New lens! - Panasonic 100-400mm zoom

The lens arrived after dark so I wasn't able to try it out until the next day late in the afternoon. A cold, dark rainy day but it did produce water droplets. I'll have to get a feel for depth of field on this long lens. The leaves were quite close to other vegetation; the background is pretty quiet and undistracting under the circumstances.

water droplets_P1070163

waterdropletsP1070163

I liked this one for color and shape. Small branches and reflections from leaves made the background a bit busier than I'd prefer.

leaves_P1070172

leavesP1070172

A single solanum flower was in bloom. This is a macro lens sort of picture but the long zoom produced a pleasing result.

solanum_P1070175

solanumP1070175

I like this one too. The near part of the left flower isn't in sharp focus. If I intend to use this lens for closeup work, I have to get the depth of field calculations into my findertips.

red sage_crop 3_P1070181

redsagecropP1070181

After lunch, I walked around a nearby park with two lakes. This seagull was my first good subject. Thick clouds and very low light levels made for mediocre pictures today. This gull was better lit than most subjects. Today's pictures were taken with the camera on a monopod for stability.

seagull_P1070186

seagullP1070186

I needed the full 400mm zoom to photograph this great egret was across the lake.

great_egret_P1070199

greategretP1070199

Later I walked around the lake and got much closer to the egret. Even then, I needed to crop the photo to get this closeup.

great_egret_closer_P1070223

greategretcloserP1070223

This heron was busy grooming and never posed properly. All those branches in front of the bird made manual focus necessary. You take the picture the bird offers.

black crowned night heron_P1070218

blackcrownednightheronP1070218

I liked the colors and the sense of motion in this photo. This girl was one of a group of three with mothers nearby. They all seemed to be having a fine time in the park.

girl_at edge of pond_P1070204

girledgepondP1070204

Another walker across the pond. Still some fall color.

walker_P1070208

walkerP1070208

This great blue heron was standing quietly at the edge of the island in the lake.

great blue heron_P1070220

greatblueheronP1070220

Canada geese are thick as hops in the park. A thorough nuisance. Some buffleheads at the edges of the picture. More light please. And could the birds swim closer to me?

canada geese_P1070201

canadageeseP1070201

This male bufflehead was in the middle of the lake. Too far away for a really good photo but I tried anyway.

bufflehead_closer_P1070190

buffleheadcloserP1070190

These ducks were so tucked in that it was hard to be sure what species they were. Ring neck ducks rather than lesser scaups I think. More light in the ducks would have been appreciated.

ring neck ducks_P1070231

ringneckducksP1070231

Green herons are much harder to photograph than some other herons and egrets. This one was resting in a willow tree at the edge of the lake. I used manual focus with focus peaking to get the bill in sharp focus. In hindsight, I think I should have gotten the wing feathers in sharp focus instead. Any day I see a green heron is a good day though.

green heron_P1070236

greenheronP1070236