Riding the Storm Out/Not BTO but Honks

[Jim Thompson, Jr.]

These storms don't even seem to bother birds, if it did, they would just fly south. I love weather images, the heavy snow may decrease image sharpness but that's the nature of the beast. Remember, you need light for both our eyes and for the camera's to see detail. Tip: To understand how shutter speed changes go outside in daylight hours and raise your camera into the sky, notate how quickly it will drop as you lower it toward the ground. This explains why images that fall low to the ground or with dark backgrounds often lack sharpness. You may have good shutter speed 30 feet above ground but when the birds cross water or land low you don't have enough to freeze the image. Shooting on shutter speed priority will help assure that you maintain a steady shutter speed, the f stop aperture will adjust accordingly. Of course, there's always limitations like if your f stop has reached its maximum such as 5.6. Shooting on aperture priority guarantees that you always maintain the same depth of field, the shutter speed will adjust accordingly. There's always limitations to shooting in this mode also. I rarely run my ISO/film speed over 320. Higher speeds will develop noise in the images, (noise, noticeable grainyness) while the digital camera manufacturers claim they have gotten a grasp on this, the noise becomes noticeable when cropping or enlarging an image. Not much concern if you keep pics in 4x6 format. Easiest photos to take guaranteeing high shutter speeds is those looking into the sun at dusk and dawn giving the silhouetted only appearance of your subject. These are some of my favorite photos. I have been asked on several occasions for permission for use of my images, I would love to do that. All of my images are the sole property of Avery Outdoors. Hope you enjoy the pics.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8053/dsc00591cj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6876/dsc01137bw.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6886/dsc001325ey.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9684/dsc0059e5fh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Nick Bury]

Nice pics those are awesome thanks for sharing

[Mark Brendemuehl]

Jim- # 2 and #4 are phenominal. I can almost feel the snow pelting me looking at them.
The next time I go to take pictures, I am bringing a note book and experimenting with the settings, and writing down the shot numbers best I can to see what works best and what stinks. Hopefully this little hotspot will be LOADED with some more bands when I get there.
Mark

[Keath Wetovick]

Awesome sleeper pic Jimmy!

[Ryan Vande Griend]

Those are sweet!!! Love it

[Daryl Neal]

The sleeper pic is incredible, as always.

[Mike Bard]

Great pics Jim.

[Rusty Hallock]

Jim,


Great pics.

[Curt Wilson]

Great pics. Thanks for the info on the camera as well.

[Brobones]

You should change your name to wall paper Jim. Most of you pictures are that good keep up the fantastic work..

[Doug Steinke]

That first picture makes me want raise my shoulders and to tuck my head under my colar just looking at it. That photo really captures the feeling of winter weather at its worst. Great as usual, Jim.

[Travis Mueller]

Brrrrrrrrrr.....

[Derek Rambo]

Nice!!! The sleeper goose is awesome!!

[Craig Boyd]

Neat pics. Wish we had snow here. Thanks for sharing.

[goosehunter26]

jim those are great pics

[Jude St.John]

Man...it looks like what we've been hunting in lately! The birds weather the weather better than we do, that is for sure.