This weeks blog is again going over the shots from Saturdays trip to the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. The weather was a bit on the cool side and very overcast so not great light a bit dark so had to up the ISO to get these shots, some are suffering a bit from the ISO when I cropped in, the 7dmk2 is pretty good at the high ISOs especially compared to the 60D where anything about 800 I use to worry, but with this some of these are up around 3200 its only when you start to crop in that the effects start to show up.
 

As I drove in and passing the first lake there was a Great Egret on the edge of the lake so I pulled up and got out the camera first thing this week, here's one of the shots. Would have liked the background a little more out of focus but still it shows the soundings of the bird. This was shot from a tripod.
 

While I was shooting the Egret a few cars went past and the first lake is pretty close to the road so the Egret took off over the lake, but the time I got the camera unlocked on the tripod I missed the shot of it over the lake in flight, but then you can't get them all.
 

A Nankeen Kestrel was also around the lake and the first shot bellows shows it on the high tension power lines over the lake. this one was cropped quite heavily so the results show the noise form the higher ISOs so not the best clean shot.
 

The next few are of the bird hunting and hovering over the grass lands looking for its lunch, this time it was a bit closer so the crop wasn't as server so the noise isn't quite as bad as the shot above, still not that happy with it could have used a little smaller aperture and higher shutter speed to catch the wings fully focused. Again the low light came into play here so I was stuck with what I got, maybe next week the sun will be out, the Kestrels are regulars there so I'll need to keep an eye out for them in better lighting conditions.
 

Again a shot heavily cropped so high noise again in this one, so not the best, but shows that not all shots are winners. and need to come back on another day. 
 

After the Kestrel flew out of range I went off to look for mushrooms. Again a few still around but not so much to pick form this weekend. The first two are the same set of mushrooms as I was taking the shots the left mushroom was starting to collapse, so the second shot is showing more of the gills I also changed the crop to a portrait shot which gives it s tighter crop. I preference is for the top one of these two.
 

The next series is the same set up just changing the lighting, moving the flash locations or the powers of the flash, you can see the difference effects that only slight changes of lighting locations makes to the shot. Again one of the speedlites has a brown gel the other is in a small softbox, just depending on the locations and powers changes the whole feel of the shot.
 

One more shot of another Mushroom form the day.
 

​The light in the under story was pretty dark so a lot of these shots were taken at lower shutter speeds than I would have liked so as a result there is a bit of motion blur to some of the shots as the bird moved.  The next shot is of a Leaden Flycatcher just after it had a bath in a small water hole, so was still sorting out its feathers. It was a bit high up in the campy so didn't really get a clear shot, still trying to get a decent shot of of this one. 

This ones of a small Silver Eye is it hunts for small insects. 

​The usual little Eastern Yellow robin was around but this time i didn't get close enough and again the slow shutter speed meant some motion blur to this shot so again not the best, Better luck next time. 

Lastly there was a few juvenile Kookaburra about this one sat in a branch close by for a while before diving to the ground. These are quite large birds very solid and with a strong thick beak.  

 After that it was time to head out before the gates closed, so a bit of a mixed bag this week some reasonable shots others not quite as good as they could have been, but thats all part of the fun of it all. 

​Thanks for dropping by my blog for the week, long weekend coming up here in Sydney so we'll see what I can find then, the plan is one night to head into Sydney for the Vivid lights festival around the Harbour, so we'll see how that goes this year. 

Till Next week. 

Glenn. 

This weeks shot are again taken in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. All taken yesterday. 

This week I've included some of the the other shots as well as the ones I think are the main winners of the week. Some of these are the same subject just slightly different angle of the subject has moved, so makes a different shot. So I'll walk thought the shots with a few comments on each. 

Like most weeks This week I started off with Mushroom shots, Friday we got a bit of rain here so there was quite a few mushrooms popping up around the place this little group here had some nice colour to them and also had some greenery around them which always give the mushroom shots that added effect. The green and oranges go well together. 

​The two shots here are very similar but the top one has a third mushroom in the back ground which actually was laying on the ground so I placed it in the shot, the second one has the mushroom removed, in the second shot I also moved the greenery around a little to fill in some of the base with some green. The lighting for these two shots was very similar with a bare flash on the left and a brown gelled flash to the right behind, (A gell is a pice of coloured plastic that goes over the flash head to add a bit of a colour cast to the light, in this case it gives it a brown tint to the light. I also have a small spray bottle with me that gives a light mist of water droplets this was sprayed around a little before the shoot the water brings out the colours of the mushrooms and also the droplets add to the shot, in this case you can see the droplets between the gills. I prefer the second shot of these two. 

The next one is the same mushroom Just a different angle Only slightly to isolate the mushroom on its own. Similar lighting but more of the greenery in the shot. To give it a different type of shot. The one below the lighting on the left is a little to strong just needed to be bought down a touch and also has the stray grass blade sticking up in the shot, very distracting and not adding to the image. So the top on here out of these tow is my preferred shot 

This next one was of a lone mushroom and I gave it a softer light to it but I missed the focus on this one, needed a little tighter aperture to give a little more depth of field to it, on its best to get the gills and the stem in focus in this case I only got the front half in focus and not the stem, but the lightings OK just needed a bit more on the focus depth of field. 

After I had my mushroom shots for the week I concentrated not eh bird shots for the week. The Gray fantails are still touching around and this one was hopping along a small branch. I got a series of this one here and the two shots below are different angles taken for the same set up just the bird moving along the branch. But the different angles made the different between a landscape shot and a portrait shot. The second one as the sun was on the left meant the right side was a little two dark, starting to lose some of the details in the shot around the eye.  

The next bird I came across was an Eastern Spinebill I've had a few good shots of these before but this was the first time with the long lens so again two different shots landscape and portrait, based on the angle of the bird, I think the landscape shot is the better of the two though would have preferred a little more space not the right, but a tree branch was getting in the shot you can just start to see it in the top right corner. The focus on the head is great but starts to drop of not he rest of the body so could have used a smaller aperture again to give a little more depth of field for this shot. but still I'm happy with this one, another lesson for next time. 

This next shot is of a Golden Whistler these are usually quite high up in the gum trees hunting insects, this one has the bird low not eh branch just about to spring of for a short flight to the next branch, not the best shot, but the best one I have of these so far, so will need to keep an eye of for this one next time.

I also stopped by eh lake again and had another go at getting swallows as they dive into the lake to have their bath as they fly, this shot is of one as it just comes out of the lake. Even at 600mm this one is a little small to see all the detail, one day I'll catch one closer to the bank. where it will be larger in the frame. 

Finally as I was driving out of the gardens the sun was getting low approaching shut set and there was this Wallaby with Joey in pouch with the sun behind it nicely back lighting it, so I go this shot before it bounded away. 

Well thats it for this weeks shots, thanks for dropping by my blog. There will be more next week. 

Glenn. 

This weeks blog post is of last Saturdays walk in the Australian Botanical Garden's Mount Annan, By now you will have probably notice I spend a lot of my weekends here photographing what mushrooms I find plus the various Bird life I come across. One of the reasons for this is its so close to my home, form the Gardens you can actually see my house so pretty close, still ten minutes drive away, but a great place to practice photography.

So Last Saturday I set off in the afternoon to see what I could see. 

First thing I found what this unusual Mushroom, looks a bit like a loaf of bread straight out of the oven. The colour and the way the top is broken like a loaf of bread expanding to quickly which is probably exactly what happened here with this one. Shot with two speed lights one on the left with a brown gel, Which is basically a coloured piece of clear plastic that goes over the flash to add a slight colour cast to the shot, the second speedlite on the right is in a small softball and adds a fill light to the shot.  

The same location that this mushroom was the Yellow face honey eaters frequent so I managed another shot of one of these, still haven't got a really decent one of these yet so more patients needed for the looks like, I'll get one one day, but this is the best I got of one of these this week. 

From there I walked along the track a little way and came apon this Eastern Yellow Robin, this one was jumping about catching insects, they usually sit on a branch like this one studying the ground and then drop on some unsuspecting Insect. This one didn't stay long there before diving off for another feed. 

A little further along was this Golden Whistler, As usually I heard it well before I saw this one. Another one I need a better shot of. So will need to keep an eye out for these next time as well, Slowly getting my collection of decent shots of the various Bird life in the gardens but a long way to go yet. 

Around the same area was this little Rose Robin, not the best view of this little one so no real details of the rose coloured front it wears.

As I walked back to the car along the road this time for a change I spotted this pair of Wrens hunting insects. the first is a female Variegated Fairy-wren where as the second is the Superb Fairy‑wren,the difference being the Blue tail of the Variegated Wren and the brown eye patch of the Superb wren. Both Females, the males of these are much more shy. 

Once I got back to the car I drove up to the Wollemi pine Walk of Discovery to see what mushrooms were growing up there this week as usual I managed to find a few, the first one was the better shot of the day Mushroom wise. Again light with two speed lights off camera. 

I found a second grouping close by but the shot did;t quite work out a little to dark and not fully focused this time, Oh well better luck next time. 

I then drove back to the main car park near the visitors centre and took a walk through the connections Gardens where the light was improving getting closer to sun set so I had a go at a few flower shots, neither of the two, I'm overly happy with so need to take a little more time with thees next time.  

From there I walked down tot eh two main lakes and I found this family of Purple swamp Hens sharing an Apple, the Parent Bird has the apple held in its foot, I has broken off a piece and the two juveniles are taking if from their parents beak. 

On the main flat grassy Green were a flock of small red Rumped Grass Parrots, there is a fairly large flock there as usual at this time of the afternoon when the gardens start to empty out and the parrots come down for the last feed of the day. These parrots are a little larger than a Budgerigar and a lot more solid. 

As I was walking back to the car to head home for the day I noticed a small group of swallows flying over the lake and diving in for a quick bath and then continuing along their way, so the last shots for the day are of these little guys hitting the water and continuing on. 

Hope you liked this weeks Blog post of my photo walk in the Australian botanical Gardens, Mount Annan.

Thanks for dropping by my blog.

Glenn.