area, to be surrounded by parks. Within a 20 minute drive are three State Recreation areas, with approximately 37,000 combined acres of land with hiking, mountain bike and equestrian trails. The Huron River winds past nearby, and we have 50-plus lakes in our area. In addition, there are five MetroParks within that 20 minute radius. Kensington is the largest of these at 4,481 acres. A big chunk of that is Kensington Lake, but they also have a nature center and nature trails with an active heron rookery.

Lori and I stopped by Kensington recently with one purpose in mind--to feed the birds. I had seen others do it, and had been followed by birds as we walked the trails in the past, but we had never remembered to bring seed. So we filled a baggie with sunflower seeds and peanuts, made our way to a sunny bench, and sat with outstretched hands. It didn't take long for the birds to make an appearance.





What a sensation, to have the tiny little toes of a chickadee clasped to the end of your fingers. They are so light that if not for their pointy claws you would hardly know they were there.



First the chickadees came, but soon Tufted titmice joined the fray.




Lastly the nuthatch came in for a bite.


The birds were all around, on the ground below our feet, on the bench seat and back, even hoping across our shoes. To be so close to hear their wings beat and see the light glint in their eyes was a wonderful treat. No doubt we'll be going back again.


And while a bird in the hand may be worth two in the bush, I'll take 'em any way I can get 'em!

And just a quick mention, we here at Bear Track Studios are having our annual Open House at our home gallery, on Saturday, November 13, from 10 am to 6 pm. My studio will also be open. Walk the trails, watch the birds, look at (and buy!) great art, have a snack and a chat. We'd love to see you!

Artwork

Just a quick post before I am off to the great north woods. OK, not so far north and maybe not so great, but I'm going north and there are woods. We are headed back up to the Rifle River Rec Area (see my posts from last August/September) to look for loons with babies and do a little hiking. Here's hoping the weather cooperates.

I have finished two more pieces in the past few weeks, little 6x9's of two of my favorite birds.

First, the Red-breasted nuthatch, a winter resident for us. Small and quick, getting good shots of one can be quite a challenge. This one was hanging on a suet feeder but I put him on a black cherry for aesthetics.




Next a Black-capped chickadee, one of our year-round residents. What's not to love about the chickadee? Cute, gregarious, and personable, they will come up and take seeds from your hand, if you're patient enough. This bird was on our balcony a few years ago--this is not the bird from the Shiawassee NWR. I already had this piece set up and ready to go when I got the shots of the other bird.



So be well, ya'll, and hopefully next time I'll have fuzzy loon chicks to show you!

The Effervescent Chickadee

I apologise for it taking me a month to post about a two day trip, but my show schedule really kicked my butt this past month. I had two of my biggest shows of the season back to back and I've been busting my tail prepping for them. So bear with me--there will be one more post after this and then I'll be caught up.

After leaving the bluebird behind we caught sight of yet another snake. There were literally everywhere, warming themselves along the open edges of the trail. They'd shoot off into the taller grasses as we approached, but this one didn't escape far enough to avoid having its picture taken--a common garter snake.



The girls were chit chatting behind me while I photographed the snake. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird fly into the bushes in front of us. I shushed them and we all stood still. Oh, a little chickadee!


We stood still and quiet, and eventually the small bird made its way to a branch on the edge of the shrub, right in front of me, and proceeded to check me out.



I wish I'd been able to shift just a bit to get rid of that twig in front of the bird, but I was afraid to move too much. It is not often you have a bird station itself five feet from your lens!



This is without question one of my favorite birds. They're cute, gregarious, and they stay with us all year long, a quality I really appreciate. In January they start singing their "spring's coming" song and even though we're buried under snow and ice I feel my heart lift in response.



What a wonderful moment to have this sprightly bird sit still before us. Bird photography can be so difficult because they rarely sit still long enough to even focus on them, much less get off a decent shot. This was quite a treat.



And then, just to show how relaxed it was, it started preening and stretching its wings. I was so excited I couldn't hold the camera still!



After several minutes the chickadee flew off, leaving me breathless and excited--to have such a close encounter is a thrill, and I knew I had some great new subject matter for a new--or several new--pieces.


Woo-hoo!!

Winter Birds Part 1

As many people who live in northern climates do, I have a particularly soft spot for those birds who tough out our winters with us. While the weather here in Southeast Michigan is not particularly brutal, we do occasionally get very cold, very snowy winters (like the last two). Every morning after a night of sub-zero temperatures and biting winds I am amazed to see any birds at all, much less the crowds that amass on our feeders. While the weather is mild still, they are busy at the feeders all day, putting on fat stores that will help them through the winter.

The tufted titmouse,



black-capped chickadee,

and white breasted nuthatch are three of the most common birds of our winter world. None of these birds has bills strong enough to crack open a sunflower seed, so each will fly up, take a seed, and fly off to a nearby tree. The chickadee and titmouse will hold the seed between their feet and hammer at it until the shell is cracked. The nuthatch, with its long torso, is designed for clinging to a tree rather than perching on a branch, and seems unable to grasp a seed with its feet. This bird will fly to a nearby tree, cram the seed in a crevice, and then hammer at it with its bill to get at the meats.

The northern cardinal,

and the goldfinch have strong bills for cracking seeds, and will sit contentedly at a feeder devouring seed after seed.

The downy woodpecker (this one's a female) usually sticks to the suet, but will occasionally take sunflower seeds, and has to go about cracking them open like the nuthatch.




I think mourning doves are beautiful birds, but I'm happy not to have as many as we did in Ann Arbor. Their light eye ring really makes their eyes stand out, and their lids are light colored too, so you can see when they blink. Makes them seem less reptilian or something. I miss their cooing when breeding season is over.

The dark-eyed junco is not a year-round resident here. They breed farther north, and come down just to spend the winter. I guess this is like their Florida. We saw the first one this year on October 23--last year the first sighting was on October 22. Either we weren't paying attention or they were running late this year!

Now, I know this isn't a bird, but she's too cute not to include, and is certainly a regular at the feeders year-round. As long as they don't chew their way into my studio (from where all these photos were taken) then they are welcome at the feeders.



Missing from this group are the blue jay, red-bellied woodpecker and a sparrow or two. I'll be curious to see if the hairy woodpeckers stick around for the winter--I saw one the other day, but have never seen one in the dead of winter. We also get eastern bluebirds and cedar waxwings, who will come in mid-January to our crab apple tree out front--they tend to hang out at our neighbor's house, who is back in the woods.

Also absent are the winter birds who have yet to arrive, those who breed and nest to the north. Those include the red-breasted nuthatch, common redpoll and pine siskin. This will be our fourth winter here, and it's taken awhile for some of these part-time birds to find us. The redpolls first came two years ago, the siskins last year. I'm excited to see who may show up this winter.