handheld Nikon D300 w/ 300 2.8 VR & TC-14E, f5.6 @ ISO 250

Hey Jim,

Beautiful captures, all. The colors are so nice and rich. The ice in the pond does a nice job of adding an extra element to the photo.

James

Just sticking my toe in the water here. Any helpful hints on posts would be greatly appreciated.

No problem, Jim. Welcome. We are a small family here, but I think a good one.

Cheers
James

the images are very well done. sharp, and good color. they are documentary style. the last one has some "action" but generally, i believe, the best wildlife photos are ones that tell us something more about the creature. static shots are great for bird books, but to me wildlife images must show emotion, have energy, or evoke some deeper feeling. Your shots as I said are well done. The one reason I dont shoot birds is because it is hard to show emotion in a bird shot. that said, it can be done and for me those are the best. I think this goes with most wildlife shots. I have 5,000 publishable deer images, I think there are 20 that I REALLY like.

I think many people get a close-up, sharp image and are very much happy after all, most birds are difficult to get near let along photograph well, so a shot of one that's sharp with good color is great, but at the end of the day, I think action and life is what makes a great shot. . . . the only way to make great shots is to understand the subject, and be there during the right time. I think the third image starts to get there, but would be better if it had a little more habitat and were not dead center in the frame. . .

Nice images nonetheless. . .

Tony

by the way, I had VR off for these. I have plenty of goldeneye action shots, but may never get as close as this again. I'm surprised at the wide spectrum of responses people have to wildlife shots: some people do respond to detail and vivid colour, it leaves others cold.

these images are just excellent, I would be happy to shoot them all day, but I have noticed that the images that get published and win the contest more times than not seem to be an action shot.Again great shots!

I'm just getting into shooting birds, and I think these are really, really nice. I love the detail and the ice. Well done.

I've been doing this for thirty years, on and off. This was a rare opportunity to get really close to these birds in excellent light and I shot for two hours, producing over three hundred select images.

Hey Jim, glad you got to spend so much time with such a great bird, and soooo close! I'd love to see some more expressive images if you got-em!

Thanks,