Red-shouldered Hawk at Everglades National Park on 5 March 2021. Nikon D850, Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6, 500mm, f/6.3, 1/320s, ISO500.

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Here are a couple more from the set.

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Thanks. The last shot is a crop of the first shot.

Thank you all. Have been enjoying the challenges of photographing wildlife (mostly birds). It's a great hobby in many ways. Gives a great excuse for me and my wife to travel and hike and the technical challenges are fun. We've visited 29 National Parks in the last two years. Only 34 to go!

Unfortunately didn't see. I did see one drop it right over my head and another swooped in to grab it. Missed that shot as I thought I was about to have an eel on my neck.

Visited Dry Tortugas National Park earlier this month and while photographing the Magnificent Frigatebirds circling over Fort Jefferson, noticed one swoop down and grab something from the water. They passed this Spotted Snake Eel back and forth for several minutes. Kids playing with their lunch. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 on March 3, 2021.

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I tried 200-500 and recommend going with lower focal length. I would try ~120mm or so. At 200mm, the comet filled the frame. There is only the slightest crop in the above picture and that was only to remove some gradient at the bottom.

Comet Neowise from Shenandoah National Park on 7/14. Nikon D850, Nikkor 200-500mm @200mm, ISO3200, f/6.3, 25x4sec stacked using Sequator. These were on a fixed tripod so there is some amount of star trail.

Jeff

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Comet Neowise from Shenandoah National Park on 7/14. Nikon D850, Nikkor 200-500mm @200mm, ISO3200, f/6.3, 25x4sec stacked using Sequator. These were on a fixed tripod so there is some amount of star trail.

Jeff

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I will add that this particular pass was very high overhead and long. As you look at passes over your area, you'll see that some are only a couple minutes and not high overhead. I had a clear night, a 5 minute pass culminating in passing nearly right overhead which all contribute to getting to good resolution.

Yes. Handheld. Far easier to track by hand and fast shutter speed gives a lot of freedom.

I use the App ISS Live Now on my Android. It even gives me a couple minute alert that it's about to be in view.

Since first posting, I've increased the size of the images to make it easier to see the detail I was seeing in LR.

Last night, while the ISS was passing overhead northern VA, I did an experiment with the D850 and Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6. I was a bit surprised to get so much detail. SpaceX is currently docked with the station and while I can't make out that capsule, I can clearly make out the sets of vertical solar arrays on both ends of the station. Shots were @460mm, f/7.1 and f/5.6, 1/8000s, ISO 2500. The better shots shown here were both at maximum altitude overhead. Both are extremely cropped.

Updated to increase size of files.

Jeff

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Gray Catbird, Nikon D850, Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 @f/7.1, 1/500s, ISO1250 in Northern Virgina. These birds are beautiful and make a lot of varied calls similar to a Mockingbird.

Jeff

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I got them all as they were departing towards Manassas Airport but I was shooting at 500mm and so they were pretty far away by the time they were all in the shot. Nothing usable.