Went out with an online acquaintance last week to shoot at a local wetland. I'm really an introvert except online. Turned out pretty good. He has better gear and has been doing it longer, but I knew the location better as I lived down the road. He gave me shooting tips and I gave him hotpot tips.
Thanks Kevin for sharing your experience with great comments & results....I am 79 yrs old & only a hobbyist but I just love taking pics of whatever I see when walking around... cheers from Australia 😊
Thanks Kevin for the great images and the inspirational message!!!! Because of health problems, today is the first day in 3 months that I’ve felt good and I’m at a Drs. office right now waiting to find out if my cancer has come. But no matter what I’m going to go out and take some pictures this afternoon, because of the things that you’ve said here!!!!!
Feel for you and with you. Surprising how many of us are in a similar boat. Nature photography, beginning in my back yard, is connecting me with other living things. How blind I’ve been. And I’m embracing my window of life whatever it’s dimensions are to be.
Love your habits. The last one is something for me. I am introverted and find it really hard to talk to people, even online. But I have to say, the side of youtube I am on, I find everyone to be really friendly and supportive. (yourself included) Makes the journey a lot more fun.
The weather one is one I like to turn around. everyone has a bird or animal on a sunny day. Lesser weather is a chance to look at the scene differently, and maybe the critter is not the focus, but the surrounding is. Different conditions can elicit a different behaviour. Also less than perfect lighting can become 'interesting' lighting. Love the mention of looking for the joy of the moment and experience, it really is the 'thing'. I sometimes get caught up in the joy, shoot a zillion shots, and never get around to processing, but I can always recall the day. - Cheers
Hi Kevin. I just found your channel and really like your advice. One habit that keeps me from growing is falling into a rut. When I stretch and find something new… anything new… it can inspire me to be more creative. For example, my camera was just gathering dust until a hummingbird made a nest in my backyard. That inspired me to try video for the first time to capture the growth of the baby birds. Suddenly a whole new world appeared to me and I became really inspired! I even saw my still photography with new eyes. Now I am making video shorts that combine video and stills to share with friends.
I need to listen to point #2 about wanting new gear. I keep thinking I need bigger and better, but all I really need right now is probably a better lens other than the two that came in the package I bought.
Lucky for me, I am too poor to buy new gear every year, so I only sit with one camera and two lenses. As a beginner writer, I have also learnt from a famous author that you should not write for others, but for yourself. I would say that the same applies to taking photos. As long as we enjoy capturing the world around us, why should we worry about what others would think about our photos? I agree with your statement Kevin!
EXCELLENT! I always buy used, especially as prices drop when new models come out. For example, I bought a Canon R6 used when prices dropped after Canon released the R6 Mark2. I am also an introvert and enjoy solo wildlife photography here in Montana.
What a spectacular place to photograph the different bird migration. A few weeks to a month away here in Colorado before the herons return. Got my first black egret of the year yesterday. Exciting times ahead for sure.
I'm just getting into wildlife photography, and have been sick of using Lightroom, my plan was due to expire this month, so I made the switch to Luminar, signed up for a year to give it a go. Thanks mate.
Watching your video was joyous! Just watching the birds and animals do their thing. I liked your photography, the one with the swan made me smile. I agree with your sentiments too...getting out with other like minded people is something I will have to strive to do.
Hey Kevin, I just found you channel. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your work. Any day spent in Nature is a good day! Thanks for taking us along on you outings. I’d love to see more of your field work and guidance. Thanks for all the hard work to make these!
I watched this one before, but it is great insight to share. Gear is something I doubt if my income will allow. As an old timer longtimer a lot of the new gear is making photography like shooting fish in a barrel. I have had to develop skills to use what I'm thankful to have and have great fun doing it. I would love to try out some long glass like 100 400 150 600 but its not necessary to have fun with the art of photography.
Nice one Kevin, the last one is what I all suffer with at times. Have also been donating some of my pictures to a local group that runs reserves other property in this country. Just to see what feed back I get. 📸👍
I don't advocate upgrading all the time, most of my gear I bought used on eBay. Nonetheless, at the time you switch from DSLR to mirrorless is the best possible time to evaluate your photography gear, and to consider whether another brand will suit you better. Part of the comparison is cost. Just for the hell of it, price up the following kit. Bear in mind there might be cheaper options for lenses. All OMDS OM 1 7-14 F2.8 12-40 F2.8 40-150 F2.8 150-400, varying max aperture. 300 F4. 60 F2.8 macro. I think the 90mm macro is available. There are two teleconverters available, useable on some of those lenses. All the above are premium lenses. The OM 1 has capabilities beyond what Canon offers, some of them useful for you wildlife photography. You could add an additional OM 1 or an OM 5 for video, and perhaps a separate lens for it, to give you full interchangeability for stills and video. You are using the centre portion of lenses designed for 35mm cameras. This kit is all designed for the camera body being used. It's lot lighter, can certainly be used to make photos you cannot with Canon cameras. I am not recommending you change now, but it would be useful information for your audience. You could do the same sort of comparison with Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm.
Great tips Kevin. About the first one, I never wait the perfect weather conditions, I just go outdoor even if it's raining!! Staying in nature is much more important than weather forecasts, unless there's a big, big storm 😅 Regardless your last bonus tips, I'm like you. My wife tells me that I'm a bear, and I go in nature on my own, even though where there's some friends of mine I'm really happy and we can share ours experiences, that is really good for getting a better nature photographer. Until your next video, take care!! Ciao
Nice video. Things that can hold us back? Getting stuck on certain settings and not being brave enough to try other things and fail, because sometimes you win, and you always learn. ATB MMMD
You bet. I'd rather fail at trying something different, than be really great at one thing but never trying to expand my mind as an artist. Thanks for watching. 📸
Living in Illinois it gets pretty overcast regularly especially in the cold months. I get burned out on the overcast shots so by February Im suffering from fatigue and bored. I get tired of capturing the same shots over and over. Makes me not even wanna go out. I need to move lol.
Haha I totally feel ya. I'm from Ohio. We get the same weather 7 months of the year lol. But if I use that as an excuse, I'll never go out. But I agree, I need to move as well, 😂 Happy shooting bro. 📸
Hi Kevin, love the video, I too use Neo as my sole source of editing, but there is no one out there doing videos of Neo editing tips for wildlife! Lots for landscape and portrait but zilch for bird photography, so we have to adjust to fit, for example there is portrait bokh in Neo but it does not recognise birds or animals, any tips aimed at us birders would be great.
Yeah I may make a video on editing photos, I just find a lot of that type of content boring. But it does have it's place like gear talk. If enough folks want an edit tutorial I may do one. Thanks as always for your support Ron. Happy shooting 📸
I used to care about what others thought of my pics and I found out quick it's better to not care because the minute you change your picture to please one person, another tells you they think you should do it another way. And the next 10 people can all have different ways to do the same picture and I've found that you usually aren't doing anything wrong, people just have different tastes so who are you going to please. Easiest to just please #1. Just think ... if Picasso hadn't painted his way, there wouldn't have been a Picasso, so be true to yourself as an artist.
Hey Kevin, you are crushing brother with the videos and now the podcast. I really enjoy your videos and I am working on ideas to try getting in front of the camera a bit. It's something I didn't think I would ever do, but one has to try new things or they never grow or advance their self. Greg
I'm not one into consumerism. I have been into photography for over 50 years. I've just turned 69. I got my canon xs in 08. I still use it. I got my t7 in 2021. I was given my canon 75 300 4 in 2012. It from an easy slr. I have never had the resources to do the upgrading but I am thankful for what God has provided and strive to make the best of that. Thanks for you helpful encouraging video.
One thing that I've learned that hinders growth is specializing in one genre too much be open to doing things outside your comfort zone. If you do wildlife try a stab at portraiture and vice versa.
That I'm not sure Peter. Could be a verity of things from your settings, shutter speed, to tripod/no tripod AF issues, animal tracking, distance from subject, weather, wind, movement, a lot can effect our shots.
yeah, i think its distance and cropping to much , other birds are a lot closer , i think 400mm dosent have the reach, i have tried an extender but it doesnt focus fast enough , my settings are ok, anyway thanks for your reply kevin.
While I in noway mean this is an insult, I think you had one of the shortest " breaks" from YT that I have personally witnessed. Something that I see on YT that keeps people from growing the photography skills is the amount of time that is consumed by their efforts to make a video they consider YT worthy. If on a average outing of 4 hours you spend time setting up video, doing remakes due to mistakes, filming walk aways then walking back to retrieve camera for next position what amount of time is actually spent working soully on practicing photography? It's comparable to going on a photography outing and spending the entire time on social media letting everyone know your doing "photography". I know my opinion will not be popular with YT'ers but give it some thought! I'm a photographer and have been for 40+ years and I'm still practicing.
No disrespect here my dude. Yeah I still need to take a break. I guess folks don't truly understand the difficulty of balancing video and photo unless one does it. It truly is difficult trying to find balance. It takes 20 hours (2 days) of planning, travel, filming, editing video, thumbnail, and uploading, just so folks see a 15 minute video. I appreciate your opinion as always brother. Finding balance to do photography while filming is not easy. A lot of times when the camera is turned off I do photography just for myself that you guys don't even see, photos that never make it in the video, and trips I go out that never make it on YT that are dedicated just for myself. I head out 3-4 times a week. Only one being for YT. A break is still needed though. I just enjoy making content so it's hard to take a long break when TH-cam will punish you for it. Anyways thanks for the duologue. I appreciate your feedback as always.
It's not as much weight as you would think. My arm is putting barely any pressure on the lens hood. But I totally understand how it could look bad lol 😆
Wow...this is brutal man. It does not take ''audacity'' nor arrogance. It just takes the envy to share a passion. I'm a old Tx blues player but I also played in philarmonics for yrs. You can imagine what I feel when I turn the radio on. Yet, every day I hear people playing who have not half my experience (or even skills if you want) and who are really amazing in what they do or in the energy they give around. Please let us not forget who we are : human beeings amongst other humans beeings. Share your beauty, and keep judgment away. You'll make a longer and happier life.
It's all good. It's the internet. Folks wouldn't dare say anything to your face. I got thick skin and nothing really bothers me on social media. LMAO. Some folks just want to make themselves feel better which is whatever. I DO however encourage constructive criticism as I am always learning
Check out more wildlife tips here th-cam.com/video/ZV-kEJXE4jg/w-d-xo.html
Went out with an online acquaintance last week to shoot at a local wetland. I'm really an introvert except online. Turned out pretty good. He has better gear and has been doing it longer, but I knew the location better as I lived down the road. He gave me shooting tips and I gave him hotpot tips.
thats what its about my friend!
These are the best trades ❤ knowledge for knowledge
Hello from Australia. Glad your channel popped up as learning wildlife photography. Look forward to seeing more from you😁
beautiful shots. lovely video thanks so much.
Thank you for the kind words
Thanks Kevin for sharing your experience with great comments & results....I am 79 yrs old & only a hobbyist but I just love taking pics of whatever I see when walking around... cheers from Australia 😊
Thanks Robert. The Joy of photography is what matters.
Thanks Kevin for the great images and the inspirational message!!!! Because of health problems, today is the first day in 3 months that I’ve felt good and I’m at a Drs. office right now waiting to find out if my cancer has come. But no matter what I’m going to go out and take some pictures this afternoon, because of the things that you’ve said here!!!!!
Oh man I hope the best bro. Praying the cancer is gone. Hope you can get out 📸
Best wishes 🌹
Feel for you and with you. Surprising how many of us are in a similar boat. Nature photography, beginning in my back yard, is connecting me with other living things. How blind I’ve been. And I’m embracing my window of life whatever it’s dimensions are to be.
Love your story bro. Keep shooting 📸
Love your habits. The last one is something for me. I am introverted and find it really hard to talk to people, even online. But I have to say, the side of youtube I am on, I find everyone to be really friendly and supportive. (yourself included) Makes the journey a lot more fun.
It sure does!
I’m like you but ended up being more open to chatting with people when I’m out there. You’ll find people are quite nice in these scenarios.
Most people yep. 📸
The weather one is one I like to turn around. everyone has a bird or animal on a sunny day. Lesser weather is a chance to look at the scene differently, and maybe the critter is not the focus, but the surrounding is.
Different conditions can elicit a different behaviour. Also less than perfect lighting can become 'interesting' lighting.
Love the mention of looking for the joy of the moment and experience, it really is the 'thing'. I sometimes get caught up in the joy, shoot a zillion shots, and never get around to processing, but I can always recall the day. - Cheers
Completely agree Joe. It's a wonderful hobby.
Thank you, Kevin! God bless you! I will be following you, for sure!
Tha k you for the kind words Steven. God bless beo and keep shooting 📸
Hi Kevin. I just found your channel and really like your advice. One habit that keeps me from growing is falling into a rut. When I stretch and find something new… anything new… it can inspire me to be more creative. For example, my camera was just gathering dust until a hummingbird made a nest in my backyard. That inspired me to try video for the first time to capture the growth of the baby birds. Suddenly a whole new world appeared to me and I became really inspired! I even saw my still photography with new eyes. Now I am making video shorts that combine video and stills to share with friends.
Amen John. Backyard wildlife photography is sometimes the best. Getting out of a rut can be hard.
I need to listen to point #2 about wanting new gear. I keep thinking I need bigger and better, but all I really need right now is probably a better lens other than the two that came in the package I bought.
Yeah good glass is better in most situations.
Lucky for me, I am too poor to buy new gear every year, so I only sit with one camera and two lenses. As a beginner writer, I have also learnt from a famous author that you should not write for others, but for yourself. I would say that the same applies to taking photos. As long as we enjoy capturing the world around us, why should we worry about what others would think about our photos? I agree with your statement Kevin!
Totally agree 💯
Excellent points. Thank you so much for sharing.
You're welcome 😁
Thx for your videos they help me get better and try my own videos it’s not easy . Keep up the great work!
thank you for the kind words. Happy shooting.
EXCELLENT! I always buy used, especially as prices drop when new models come out. For example, I bought a Canon R6 used when prices dropped after Canon released the R6 Mark2. I am also an introvert and enjoy solo wildlife photography here in Montana.
Thank you
What a spectacular place to photograph the different bird migration. A few weeks to a month away here in Colorado before the herons return. Got my first black egret of the year yesterday. Exciting times ahead for sure.
Love it! Have fun out there. 📸
I'm just getting into wildlife photography, and have been sick of using Lightroom, my plan was due to expire this month, so I made the switch to Luminar, signed up for a year to give it a go. Thanks mate.
Hope you enjoy it bro
Watching your video was joyous! Just watching the birds and animals do their thing. I liked your photography, the one with the swan made me smile. I agree with your sentiments too...getting out with other like minded people is something I will have to strive to do.
Amen
Very nice! I have yet to get over to Ottawa or that area for wildlife. I really need to get over there sometime this year!!
Beautiful area Tammy. I'm here weekly. If you see me stop by and say hi! Happy shooting 📸
Hey Kevin, I just found you channel. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your work. Any day spent in Nature is a good day! Thanks for taking us along on you outings. I’d love to see more of your field work and guidance. Thanks for all the hard work to make these!
Thank you Kellmar you're right any day outdoors is a good day. Well unless you're getting chased by a bear 😉😜
Happy shooting 📸
I watched this one before, but it is great insight to share. Gear is something I doubt if my income will allow. As an old timer longtimer a lot of the new gear is making photography like shooting fish in a barrel. I have had to develop skills to use what I'm thankful to have and have great fun doing it. I would love to try out some long glass like 100 400 150 600 but its not necessary to have fun with the art of photography.
Yes sir. It's all about the experience out there my friend
Good things to think about Kevin. Thanks for being willing to share brother.
Thanks Chuck
I really like the positivity of your videos. I'm going to share them with anyone I know who's into photography or getting into it.
Thanks Ro. Happy shooting 📸
Great video Kevin! I loved your bonus point. I’m actually looking to make a video about that as well because that’s exactly what I did to get better.
Thanks man. Yeah it helped me a lot
Congrats on the new sponsor! Peace be with you.
To you as well my friend
Nice one Kevin, the last one is what I all suffer with at times. Have also been donating some of my pictures to a local group that runs reserves other property in this country. Just to see what feed back I get. 📸👍
Awesome Eric
Good thoughts in general!! Thing to learn while in the field.
You bet
Enjoyed the video. Good on you!
thank you for the kind words
I don't advocate upgrading all the time, most of my gear I bought used on eBay. Nonetheless, at the time you switch from DSLR to mirrorless is the best possible time to evaluate your photography gear, and to consider whether another brand will suit you better. Part of the comparison is cost.
Just for the hell of it, price up the following kit. Bear in mind there might be cheaper options for lenses.
All OMDS
OM 1
7-14 F2.8
12-40 F2.8
40-150 F2.8
150-400, varying max aperture.
300 F4.
60 F2.8 macro. I think the 90mm macro is available.
There are two teleconverters available, useable on some of those lenses.
All the above are premium lenses. The OM 1 has capabilities beyond what Canon offers, some of them useful for you wildlife photography.
You could add an additional OM 1 or an OM 5 for video, and perhaps a separate lens for it, to give you full interchangeability for stills and video.
You are using the centre portion of lenses designed for 35mm cameras. This kit is all designed for the camera body being used. It's lot lighter, can certainly be used to make photos you cannot with Canon cameras.
I am not recommending you change now, but it would be useful information for your audience. You could do the same sort of comparison with Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm.
Great thoughts
Great tips Kevin. About the first one, I never wait the perfect weather conditions, I just go outdoor even if it's raining!! Staying in nature is much more important than weather forecasts, unless there's a big, big storm 😅 Regardless your last bonus tips, I'm like you. My wife tells me that I'm a bear, and I go in nature on my own, even though where there's some friends of mine I'm really happy and we can share ours experiences, that is really good for getting a better nature photographer. Until your next video, take care!! Ciao
Thanks bro
Nice video. Things that can hold us back? Getting stuck on certain settings and not being brave enough to try other things and fail, because sometimes you win, and you always learn. ATB MMMD
You bet. I'd rather fail at trying something different, than be really great at one thing but never trying to expand my mind as an artist. Thanks for watching. 📸
Love this. Ty
Thank you 😊
Very nice video and information!
Thanks Jrod
Living in Illinois it gets pretty overcast regularly especially in the cold months. I get burned out on the overcast shots so by February Im suffering from fatigue and bored. I get tired of capturing the same shots over and over. Makes me not even wanna go out. I need to move lol.
Haha I totally feel ya. I'm from Ohio. We get the same weather 7 months of the year lol.
But if I use that as an excuse, I'll never go out. But I agree, I need to move as well, 😂
Happy shooting bro. 📸
Hi Kevin, love the video, I too use Neo as my sole source of editing, but there is no one out there doing videos of Neo editing tips for wildlife! Lots for landscape and portrait but zilch for bird photography, so we have to adjust to fit, for example there is portrait bokh in Neo but it does not recognise birds or animals, any tips aimed at us birders would be great.
Yeah I may make a video on editing photos, I just find a lot of that type of content boring. But it does have it's place like gear talk. If enough folks want an edit tutorial I may do one. Thanks as always for your support Ron. Happy shooting 📸
I used to care about what others thought of my pics and I found out quick it's better to not care because the minute you change your picture to please one person, another tells you they think you should do it another way. And the next 10 people can all have different ways to do the same picture and I've found that you usually aren't doing anything wrong, people just have different tastes so who are you going to please. Easiest to just please #1. Just think ... if Picasso hadn't painted his way, there wouldn't have been a Picasso, so be true to yourself as an artist.
Well said Saxon. 👍
Hey Kevin, you are crushing brother with the videos and now the podcast. I really enjoy your videos and I am working on ideas to try getting in front of the camera a bit. It's something I didn't think I would ever do, but one has to try new things or they never grow or advance their self. Greg
Thanks man. Yeah being on camera sometimes can be nervous lol
HAPPY shooting friends 📸
I'm not one into consumerism. I have been into photography for over 50 years. I've just turned 69. I got my canon xs in 08. I still use it. I got my t7 in 2021. I was given my canon 75 300 4 in 2012. It from an easy slr. I have never had the resources to do the upgrading but I am thankful for what God has provided and strive to make the best of that. Thanks for you helpful encouraging video.
Great way to look at things Murray
One thing that I've learned that hinders growth is specializing in one genre too much be open to doing things outside your comfort zone. If you do wildlife try a stab at portraiture and vice versa.
Excellent point 💯 being comfortable can definitely hinder our growth as photographers
kevin, why do my birds in flight come out ok but the hawks are blurry
That I'm not sure Peter. Could be a verity of things from your settings, shutter speed, to tripod/no tripod AF issues, animal tracking, distance from subject, weather, wind, movement, a lot can effect our shots.
yeah, i think its distance and cropping to much , other birds are a lot closer , i think 400mm dosent have the reach, i have tried an extender but it doesnt focus fast enough , my settings are ok, anyway thanks for your reply kevin.
This kinda looked like the rail trail in York, pa. I was thinking to myself, could this TH-camr really be local to me? 😂😂😂
😆
Well, that software you are using is marking your photos with horizontal lines. Check them again and you will see it.
Thanks for the feedback bro. I'll look into it. May be user error lol
Loved your quote. I’m right at 60 and I think I feel like the 18 year old and the 60 year old lol
Lol 🤣
Several times I find that something non-photography related, makes me hurry too much.
Totally agree George
awesome scapes
Thank you
While I in noway mean this is an insult, I think you had one of the shortest " breaks" from YT that I have personally witnessed.
Something that I see on YT that keeps people from growing the photography skills is the amount of time that is consumed by their efforts to make a video they consider YT worthy. If on a average outing of 4 hours you spend time setting up video, doing remakes due to mistakes, filming walk aways then walking back to retrieve camera for next position what amount of time is actually spent working soully on practicing photography? It's comparable to going on a photography outing and spending the entire time on social media letting everyone know your doing "photography".
I know my opinion will not be popular with YT'ers but give it some thought! I'm a photographer and have been for 40+ years and I'm still practicing.
No disrespect here my dude. Yeah I still need to take a break. I guess folks don't truly understand the difficulty of balancing video and photo unless one does it. It truly is difficult trying to find balance. It takes 20 hours (2 days) of planning, travel, filming, editing video, thumbnail, and uploading, just so folks see a 15 minute video.
I appreciate your opinion as always brother. Finding balance to do photography while filming is not easy. A lot of times when the camera is turned off I do photography just for myself that you guys don't even see, photos that never make it in the video, and trips I go out that never make it on YT that are dedicated just for myself. I head out 3-4 times a week. Only one being for YT.
A break is still needed though. I just enjoy making content so it's hard to take a long break when TH-cam will punish you for it.
Anyways thanks for the duologue. I appreciate your feedback as always.
Also now that you brought it up, this may be a great discussion for a video topic lol
This could have been an email.
Good idea
Stop putting pressure on the camera mount man.. it's hurting my heart 😵
It's not as much weight as you would think. My arm is putting barely any pressure on the lens hood. But I totally understand how it could look bad lol 😆
@@KevinNordstrom lol.. because of those guns you got 😉
Hahahaha 🤣 I see what ya did there 🤔
@@KevinNordstrom 😂 but only appreciated as a bro.. I am heterosexual
That makes two of us lmao 🤣
Bird watching is simply cruel.
Thanks for watching
Who the hell has money to upgrade every single year???
Hahaha for real 😝
With all due respect you should really work on your composition
Thanks I'll keep that in mind 📸
The audacity to have such limited skills and also tell people what to do. Learn first and then teach, or have a different, more humble approach.
Thanks for the kind words 😊
Wow...this is brutal man. It does not take ''audacity'' nor arrogance. It just takes the envy to share a passion. I'm a old Tx blues player but I also played in philarmonics for yrs. You can imagine what I feel when I turn the radio on. Yet, every day I hear people playing who have not half my experience (or even skills if you want) and who are really amazing in what they do or in the energy they give around. Please let us not forget who we are : human beeings amongst other humans beeings. Share your beauty, and keep judgment away. You'll make a longer and happier life.
It's all good. It's the internet. Folks wouldn't dare say anything to your face. I got thick skin and nothing really bothers me on social media. LMAO.
Some folks just want to make themselves feel better which is whatever. I DO however encourage constructive criticism as I am always learning