Fowl

DJ-S1

Good lord, I am about to post wildlife photos! Not my usual thing, but I did get a new lens for just this sort of thing, so here goes. I'm not happy with these at all, but it's a start and I learned a lot. Little things like large aperture + 500mm = damn small DOF, and other fun things.

Way across the water there was a lone heron, not sure what type. I tried to yell over to him that I know Harry but he must not have believed me because he kept his distance. Then this big guy chugged by like a big cabin cruiser...




There were a dozen or so geese making a racket. I saw these two coming together very late and swung around quickly. I kind of got the shot (I wanted more of a heart shape); but it turned out to be through a screen of reeds, too. :wxwax This is the best I could do fixing it in PS, still crappy but what are you gonna do...



Then there was this very accomodating model. He (she?) hung out in front of me for a bit and kept jamming his head underwater for a look-see. Every time he came up the beads of water rolling off his neck looked so cool I had to try to capture it. Needless to say, I didn't.





These were all taken at high noon in full sun (yeah, I know, I know). 20D, Bigma on a tripod. Most at 500mm, so 800mm equivalent. Av mode, f/5.6 (yeah, I know, I know). Nothing came out particularly sharp, I'm assuming due to the aperture. I'll have to try f/8 or higher next time. I also tend to "focus-recompose" by default which can't be good for this sort of thing.

I was prepared for how difficult it would be, and I didn't expect to get anything great the first time out. I was not prepared for how relaxing it would be hanging out with ducks and geese on my lunch break. :thumb

Thanks for looking, any and all advice is appreciated.

Rohirrim

Congrats on the new Lens. I'm not realy familiar with the Bigma, but I usually shoot birds wide open on my Canon 500mm L. Perhaps the Bigma is sharper at a smaller aperature?

Generally for birds I shoot wide open to get the fastest shutter speed I can. As you noted I think the biggest thing against you in this series was the lighting. You might try again in the early morning or late afternoon.

DJ-S1

Thanks Steve, maybe I was wrong about the aperture thing? I thought (after the fact, that is) that wide open at 500mm makes the DOF just a few inches.

I definitely will try going out in the morning or early evening when I get a chance.

Rohirrim

DJ-S1 wrote:

Thanks Steve, maybe I was wrong about the aperture thing? I thought (after the fact, that is) that wide open at 500mm makes the DOF just a few inches.

I definitely will try going out in the morning or early evening when I get a chance.

Your correct the DOF is pretty small, but the advantage of the faster shutter speed outway the negatives of the shallow DOF. The shallow DOF will also give you nicer background blur. I'm looking forward to seeing more!

gluwater

The swan looks pretty sharp, would have been a good shot if it wasn't back lit. Maybe you could have tried to use f/11 or higher and go for a rim lit shot? The three of the geese almost look like they have camera shake, instead of them being oof, but it is hard to tell. Great shots for your first attempt, sometimes I think just being outside with nature is better than the photography. Hope we get to see a lot more from you and your bigma.

Thusie

Oh lighting, lighting, and lighting, dives me nuts..blah! Nice first outing

Harryb

Its a start. You did OK for the lousy lighting you had.