What Might Have Been

While driving home from Pennsylvania on Sunday, I stopped at the Conowingo Dam near Port Deposit, Maryland to check out the Eagle action.

I didn’t know I was going to stop there.

Why does that matter? Because had I known I was going to visit the dam, I would have been prepared. I would have had my tripod with me.

A tripod is important. A tripod is what supports your camera to minimize movement. Minimizing movement matters most when using a zoom lens, when even the slightest movement blurs your image.

Even though I was bracing my camera against a fence, it still moved ever so slightly. And that, unfortunately, was enough movement to blur my shots.

Now, had I used a tripod, I could have had some cool, clear photographs. Instead, I ended up with a lot of grainy/noisy snapshots. Yes, you can see what is in the pictures, but the pictures are blurry. And they’ve all been edited to get them to this poor level of quality.

Normally, I wouldn’t even post images that are this bad. For someone like me, capturing a barely recognizable image isn’t good enough. I want focus. Clarity.

When I do finally get to Conowingo with a tripod, I’ll show you the difference. For now, you just have to settle for what might have been some great shots if only I’d been prepared.

This image was captured with my standard lens. It is close to what the average person sees with the naked eye. The two arrows show the areas of focus for most of the following shots. They are pretty far away.

Had I used a tripod, you would have seen a cool picture of seven, yes SEVEN, Great Blue Herons and one Cormorant (on the right in the vertical middle) fishing. You would have been able to tell, without squinting really hard and using a bit of imagination that the bird in the center of the shot has a fish in its mouth. (NOTE: If you click on any of these images, you’ll get a bigger view.)

If I’d had my tripod, this might have been a great shot of a Bald Eagle joining the fishing party.

If I’d been prepared, you would’ve seen a clear shot of a second Eagle taking off from this big rock to score himself a fish.

Having a tripod wouldn’t have helped this shot much. I tried my best to get a shot of this immature Eagle (brown head) chasing the adult Eagle (white head).

This might have been a clear image of the two Eagles landing. Perhaps you would have noticed the Great Blue Heron in the middle of the frame without me having to tell you it is there. Notice all the pigeons sitting still on the rock that Eagle is about to occupy? You know the fishing is good when pigeons are of no interest to an Eagle. In any other setting, one or more of those pigeons probably would have been lunch.

The tripod wouldn’t have helped this one either. I had to track the bird with my lens while focusing manually hoping for at least one clear image.

This might have been a nice shot of that same Great Blue Heron landing in the foreground while the two Eagles look on.

Perhaps this would have been a nicely focused image showing the adult Eagle (left) with seven Great Blue Herons in the foreground, an immature Eagle (center) and nine or ten Cormorants in the background with water cascading over the spillways as a backdrop.

One day, when I have my tripod and actually get some good bird pictures, you’ll be able to see the difference. You’ll know why I find these shots disappointing. I’ll even refer back to this post for reference.

For now, I hope you enjoyed those snapshots of what might have been.