Well, so far I am enjoying the new 100-400 , getting used to the size (haven't broken anything yet carring it around)
It was quite sunny yesterday afternoon and the dragonflies were enjoying the breeze and catching mosquito's. Set up the tripod and experimented with various angles, F stops and shutter speeds, and with/without IS. I think I was getting close to the min focal distance of 6 feet. These are cropped down about 50%
I took a lot of photo's and in general had a tough time getting exactly the shots I wanted.... I think these are the best 2. (I don't have a release to help eliminate shake.... next on my "to buy" list)
These are nice Lucky. I suggest bumping the iso up to at least 800 to help with shutter speed. You might also want to google "long lens technique" Moose Peterson has a nice, shot article on the subject ~ Ron
Hi Lucky , very nice ! I knew your first shots would be nice.
I don't know canon gear, but here is what I do when trying to shoot the dragons.
Auto ISO - I usually shoot in manual exposure and let the camera pick the ISO. This gives me a bit more flexibility to increase the shutter speed and /or the depth of field with the aperture. I am learning the max. ISO I can shoot without too much noise. I do noise reduction in post. Of course you can set the ISO yourself and change it, but sometimes I just don't think that fast as the lighting conditions change
I try and keep my shutter speed at 500 min and higher if at all possible. Sometime I will go to 320 if on a tripod and in poor light .
I use spot metering and meter off the dragon as I want the dragon exposed properly. Will deal with the background in post.
Single Point Auto Focus for the dragons when they are perched like this and try and focus on the eye.
EV - Exposure Valuation -- I usually take one shot at the aperture and shutter I want, look at the histogram and then adjust my EV button if I am too under or over exposed. On my camera, I can deal with a bit of overexposure ( no blown highlights ) in post better than underexposure.
Flash- I try to do natural light most of the time. However I will sometime use flash as fill. You have to be careful that the flash is not aimed at the eyes as it just adds some very harsh highlights that I find impossible to deal with in post .
Backgrounds -- just changing your position or camera angle just a little bit will sometimes give you the clean background . Obviously this is not always the case, but sometimes it is amazing what a little change will produce in the background. If I have a cooperative dragon, which some are very kind that way, play around with the position .
Most important -- Enjoy being out and seeing the wonders of nature no matter what shots are produced.
You got some very useful comments already, Lucky. I will only add that a great way to take good pictures is to take pictures So, keep shooting and keep posting! You are already doing very good
Socrate
I think you are off to a fine start. It takes a while to learn longer lenses. Birdie is one of the best at Dragons, follow her advise and you'll be off and running in no time!
These are nice and you are off to a great start. I absolutely love using my 100-400 for dragons and butterflies. I do sometimes use a tripod or monopod, but not all the time. Usually if there is decent light you will get pretty high shutter speeds to be able to hand hold, if not I would use a tripod or sometime I will just extend 2 legs on the tripod and be more mobile.
The biggest tip I have to offer is to use an extension tube! A 12MM tube is all you need. I just love it.
Check out my gallery. The first couple may have been from this year and I used a 400 prime, but everything from 2010 was shot with a 40D and 100-400 and a 12 mm tube.
Also keep at it because they slow down in the fall and become easier to get close to. I did find that some places they would never stop and another place they did. I think even different days made a difference on how close they would let me get.
