Wild Ponies at Assateaque Island

EdMac · Jul 27, 2005

Spent some time testerday on Assateaque Island looking for wild ponies. It was in the hi ninties, and the ponies were all staying near water. There was a heavy haze that made photography difficult. Here are a few. Comments welcome, as always.

The first three were taken, handheld, with my Nikon 80-400 VR Kenko 1.4 TC and my D100.

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This group was taken with my Colpix 5200

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TOLady · Jul 27, 2005

Lovely images. I've heard of the wild horses of Sable Island off Nova Scotia, but not these.
Tell us more about them, pls.

EdMac · Jul 27, 2005

Wild Ponies

TOLady said:
Lovely images. I've heard of the wild horses of Sable Island off Nova Scotia, but not these.
Tell us more about them, pls.

Thanks for your comments. I was at the north end of the Island in a part that is a Maryland State park. The best way to describe the ponies is to point you to the following link.

http://www.atbeach.com/mdstpark/horses.html

Gale · Jul 27, 2005

Great shots Ed,

Looks like the haze I was trying to shoot the shuttl launch through. eekkk

Great images.
Imagine that, just wandering around, in traffic, down the road. Hummmm.

dmwphoto · Jul 27, 2005

Nice shots Ed. That is a great place to go shooting.

EdMac · Jul 27, 2005

Haze

Gale said:
Great shots Ed,

Looks like the haze I was trying to shoot the shuttl launch through. eekkk

Great images.
Imagine that, just wandering around, in traffic, down the road. Hummmm.

Hi Gale,
Right now we are facing the 3 H's. Hazy Hot and Humid. Today it got to 100 on my deck. Thanks for your comments.

EdMac · Jul 27, 2005

Great Place

dmwphoto said:
Nice shots Ed. That is a great place to go shooting.

Hi Dave,

Thanks, it really is. We used to camp near there eery year.

EdMac · Jul 27, 2005

Wild Horses

Nikam said:
Great shots, Ed. I'll bet wild horses coudn't drag you away from there. (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

Thanks for the link you gave Sandi. It looks like an interesting place to visit. We have some wild horses out in the Chilcotin area of BC, but unfortunately, they are not protected like they are in the U.S. As a consequence, their population is rapidly declining.

Hi Dennis,

Tahnks for your nice comments. Yes it is a very nice place to visit. I like the north end of the island because the population of ponies is more natural. The ponies in the south are more controlled, and part of an annual festival.

Kevin Scott · Jul 27, 2005

How cool are these! Great shots and interesting topic! Thanks for posting these.

EdMac · Jul 28, 2005

Cool

Kevin Scott said:
How cool are these! Great shots and interesting topic! Thanks for posting these.

Hi Kevin,

Thank you so much for your nice comments. I have always been fascinated with the wild ponies.

EdMac · Jul 28, 2005

Haze

jczinn said:
hi Ed, lovely shots. I actually think the haze adds to the atmosphere of the photos, especially in that first shot. Isn't Assateauge a wonderful spot?

Hi Janet,

The heat and haze were pretty oppressive. I had the 300 f2.8 with me, but it was too hotto take the time t set it up. The ole 80-400 VR came in handy.

Gale · Jul 28, 2005

Hi again Ed,

Forgot to tell you I ordered that conveerter from B&H.. Should have it in a day or two.

Thanks...

Wanted to take another look at the Ponies again also. So many different patterns.. They are really very pretty.
Job well done

Yes HHH also here. But I do not look foward to
Cold, damp, and humid.

EdMac · Jul 28, 2005

Kenko

Gale said:
Hi again Ed,

Forgot to tell you I ordered that conveerter from B&H.. Should have it in a day or two.

Thanks...

Wanted to take another look at the Ponies again also. So many different patterns.. They are really very pretty.
Job well done

Yes HHH also here. But I do not look foward to
Cold, damp, and humid.

Hi Gale,

I am sure that you will enjoy the Kenko Pro 300 TC 1.4. It works with the 80-400 VR. You may find that you get more focus hunting in low light, but that is only because of the loss of 1 f-stop. Enjoy

EdMac · Jul 28, 2005

Haze

Flew said:
Ed,

Very nice shots of some beautiful animals. I agree with Janet that the haze actually adds to the ambiance of the scenes.

Hi Frank,

Thank you for the nice comments. It was a very hot and humid day. In fact I didn't even try to get the 300 f2.8 out of it's case. I am sure that it would have given me better results.

Gale · Jul 28, 2005

ED,
Thank you for that info. Here in Fla is is very bright, so hopefully I will not have a prob. I will have to waste a day practicing.

What best setting do you recommend.....

EdMac · Jul 28, 2005

Settings

Gale said:
ED,
Thank you for that info. Here in Fla is is very bright, so hopefully I will not have a prob. I will have to waste a day practicing.

What best setting do you recommend.....

Hi Gale,

I don't have any specific settings when using the Kenko. Usually I start in P mode, and go from there. That gives me a baseline on the current lighting. The first thing I try is increasing the ISO trying not to go much above ISO 400. I am not too steady, so I also use auto ISO and shutter priority to get the shutter speed up over 1/120. If I can use a tripod, I do. Obviously the histogram is very important in any of my decisions. Most of my problems have been soft pictures due to camera shake, when trying to take pictures at lower than 1/ 120 second. Janet is very steady, and can get much sharper results. I am just getting too shaky in my old age. I hope that this helps.

greyflash · Jul 28, 2005

Thanks for sharing these Ed, my favorite is the first one.