Best of 2009

2009 was a great year for wildlife photography for me. From January until August I lived in the Netherlands and enjoyed there some great bird photography opportunities. Since I am back in the South of Germany wildlife photography has come to a minimum. A few weeks ago I realized that I haven't used my Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM for nearly half a year and I haven't had a chance to test it with my new Canon 7D.
At the moment I am browsing through some old images and making a selection for the upcoming competitions and I thought it might be nice to make a short "Best of 2009" selection and post it here on my blog so that I at least have some updates here ;-).

2009 I focused on 5 specific subjects: - Short-eared Owls - Purple Herons - Bluethroat - Black-tailed Godwits - Marsh Harriers

I am very satisfied with the results I achieved last year and i really hope that I get some more nice images this, even though the outlook for 2010 is not looking so good at the moment for me, as it is my last year of my studies.

So here are my 10 most favorite images of 2009













All of these images were taken with my favorite combination : Canon 1D IIn and the Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM in combination with either a Kenko 1.4x or a Soligor 1.7x converter.

I hope that I have time in February to go to Belgium again to photograph Short-eared Owls.

Sebastian Erras
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Panoramas in the forests

I haven't had time lately to shoot much wildlife images and there isn't much wildlife to shoot here in the south of Germany at the moment. So I went out and shot some panoramas in the local forests.

I love the panorama format and I really like the results of my trips to the forests.
The Sigma 24mm/1.8 EX DG has become my favourite panorama lens. I made some great panorama images during my trip to China in August. I didn't have a tripod with me so I used it handheld all the time and the results were great. I try to keep it simple so I don't use a big and complicated panorama setup. I use Photoshops Photomerge as a stitching software and it works great for me. The results are great and I hardly have any problems with the overlapping of images nor ghosting effects in the images. Even if I use it handheld.
The Panorama images of the forests were made with a tripod and 3-Way Head, because I needed a lot of depth-of-field, which results usually in slow shutter speeds.

So here are some panorama images, I shot lately:



I finally received my new Canon 7D last week and I didn't really have time to fully test it yet. I took it with me last time to photograph mushrooms in the forest. Actually the last 2 panorama images here are made with the Canon 7D and the Sigma 24/1.8. My first impressions are really positive. I love the Live View function for macros and landscapes and the new screen is just amazing compared to the one in my 1D IIn and 400D.
I will post a few impressions of the 7D later this week.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography
www.naturfoto-erras.de

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2.Place Fritz Pölking Junior Award

I was really happy when I heared that the GDT decided to award also the 2nd and 3rd Place of the Fritz Pölking Nachwuchspreis and that I got the 2nd place.

This is my first and International award and this is the Portfolio that got me 2nd place:

"Birdphotography - My Passion"

The winner of the Fritz Pölking Nachwuchspreis was Fergus Gill from Scottland. He won with a portfolio of wildlife images in winter. He is just 17 and already has some amazing images.

See his great images here: Fergus Gill

I also entered the Eric Hoskin Award and got into the final round, but unfortunately the Jury decided not to award any winner as they decided that the entered portfolios were not strong enough. This is the second time in a row that they did and I am seriously considering not to enter this category next year anymore.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de



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International Nature Festival in Lünen

This weekend I will be travelling to Lünen to the International Nature Festival organized by the german GDT.
I am looking forward to seeing some old friends there and watching some very impressive presentations by some great nature photographers.
I will also have the chance to check out the latest camera equipment and I will try to get my hands on the new Canon 7D. A camera which I finally offers nearly all the things I need as a naturephotographer.

I will post some images and some other great news :-) next week, when I will be back.

I can only recommend to check out the winning images of the ENJ and the WPOTY which will be published this weekend.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography Read more

Back again

So finally I am back to good old Germany. I have been 2 wonderful weeks to China to see Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong and it was a pretty amazing trip. I took a lot of picture, but I didn't get the chance to shoot any wildlife there.
Then I went for 4 weeks to the South of France to see my Girlfriend. We made a few trips to the local flamingo ponds and to the Camargue. It was pretty hot there and full of mosquitoes.

Unfortunately I didn't bring my Sigma 500 due to the strict weight restrictions with Ryanair. I jsut brought a few lenses and my Sigma 100-300/4. I was able to get some shots of the flamingos, but I would have wished to have my Sigma 500 for the extra reach with me.

Here are some shots of the flamingos:

All shots were taken with the Canon 1D IIn and the Sigma 100-300/4 HSM handheld.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography Sebastian Erras

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Off to China

It has been pretty busy for me in the last 4 weeks and I haven't managed to go seriously photographing the last weeks. Saturday will be my last day in the Netherlands and after 2 years living and photographing in the Netherlands time has come to move on.
On Sunday I will leave for a 2 week trip to China to visit Shanghai, Beijing and HongKong. Of course I will take my camera with mye, but my Sigma 500/4.5 will stay at home, as I am not planning to do serious wildlife photography. Maybe I will get some changes to photograph urban wildlife.
After my China trip I will directly go further for 4 weeks to the south of France to see my girlfriend. She lives close to the Camargue and maybe if I find time I will go there again and photograph some birds there.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras

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Pirmasenser Fototage 2009

This I had the chance to show some of my work at the Pirmasenser Fototage in Germany togehter with some other wildlife photographers. In the city of Pirmasens images of several photographers from all kind of genres are displayed at different locations throughout the city.
The nature images are displayed at the Dynamikum in Pirmasens and can still be seen there until the 20th of June.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to go to there myself, as it is quite far away from Amsterdam. However I received some images of the exhibiton from friends who visited it and photographers who also showed some of their work there.

Here are some impressions of the exhibiton at the Dynamikum:

Thanks to Thomas Block for letting me show the images here.

If you have time thsi weekend and live close to Pirmasens than I would recommend you to see the images. Note that also the images of last year's European Wildlife Photographer of the Year are shown at the Dynamikum. I have seen these images last year in Lünen at the International Naturfotofestival of the GDT and the images are stunning!

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

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