Spring!

In the past days spring has really began to show itself here in Finland. More and more birds are beginning to arrive here, this is great news to any bird enthusiast.

Today we took a walk near us in Helsinki. I spotted quite a few birds and signs of spring. This was just a casual walk around Laajasalo and i didnt even try setting any goals or anything. I just grabbed Nikon D2X and attached 300mm nikkor f4 to it and i was set to go. This is really a great side of photography: it can be very spontaneous. It felt good not having to carry all those things and cadgets with me. Ones just have to take the attitude to take pictures for which the current setup is suitable for. Okay okay i admit it, i took the teleconverter with me, just in case.

As i took these photos i discussed with Päivi about bird species and their distinctive marks, this is when i realized im really interested in birds. Not just as photographical subjects, but as species. I've noticed my self learning new birdspecies by the looks of them all the time, more i do it more i come to like it. I really need to start learning the voices of most common little birds in order not having to try spot every bird i hear that i already have picture of.

I took some spring pictures and some pictures of birds that i didnt already have pictures of. I really hope these spring shots give you the same "spring is coming" feeling as they gave for me. Try them on your wallpaper and comment on them: i may be disqualified to judge whether they're good or not.


The natural continuum

Signs of life


a Canada goose

a great crested grebe

a coot

Relatives, easter, countryside and randography

Wow, has it been a busy couple of weeks huh? Feels like there has been ten exams and even more deadlines on unfinished projects. This is the main reason that i haven't been able to photography nor update my blog. Before my unofficial easterholiday i really had some rough time because of combination of family and studying. Goddamn im glad its going to get a bit easier on studies after this week...

Easter holiday took our family to visit relatives around Finland. The main purpose of the trip was to visit relatives with our newborn, Aamu. Everything went great, first we visited Kauhava where my family's from and then we visited Rautavaara where Päivis family's from. In Kauhava we met Grandfather and grandmother and great grandfather- and mother. It feels to me that its really a blessing that my very own daughter can still see her great grandmothers and fathers alive and kicking, this is something that i never had change to see. In Rautavaara we also met majority of Päivis family and most importantly - Aamus grandparents in eastern Finland. I'm really amazed how long times women can keep themselves motivated to cuddling and hugging babies, man im telling you, its 6 hours straight up, no sweat.

One of the pictures taken during the shooting sessions


Followed by an atmosphere shot from Kauhava

I took many pictures of Aamu with her great grandmother holding and embracing her, they were very emotional moments and im sorry to say that those pictures wont be shared. I was lucky to have the change to take pictures of majority of my close relatives in western Finland, we really dont see our relatives enough so it was a major achievement to meet them all and take pictures of them.

Spring has really came in Finland and birdlife is beginning to blossom. During our trip to Kauhava i had a wonderful chance to take pictures of wildlife. Near grandparents's cottage theres a small lake in which habits numerous species of birds. The cottage is also surrounded by vast amounts of unhabited forests so i had great opportunity to spot some rare birds while there.

My father is a very enthusiastic bird observer. He has made numerous feeding spots on the courtyard and he has built numerous "boxes" for waterbirds and smaller birds alike to build their homes in. It was great experience to take pictures of birds that had come to eat on one of these feeding spots. I think this is a great activity and perhaps it even has some effect on the wellbeing of local bird populance.

Heres examples of feeding platform and a birdhome:

My photographic trips took me to near forests and around the lake. On the sidenote it has to be said that this time of year theres a fairly thick layer of snow in the forests and the snow is fairly wet. (If somoneone who has never seen snow is reading this: it can be hard to imagine how frozen water can be wet, but believe me, it can.) There was about 20 cm of snow and it didnt hold anything, even snowshoes or skiis didnt help a bit on this one. Ofcourse i thought i wouldnt need my rubberboots with me, but as usual, i was wrong. Even the most expensive and modern goretex boots dont help much on these conditions: mine were soaking wet after every trip. There really isnt any footwear like rubber boots for those conditions, period.

I spotted quite a few species of birds which i didnt already have pictures of. I knew beforehand that the lake inhabits a pair of cranes and that was my main goal: to succeed taking a decent picture of the pair in flight and landed. This was as usual, more easily said than done, since those birds were very cautious. I didnt have the time to set up positions in the marsh so i had to try "to sneak up on them." (ofcourse it actually a nonexistent possibility that i could actually sneak up on them). It seemed impossible to get closer than 100 m away from those birds so i made a deal with my self that the pictures i got from about a 100 m away just had to do.

I also knew that the lake would inhabit a couple of whooper swans so they were also on my list before the trip. They were very easy to photography and they were much more beautiful on nature than on any birdbook. I suggest you guys to check these out yourselves, they're beautiful.

I also encountered some random species, those were: the willow tit, a crested tit, a spotted woodpecker and a lapwing.

First off the cranes:



Whooper swan:

a spotted woodpecker:
a lapwing couple
a crested tit
a willow tit
and some random photos...

Birdography

Todays photographic trip was just what i expected. Great weather. I mean GREAT weather. Gear working. Birds to take photos of. Nature. Damn, only thing i missed was coffee. What an amateurish mistake... I didnt take any coffee with me. If ever possible, this trip was nearly perfect succes.

I started this trip by setting a goal of taking pictures of atleast one specie of woodpeckers (two would be something very exceptional, considering time recourses available - 2 hours) I also wanted to have some pictures of random birds. Secondly i wanted to test the teleconverter and to achieve some kind of conclusion of its performance and usability. I started the session by thinking where would i find dead or rotting trees in the near forests. I had a clear vision in my mind of area with some dead birches so i decided to head up there. I was certain that i would encounter some small birds on my way there so i didnt really stress it that much. Certain mark of woodpecker habitance is woodpieces all around a dead standing tree. Its also very likely that strange holes on trees, dead or alive are made by woodpeckers. Thank god im not that fanatical that i would start to describe woodpecker droppings. It didnt cross my mind to take a photo about these marks, but i think you are getting what i mean.

It was an exciting trip, having to use all instincts to be able to find those little birds. First off trying to hear them to get a clue where they would be. After that just staying still and trying to see the exact spot of the birds. This is crucial, after knowing the area where the birds could be, one has to absolutely stay still and try to make sense of their whereabouts. I dont know if i have problems with my eyes but i cant simply see those small birds if im on the move.

Okay okay there was some downsides on it too. For some strange reason i took a tripod with me and yes i hauled it with me all the time. At some point i stashed it to some noticable bushes and retrieved it after the trip.

And to the gear... the tc-200... it exceeded all my expectations. This little cadget really made those annoying situations nonexistent where those little pesky birds being just too far away.

There were problems too. When adding teleconverter or taking it off one has to always be very careful not to leave camerabody on manual focus mode and remember to switch ones lens to autofocus. D2X performed as usual, perfect. The 300mm performed also very very well. I love this lens. On the whole trip i didnt even think switching to 17-55, this may give you some clue how much fun i had photographing birds.

Last but not least, the pictures. a spotted woodpecker, a blue tit and a great tit.

a great tit Nikkor 300mm f4.5 shutter 1 / 1600

a blue tit Nikkor 300mm f8 + Nikkor TC-200 Shutter 1 / 640

a spotted woodpecker nikkor 300mm f8 Shutter 1 / 640


a spotted woodpecker Nikkor 300 f8 + Nikkor TC-200 Shutter 1/500

Teleconverter!

The tc-200 arrived today and i gotta admit i am very excited to see it in action. My original plan was to go test it out today but since darkness came so "suddenly" i figured it was for no use to even try. If you're new to this blog you might wanna suffle back a few writings to discover my speculations and specs about this cadget.

When i first got my hands on the teleconverter i have to say i was little confused. Firstly i had some minor problems figuring out how adjust D2X's "No cpu lens data" part. In the end it was pretty simple: knowing that the 300mm's minimum aperture is f4 and knowing that the teleconverter will double the light needed, i set minimum aperture on the "no cpu lens data" on f8. All in all this means in practice that when i manually set my 300mm's to marked minimum aperture of 4 , my camera will understand that actually it needs to double that for balanced shots. It continues to next step, when i manually set the aperture to f5.6, the camera understands to pick f11 instead and so on. This was actually me thinking too complicated again.
Someone in to photography may think that how does it affect anything because actually by doing all these things will not affect to the size of the "aperture hole". Instead it will change the cameras behavior on the metering: the camera light meter understands that for proper exposure it needs to take x amount of light more because of the teleconverter.

It is yet to be discovered how does it affect - or does it affect the image at all to set the lens's focal length in to the "No cpu lens data" sheet. My current quess is that it will show only in Exif data sheet, but time and experience will tell. The second problem is which focal length to set on the data sheet? Its a 300 mm nikkor acting like 450mm nikkor on a crop body and with teleconverter on it will act as 900mm nikkor.
Also theres the issue on depth of sharpness on images. One has to keep in mind that cameras f8 is propably purely because of the metering, not the sharpness. Actually the "aperture hole" on f8 with this setup is still f4 in means of physichal size. If anyone reading this blog knows about these matters, i would ask him kindly to enlighten me on this a bit.

Tomorrow i have 3 hours time between lessons to test shot with and without the teleconverter. I also planned to take some wildlife shots. If im very lucky i just might return with pictures of woodpeckers.

Ill take with me the usual setup, 17-55, 300mm, Slik pro II tripod and a pack full of patience. The newcomer tc-200 will show whether its a useful part of my gear or just few extra grams to carry around. We'll see tomorrow!

TC-200


TC-200 attached to 300mm