First wildlife shots with the 70-200 f4L

Thusie · October 7, 2005

Ok had to get a couple squirrels in:D. Not a real good day (rain) to be out futzing around so they are shots from the back door. The first one I was going for the youngster in the tree but sort of ended up liking the background:scratch So it is cropped. The second one was just trying to get a shot period, he had major squirrel happy feet. Comments appreciated.

Ric Grupe · October 7, 2005

70-200? :d

Thusie · October 7, 2005

Ric Grupe wrote:

70-200? :d

Yea that one...I have happy fingers. geez

Osprey Whisperer · October 7, 2005

Thusie wrote:

Yea that one...I have happy fingers. geez

I'd say you were a nut but don't think you'd find me very punny. You'll have to forgive me. It's been raining for several days...and not getting out to shoot has made me a little squirrelly.

Nice tree rats.

MM

DavidTO · October 7, 2005

Thusie,

I fixed the thread title for you.

Thusie · October 7, 2005

You'll have to forgive me. It's been raining for several days...and not getting out to shoot has made me a little squirrelly.

Nice tree rats.

>>>

Quite understandable, rain and all:D Have 15 wingnuts still in house and 11 outside in pens..squirrelly??? Did you mention..Nah

Thanks on the pictures

Thusie · October 7, 2005

DavidTO wrote:

Thusie,

I fixed the thread title for you.

Thank you!

Ric Grupe · October 7, 2005

Hey...

Thusie wrote:

Yea that one...I have happy fingers. geez

I was hoping for a lens with that range!

The 70-200L f/4 is a great lens.

Thusie · October 7, 2005

Ric Grupe wrote:

I was hoping for a lens with that range!

The 70-200L f/4 is a great lens.

I love it, need to learn how to use it:): Me thinks Don would prefer the 20-700, minus the 20

Harryb · October 8, 2005

Thye look pretty good for rats .... I mean squirrels.

Pretty good results with a new lens. You should be able to get some good shots with that lens.

Thusie · October 9, 2005

Harryb wrote:

Thye look pretty good for rats .... I mean squirrels. Pretty good results with a new lens. You should be able to get some good shots with that lens.

Thank you Harry!

Its still RAINING! :cry

Now a question for anyone. Birds in flight, I'm lost as to what settings to use. Reason I'm asking is we have a goofy juvie Coopers that comes though every day same time. (they are actually pretty predictable birds) I really want to try for an in-flight hunting shot. Granted probably way beyond my skill level, but with some basic info I should get quite a bit of practice:D

Harryb · October 9, 2005

Thusie wrote:

Thank you Harry!

Its still RAINING! :cry

Now a question for anyone. Birds in flight, I'm lost as to what settings to use. Reason I'm asking is we have a goofy juvie Coopers that comes though every day same time. (they are actually pretty predictable birds) I really want to try for an in-flight hunting shot. Granted probably way beyond my skill level, but with some basic info I should get quite a bit of practice:D

The key to sharp flight shots is shutter speed. Normally I shoot in aperture priority but for flight shots you want to keep your shutter speed up to around 1/1000 sec. If possible you want to avoid backlit subjects, that makes the degree of difficulty a lot harder. Since the Cooper will be normally darker than your background you would want to do a positive EV adjustment.

Since you seem to know where he will be coming in you want to set up so you can lock on to him before he gets into shooting range and then just start tracking him as he gets in closer and into shooting range. Its possible to get flight shoots "shooting from the hip" but your keeper ratio is much higher if you can track.

Skippy · October 9, 2005

Well thats not fair

Thusie wrote:

Ok had to get a couple squirrels in:D. Not a real good day (rain) to be out futzing around so they are shots from the back door. The first one I was going for the youngster in the tree but sort of ended up liking the background So it is cropped. The second one was just trying to get a shot period, he had major squirrel happy feet. Comments appreciated.

How come you get the squirrel??? what gives??
I go all the way over to the USA for 7 weeks and I don't get one single squirrel shot? hmmmmmm that aint right

Least you can feed that little fellow and encourage him to keep coming back so you can keep photographing him

Bet ya cant wait to try the lens out in good weather

I'm hanging out to get to the Zoo, but the weather hear sucks too.
I want to try my lens out too.......happy shooting Thusie looking forward to seeing more of your shot with this lens........ Skippy (Australia)

Thusie · October 9, 2005

Harryb wrote:

Since you seem to know where he will be coming in you want to set up so you can lock on to him before he gets into shooting range and then just start tracking him as he gets in closer and into shooting range. Its possible to get flight shoots "shooting from the hip" but your keeper ratio is much higher if you can track.

Thanks again Harry. Positive EV, I would not have got that right at all among other things.

Couple more quesions. I'm going to assume that with the fast shutter speed the aperature will be wide open? Or can it be stopped down if it is a real bright morning? ISO maybe 400? Or should I just set the shutter/EV and let well enough alone. Sorry for all the questions.

I 'should' be able to track. He comes in about 15' above the gound, west side of the house in the AM so that should be a bonus as far as the sun goes? This will be fun no matter how it turns out.