Fotografer
27th November 2010, 05:43 PM
Went out today and caught the end of a bird display - bit of a pain that it was semi popular as I was at the back with a lot of heads between me and the birds.</p>
<p>There were a few birds in the display, missed the first mostly - though he did make a diving appearance right at the end (after the guy spent a good 10 mins trying to find him with the tracking machine - little black dot in big blue sky!). Others were either low fliers or hoppers (that is jump along the floor sort). But the Kestral was a lot easier with his hovering habbit letting me get a few lockons with the AF and a chance of finding him in the sky.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All taken with: Canon 400D, Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS + 1.4Teleconverter.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3560881342_4aef80976a.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3560881342_3f9d61a7a1_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3560881342_3f9d61a7a1_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 200, 1/3200sec</p>
<p>After a first hover and a few shots I had a look and realised (even on the LCD) that the bird was coming up rather dark since I don't have spot metering and all the blue sky was giving a very fast shutter speed. So I decided to make the camera overexpose a bit and then used a higher ISO to bring my shutter speed back up. I was working in aperture priority mode so overexposing meant slower shutter - counter that with higher ISO and away we try....</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3560879986_3196e98c92.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3560879986_156615fc05_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3560879986_156615fc05_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 400, 1/4000sec</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/3560063579_7561069831.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/3560063579_2c142349b0_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/3560063579_2c142349b0_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 400, 1/3200sec</p>
<p>clearest shot of him and he is facing the wrong way!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well in the end I think my reach was too little, there is a decent level of sharpness in the shots for the net, but fullsize there is a lot of noise and the kestral has come up rather soft and lacking in details. I think it would have been better to have gone for a smaller aperture rather than slower shutter speeds in ap mode since there was the light to work with.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And now for an owl - just to restor my confidence in myself and gear that we can get a sharp shot now and again (even if the monkey has to get composition understood oneday)</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3560881852_f7d70585ba.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3560881852_cfb5be6b91_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3560881852_cfb5be6b91_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 200, 1/2000sec</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All in one!</p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3560064973_4a0fdd0be4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3560064973_81a768c655_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3560064973_81a768c655_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, 1/1600sec, ISO 200</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Comments and crits welcome - seriously people I need some inflight bird shot advice here -- I have no idea how the rest of you do it - it can't all be down to 1DMIII cameras!</p>
<p>&n
<p>There were a few birds in the display, missed the first mostly - though he did make a diving appearance right at the end (after the guy spent a good 10 mins trying to find him with the tracking machine - little black dot in big blue sky!). Others were either low fliers or hoppers (that is jump along the floor sort). But the Kestral was a lot easier with his hovering habbit letting me get a few lockons with the AF and a chance of finding him in the sky.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All taken with: Canon 400D, Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS + 1.4Teleconverter.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3560881342_4aef80976a.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3560881342_3f9d61a7a1_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3560881342_3f9d61a7a1_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 200, 1/3200sec</p>
<p>After a first hover and a few shots I had a look and realised (even on the LCD) that the bird was coming up rather dark since I don't have spot metering and all the blue sky was giving a very fast shutter speed. So I decided to make the camera overexpose a bit and then used a higher ISO to bring my shutter speed back up. I was working in aperture priority mode so overexposing meant slower shutter - counter that with higher ISO and away we try....</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3560879986_3196e98c92.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3560879986_156615fc05_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3560879986_156615fc05_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 400, 1/4000sec</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/3560063579_7561069831.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/3560063579_2c142349b0_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/3560063579_2c142349b0_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 400, 1/3200sec</p>
<p>clearest shot of him and he is facing the wrong way!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well in the end I think my reach was too little, there is a decent level of sharpness in the shots for the net, but fullsize there is a lot of noise and the kestral has come up rather soft and lacking in details. I think it would have been better to have gone for a smaller aperture rather than slower shutter speeds in ap mode since there was the light to work with.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And now for an owl - just to restor my confidence in myself and gear that we can get a sharp shot now and again (even if the monkey has to get composition understood oneday)</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3560881852_f7d70585ba.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3560881852_cfb5be6b91_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3560881852_cfb5be6b91_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, ISO 200, 1/2000sec</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All in one!</p>
<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3560064973_4a0fdd0be4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3560064973_81a768c655_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3560064973_81a768c655_o.jpg</a></p>
<p>f4, 1/1600sec, ISO 200</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Comments and crits welcome - seriously people I need some inflight bird shot advice here -- I have no idea how the rest of you do it - it can't all be down to 1DMIII cameras!</p>
<p>&n