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Found a great little breeding swamp at redland bay in brisbane last weekend whilst down there for a 21st party. Spent a couple of hours there stalking and taking photos of Intermediate and cattle egrets. Here are a couple of intermediate egrets procreating whilst a third looks on after missing the action.


The second photo snapped quickly in succession cropped a little of the head of the third but i liked the spread wings of the male as it steers its course. I wish I could have positioned myself better but I was already in ankle deep swamp water and mud.


Taken with an 80-400Vr with fill flash SB800.

The flight back on Sunday was a disaster with Quantas losing my tripod!! I'll give them till Friday to find it then Birddog I might be ordering a new benro and KB2 head. Boy am I pissed!!

Still the action at the swamp was pretty good despite the not so great light as it was about 2pm. Only time i had available.
Comments appreciated.

cheers
marco

Nicely caught.

I suppose they wouldn't let you carry the tripod on board in case you turned it into a weapon or some such stupidity.

Flew to Cairns last week and no way was the camera going with the luggage. You could just about guarantee it would become "lost" baggage..

Believe it or not on the way down Jetstar would not allow me to carry my lowepro Backpack on board as it was over the weight limit by 1.2 kg after i unloaded my camera and 2 of my bigger lenses. She said she would put it in fragile baggage.When i picked it up from the brisbane airport it was literally thrown on the conveyor belt and appeared in front of me on its end. Couldn't believe it!! No way on the way back was i not going to bring it on board with me. Still lost tripod!
Thanks for the comments Mark.
cheers
marco

I recently flew to rockhampton to photograph a wedding and my bag weighed a tonne and they virgin blue people couldn't give a hoot even if it weighed 40kg

It's a mini trekker classic and its filled to the brim with gear weighed a good 7 - 8 kg and they didn't even bother looking. Though there was NO way it was going on as luggage if they didn't approve it.

by the way
I think the fill flash is perfect in these images! excellent job!

Nice photos, I really like the light and bright colours in these shots.

Link.

G'day Marco,
These seem really nicely exposed, sharp too. Fill flash seems to have done the trick, well done...

Michael, yeah go figure the guy on the way back didn't seem to care a hoot but then again that's probably why my tripod was lost!
Thank you for the kind comments. Maybe next time I'll have more time. It's agreat little location.
cheers
marco

Great capture, Marco!

I'm still wondering, how to travel with my Nature Trekker which is bigger than Mini trekker ... And bigger than my older Rover AW. With Rover I didn't have any problem but when I'm looking forward I feel bit uncomfortable ...

Well Mikhail I travelled with my PhotoTrekker AW which is considerably bigger than either you mentioned. Mine fit under seat in front. They are heavy mine was 12.5kg. Tight but safe.
cheers
marco

Hlop wrote:Great capture, Marco!

I'm still wondering, how to travel with my Nature Trekker which is bigger than Mini trekker ... And bigger than my older Rover AW. With Rover I didn't have any problem but when I'm looking forward I feel bit uncomfortable ...

That why you shouldn't ditch your other bag(s), each bag has difference use, I'm sure your Nature Trekker will be confiscated at the point of check-ins unless you're the Captain or flying your own Sukhoi

Travelling in style, required few bags to have in our possession and each bag will have good use when needed.

marcotrov wrote:Well Mikhail I travelled with my PhotoTrekker AW which is considerably bigger than either you mentioned. Mine fit under seat in front. They are heavy mine was 12.5kg. Tight but safe.
cheers
marco

Look at their dimension, they are the same or closely size, lot of domestic and international carriers now refuse to let you have a bag like these side as carry-on luggage.

Marco, you're just lucky that they let you have it with you onboard on domestic flight.

Yeah you are probably right Birdy. I have a lowepro side bag that i should have brought but couldn't fit all that i wanted in it. Mini trekker sounds good though. Anyhow still didn't help me with my tripod getting lost. Don't know what else i could have done there It's one of those necessities in doing what we do that we can't skimp on if you want steady shots Anyone had similar problems with camera gear having gone missing? Am i doing the right thing giving them a week to find it before I act and do what i'm not sure?
cheers
marco

marcotrov wrote:Yeah you are probably right Birdy. I have a lowepro side bag that i should have brought but couldn't fit all that i wanted in it. Mini trekker sounds good though. Anyhow still didn't help me with my tripod getting lost. Don't know what else i could have done there It's one of those necessities in doing what we do that we can't skimp on if you want steady shots Anyone had similar problems with camera gear having gone missing? Am i doing the right thing giving them a week to find it before I act and do what i'm not sure?
cheers
marco

Perhaps the ground crew or baggage handler turned it to the Federal Police coz they thought it's one element of rocket launcher or part of the WMD due to the "joking terrorist law" now is in force

What a capture. Top shots Macro T

Thanks Willy Wombat just wish that bloody stump wouldnot have been there but I was lucky to get to where I was without spookin them
cheers
marco

This might be a silly question but... can using the flash have an effect when you are shooting at the longer ends of a large lens. Surely after 10 or so metres the additional light would be lost?

Does anyone have any examples of with and without?

Ed.

Marco = I missed these on Tuesday - fantastic photos. You are lucky to have witnessed them mating, and to get a photo to boot !!!
Congrats...
one question - were these taken at the Boondall Wetlands????

Ciao (and I'm glad I'm not the only one that takes photos of animals/insects mating )

Ed Said:

This might be a silly question but... can using the flash have an effect when you are shooting at the longer ends of a large lens. Surely after 10 or so metres the additional light would be lost?

Ed depends on the quality of your flash. In manual you can do quite a bit and for something like an SB800. It's quite powerful. Also when you dial in - exposure compensation it extends the reach of the flash. The other option is something like Better Beamers flassh extender. Mind you I managaed to get only about 8-10 metres away. Mind you it took me about 1hour of edging closer each time.

blacknstormy said:

one question - were these taken at the Boondall Wetlands????

Rel thank you for the kind comments. It's actually on Ols Cleveland Road about 5mins from Rabi BAy where we were staying. In luxury might i add. Would have loved a 200-400VR
cheers
marco

Ed Said:

This might be a silly question but... can using the flash have an effect when you are shooting at the longer ends of a large lens. Surely after 10 or so metres the additional light would be lost?

Ed depends on the quality of your flash. In manual you can do quite a bit and for something like an SB800. It's quite powerful. Also when you dial in - exposure compensation it extends the reach of the flash. The other option is something like Better Beamers flassh extender. Mind you I managaed to get only about 8-10 metres away. Mind you it took me about 1hour of edging closer each time.
Ed there are some more I took with fill flash here, I was only about 7-10metres away.
http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?[url]p=133491&highlight=itermediate+egret#133491[/url]

blacknstormy said:

one question - were these taken at the Boondall Wetlands????

Rel thank you for the kind comments. It's actually on Ols Cleveland Road about 5mins from Rabi BAy where we were staying. In luxury might i add. Would have loved a 200-400VR
cheers
marco

These are great it really shows nature in nature, i love it, are they actually getting it on, while one watches? nature is so cruel.

wendellt wrote:These are great it really shows nature in nature, i love it, are they actually getting it on, while one watches? nature is so cruel.

One watches?? plus the photograher!!! and now YOU and ME at least!!! I'll tell you Wendellt the place is full of VOYEURS
But really Marco the photos are excellent.
Cheers .NeoN

Thanks for the comments Wendell and NeoN. Yeah, I just finished long slow stalk up and just got into position when they got into it. It is a good feeling(and I don't mean that one! ) to be able to witness these scenes without disturbing anything.
cheers
marco