An Attempt At Eagles…

greenpea

This morning I got up early, and with a friend I drove up to the little town of Rockport Washington on the Skagit River (about 100 miles North of Seattle). Every year during December and January hundreds of migratory bald eagles appear along the shores of the river to feast on spanning salmon. Their numbers reach their peak around the third or forth week of December. Last year I made a feeble attempt to shoot the eagles with my little cheap 70-300mm. This year I stepped up and rented a 200-400mm f4 VR monster along with a 1.7 TC.

I think need a bigger and much faster lens still…

dallas

Very good try Greenpea.......get the shutter speed up some way, because it looks like a great Eagle opportunity

greenpea

dallas wrote:

Very good try Greenpea.......get the shutter speed up some way, because it looks like a great Eagle opportunity

Thank you dallas. I should have bosted the iso, I didn't think about it until too late.

kdog

Not bad at all for your first attempts, Greenpea. I'll take eagle shots anyway I can get them. The motion blur is kind of cool, actually. Looking towards seeing some more. Practice, practice.

Regards,
-joel

Harryb

Any eagle shot is a good shot. I would try to crop them a bit more and on your next try get your shuuter speed up.

greenpea

Thanks Joel, and thanks Harry.

Harry you make it look so easy, I've always been impressed with your eagle pics!

I've cropped the pictures as much as I dare, lest you find out that they are a bit oof. Turns out a big fast VR lens doesn't guarantee sharp pics.

I might be able to make another attempt at the skagit river eagles this year before they leave. If I do I'll just have to bump up that ISO a bit and maybe rent the 400 2.8 and the TC 20E instead. Otherwise I'll go back to practicing at the zoo.

dbaker1221

those are nice shots .

Harryb

greenpea wrote:

Thanks Joel, and thanks Harry.

Harry you make it look so easy, I've always been impressed with your eagle pics!

I've cropped the pictures as much as I dare, lest you find out that they are a bit oof. Turns out a big fast VR lens doesn't guarantee sharp pics.

I might be able to make another attempt at the skagit river eagles this year before they leave. If I do I'll just have to bump up that ISO a bit and maybe rent the 400 2.8 and the TC 20E instead. Otherwise I'll go back to practicing at the zoo.

Don't rent out the 400 2.8!!!:nah That beast is so sweet you will have trouble going back.

Seriously if you need more reach and you're budget has limits consider Tamron and Sigma lenses. You can get fine results from them w/o breaking the bank.

Bump up your ISO, use solid support (a good tripod), and good long lens technique - http://www.moosepeterson.com/techtips/longlens.html
and you should be able to get some knock-out shots

greenpea

This was my first experience attaching my camera to big glass, and let me tell you, it only left me wanting for more!

I figure to be able to get these particular eagles, I need to be up at 500mm+ using lens + tc. These eagles are either high in a tree or on the opposite shore from where a photographer can get to. Tamron does have their slow 200-500 that I've often looked at as a possible future lens. But for now I'm going to limit myself to rental lenses and keep buying lottery tickets.

Dick on Aruba

Good try! Those eagles are awesome. I wish we had them here on Aruba.

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

greenpea

Dick on Aruba wrote:

Good try! Those eagles are awesome. I wish we had them here on Aruba.

Thanks.

I wish I were in Aruba!