| An Osprey in Flight | November 1, 2009 |
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Occasionally, an osprey flies close enough that I can use a shorter lens and, with the aid of autofocus, obtain a pleasingly clear photo, such as the following. |
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Between October 22 and 25, 2009, the time of these photos, an osprey lingered about the Toftrees pond (in State College). It was a pleasure to return on subsequent days (after the 22d) and see the osprey, an incredibly beautiful hawk.
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Generally speaking, for any osprey I have to use my longest lens to have any hopes of a photo. And sometimes that isn't enough. On the day in question, I noticed wing movement on my left and caught a glimpse of the osprey disappearing over the pond and behind a clump of trees.
The trees opened up again about a hundred yards down the path, so I ran for all I was worth and then took a sequence of photos before the osprey flew away. Unfortunately, running and manual photography don't work too well together, and only one of the photos came out. Even that one is somewhat soft, but could one ask for anything better than having the osprey against autumn leaves? | ||
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After a couple of days of rain, I again encountered (what I consider to be) the same osprey.
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I expect the osprey to be well south of here by now.
Photo note: I used a Pentax K20D, with the SMC-DA 55-300mm, for the first two photos, and a Pentax K200D, with the SMC 1000mm reflex lens, for the final two photos. | ||
