Thomas Roper's Website

For the Birds

Tom — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:23:41 +0000

I had a great opportunity to photograph some birds of prey this past weekend. These birds are being rehabilitated to go back into the wild. Some unfortuantely won’t be able to be released due to their injuries. It was a chance to get to be up close to some awesome birds of prey. We we up close with a turkey vulture, now it may not qualify as a true bird of prey, it does eat other animals.

Turkey Vulture with Handler

This bird had not been out of the cage before. We were told the vulture loved to be the center of attention. You can see in the photo just how big the bird is to the handler. The facility that offered this opportunity is a non profit organization that is licensed by the state and the US Fish and Game Department. They are also members of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association. Some of the birds photographed were: Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, Harris Hawk and Peregrine falcon. I missed out on the Red-tailed Hawk and a Kestral because I had to leave early.

Barn Owl

Here are some photos of birds I did photograph. The Barn Owl was my favorite, incredible coloring made him look hand-painted. He was quite curious and watched me as I approached and laid in the snow to shoot up at him. I did get out a macro lens to shoot some up close shots as well. These birds while tethered (wearing jesses) sat very well on the perches another photographer provided. They were large branches attached to a pair of tripod legs. The birds were well behaved and approachable. We had to follow the lead of the trainer who would let us know if the bird was stressing.

When photographing these birds it’s important to remember to shoot at eye-level or an upward view. It is also critical to have the eye’s in focus so they are sharp; this is true for any animal you photograph. I shot with a 70-200 f2.8 lens for most of my shots. I stopped down to f4 and f5.6 to blur the background, keeping it soft and non-distracting.

Photo Gallery Updated

Tom — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:48:57 +0000

After months, I’ve finally been able to get back to working on my site. I’ve uploaded a gallery created with Lightroom 2. I’m still exploring options for online galleries but for now this will work fine.

New Content

Tom — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:04:55 +0000

I am currently working on getting the content online, check back soon.

Online Portfolio

Tom — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:03:28 +0000

Photo gallery is online. Check it out.

A Better Canon Eyecup

Tom — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:58:15 +0000

I’ve been looking for a better eyecup for my camera. I wanted one that would block light and I didn’t want a tear drop shaped eyecup. After a little searching I came across an article on Rod Barbee’s photography site. The eyecup is made from Nikon parts and the best part? It fits my Canon. This should work on any Canon that uses the Canon Eb eyecup. You can always order the eyepiece adapter to check the fit, it runs about $5.00

I ordered the needed parts from Adorama (the list is down below). A few days later everything arrived and 5 minutes later, I had a new eyecup for my camera. The parts cost about $35.00. I was pretty happy with the results.

The installation is very simple.

Remove the original eyecup by sliding it up.
Assemble the Nikon parts, placing the eyepiece finder into the eyecup and screw that into the eyepiece adapter. Slide it on to your camera
Finished Eyecup assembled and installed

Here’s the part list and links to Adorama

Nikon DK-3 Rubber Eyecup F/FE2/FM2/FM3
Nikon Eyepiece adapter DK-22
Nikon Eyepiece Finder FE2/FM2/FM3