?Trying out my new 300 f4IS + tele

Netgarden

I lucked out, just when I was walking back inside from my house after 25 minutes of not one bird... here came a vulture and he was kind enough to circle me so I could to practice! I couldn't believe it.:thumb
[the first one I also combined two photos I took that day because he never got right under the moon, darn it, so I cheated and put him in front of the full size moon shot, lolol] I'm gonna love my first L! Got 420mm w/teleconverter. Any ideas to make this shot better, much appreciated! Some of them had really hard edges around the contrasting front wings. I actually had to soften those edges. Is that usual? thanks

Rohirrim

Nice captures of the vulture. Not sure what to say about the edges. I don't see them in your shots. Were they present after sharpening? or before?

Netgarden

Rohirrim wrote:

Nice captures of the vulture. Not sure what to say about the edges. I don't see them in your shots. Were they present after sharpening? or before?

Thanks Steve, I used the soften brush on the edges between the tips of the wings and the face/beak on both sides. It was so bright out, the originals showed it [a real contrasty line] before I even did any unsharp mask. I actually softened the edge before and after. It almost looked like a painting straight out of the camera/ Should I have made my aperture smaller a little when its that bright? [you can see it even more in the last photo] exif, iso 400, f5, 1/800s

jwear

the nikon 300 f8 is a good spot with light for bif and the vul. is more difficult than one would think to expose but with good light

Netgarden

jwear wrote:

the nikon 300 f8 is a good spot with light for bif and the vul. is more difficult than one would think to expose but with good light

So try for f8 next time? Or lower my iso, you think when its that bright?

Also, I am so used to one shot shooting, I could not hear the IS kicking in or the refocusing going on in Al servo. Is that normal to not hear it? I ended up with 5 out of 1o shots in focus. Is that about normal with Al servo? I wasn't quite sure whether to refocus with shutter button or not. thanks

jwear

Netgarden wrote:

So try for f8 next time? Or lower my iso, you think when its that bright?

Also, I am so used to one shot shooting, I could not hear the IS kicking in or the refocusing going on in Al servo. Is that normal to not hear it? I ended up with 5 out of 1o shots in focus. Is that about normal with Al servo? I wasn't quite sure whether to refocus with shutter button or not. thanks

ok but this is just me -I find that most everyone is a bit dif. but I like the lowest iso I can use and the last few days I have been trying using higher iso and to me the nikon and iso are not friends but the canon is way different so the iso advice needs to come from a --what do they call a canon shooter oh you get the idea someone will come along with iso advice for you and 50% is good as you get a handel on it you may go to 55% really 50% is good

Rohirrim

Netgarden wrote:

So try for f8 next time? Or lower my iso, you think when its that bright?

Also, I am so used to one shot shooting, I could not hear the IS kicking in or the refocusing going on in Al servo. Is that normal to not hear it? I ended up with 5 out of 1o shots in focus. Is that about normal with Al servo? I wasn't quite sure whether to refocus with shutter button or not. thanks

I also prefer shooting with as low an ISO as possible. Some people don't mind the noise, but I hate it. In flight shots require a fast shutter speed though, so you will often have to shoot at ISO 400. A minimum of 1/1000 is a good rule of thumb.

I've never shot that lens, but from reviews on this site (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-300mm-f-4.0-L-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx) it's only a little sharper at 4.5 than at 4.0. I would try and shoot at the highest aperature (lowest number you can) unless your trying to increase your DOF. Your max Aperature with the 1.4TC should be 5.6 (I think ). This will also help keep your shutter speed up.

From your EXIF it looks like thats what you had, but your Shutter Speed was 1/800 which is a little slow, so you would have probably had to go to a higher ISO to get 1/1000. Though vultures are relatively slow, so you can sometimes go lower.

Regarding the dark lines (Halos??). Were you shooting RAW or JPEG? If you were shooting JPEG, did you have in camera sharpening on? If you did this may explain the halos?

Anyway to sum it up (from my perspective) for in flight shots

• Aperature priority mode is best
• Try and keep shutter speed > 1/1000
• Shoot either early morning, or early evening to try and prevent the harsh shadows on the underside of the bird.
• I also shoot in short bursts, I think this allows the camera to refocus. Not sure if this is absolutely necessary, may be just my technique needs more work.

Sorry for the long winded reply. Probably gave you way more info then you wanted.

Friendly tip: Adding an EXIF link to your photos is always helpful.

Regards,

jwear

steve

Netgarden

jwear wrote:

steve

Thanks Steve and Jeff. Very helpful! OK, and in short bursts do you mean multiple shots w/one shutter press, or do you press for each shot with a refocus? thanks

Rohirrim

Netgarden wrote:

Thanks Steve and Jeff. Very helpful! OK, and in short bursts do you mean multiple shots w/one shutter press, or do you press for each shot with a refocus? thanks

One press- 3-4 shots, then recompose and go again. By shooting bursts of 3-4 shots I feel it helps me get better focus and a chance to recompose the shot.