Wildlife Photo Shoot part 1

The Virgin river flows through Mesquite.  This past winter the Virgin river flooded taking a number of homes and damaging two golf courses.  It also cleared out the dense undergrowth along its banks, and created some pools of water.  The other day I walked there.  I discovered a natural park with numerous birds.   I returned a few days later with a camera in hand to scout more throughly.

I shot this:

and this:

And this

I didn't think I would get a photos at all.   I was just wanting to check out the sun, see how close I could get to the birds and where they were hanging out.  I had gotten ready for my expedition by attaching a 400mm lens to the camera.  It is my longest telephoto lens.  To photograph I wanted to accomplish two primary goals freeze action, and isolate the subject.  So I set the camera to its lowest f-stop 5.6 which gave the shallowest depth of field.  This would help to isolate the subject against a busy background.   I also wanted a fast shutter speed.  I figured that any opportunity would be a moving subject.  I decided to try 1/800.  In order to achieve the  shutter speed I choose ISO 400.  This was the lowest ISO I could set and still achieve the shutter speed.  

I walked for a while and suddenly the mallards in the first photograph took flight.  I lucked out they circled me several times.  In the next 2 minutes and 30 seconds I took 32 photographs.  It would have been more but the sun was setting.   As they circled in the direction of the sunset they would be in the shadow and underexposed.  The lesson is to approach the subject with the sun behind you.  There is another lesson the time of day.  The hour just before sunset and the hour just after sunrise usually give the best light.  I walked home after the sun had set.  

The second two photographs have a couple more lessons.  

This is the first shot I took in the set.  Those are Cinnamon Teals in the foreground.  There is also a little guy to the left of the American Avocet (thanks Dottie).   Well If I would chosen a a smaller f-stop (f11-f22), maybe, just maybe I could have gotten the teals in focus and improved this shot immensely.  But, I have this thing for birds like the Avocet.  I just focus on them.  Later, I realized that the Teals were there and got the shot I posted of them.   The little guy to the left of the Avocet flew before I could feature him.  

So here are my lessons

- Get ready.  Decide your camera settings, and the equipment needed.

-Hour before sunset and sunrise provide excellent light.

-Learn from my mistake.  Do not focus one thing and see the whole.  THe opposite is also true do not focus on the whole and forget about the parts.  

-It is usually better to approach with the sun behind you.