Returned to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Center this past Monday to get an update on the Osprey family I've been monitoring. There was adult activity around the nest, but no chicks viewed. Supposedly there is one chick in the nest and it has not fledged up till now. Will try to catch the chick excercising it's wings before it fledges.

C&C welcome as always.

GENE

Adult at and guarding nest.

1.

2.

Osprey in-fllight.

3.

4.

5.

Osprey in-flight, continued.

6.

7.

8.

Nice job Gene

Garen

Hello Gene, a fine selection of osprey's you have here. IMO this is some difficult light to shoot in and it is easy, as I know from experience, to not allow enough additional exposure against a bright sky. This will make the images very contrasty and somewhat underexposed. You can perhaps reduce some contrast in your processing to aid them though they look pretty darn good if you only did minimal PP work

#2 is just the coolest look, love the spiked doo #4 is a great wingspread shot and the brightness could be reduced a bit IMO. #5 is also a cool shot, you had a great outing!

Karl

GAREN wrote:
Nice job Gene

Garen

Thanks for viewing, Garen.

GENE

Karl Witt wrote:
Hello Gene, a fine selection of osprey's you have here. IMO this is some difficult light to shoot in and it is easy, as I know from experience, to not allow enough additional exposure against a bright sky. This will make the images very contrasty and somewhat underexposed. You can perhaps reduce some contrast in your processing to aid them though they look pretty darn good if you only did minimal PP work

#2 is just the coolest look, love the spiked doo #4 is a great wingspread shot and the brightness could be reduced a bit IMO. #5 is also a cool shot, you had a great outing!

Karl

Thanks for the kind comments, Karl. Yes, it was difficult light as I shot the photos at noon and the sun was directly above the birds. I should have gotten to the nest in early morning when the sun would have focused on the Osprey's body. I reduced the brightness on number 4 and am glad for your suggestion. I am including another BIF shot.

GENE

1. BIF redone.

2. Another BIF shot.

Nice pics Gene. Top picks are 5 and 7. I think you got some good tips there from Karl. I try and shoot Black Kites and I reallly have to wind up the exposure to get the detail out of them under the wing unless they are turning sideways into the light.
Martin

Gene,

Which nest are you talking about? I was there about 10 days ago (Tuesday 6/30). I saw 2 chicks (fairly large) in the nest built on the south side of the West Pond (I guess this is in South Marsh / Black Wall Channel). Then I saw a pair nesting on the north side of the West Pond (I guess this is the Black Bank Marsh / Pumpkin Patch Channel). I didn't see any young in the nest. Possibly this is the area you're referring to. I do have photos of the nest where I did see the nestlings.

Unfortunately I did not have the time to visit the East Pond area.

My Osprey-in-flight photographs pale in comparison to yours. Great job. I don't recall either nest being so close as to give such close-up shots with a 400mm lens. Thanks for sharing.

~ John

Martin Good wrote:
Nice pics Gene. Top picks are 5 and 7. I think you got some good tips there from Karl. I try and shoot Black Kites and I reallly have to wind up the exposure to get the detail out of them under the wing unless they are turning sideways into the light.
Martin

Thanks for viewing and picking favorites, Martin. If you increase the exposure to get detail, don't you totally wash out the sky? If the sky is washed out, can we apply a new sky in post processing, or is that cheating on this forum? I asked this question before, but no one answered.

GENE

Hi Gene,

Wonderful images. Mom is telling you to get back in case you wondered. Boy was she checking you out! I bet she had a high pitched squawk too.

Cheers,

DeeDee