Here's a eagle I found along the river about 10 mins from my house... it was cloudy and overcast, he was perched on a snag not far off the road. I had to go past him and park and sneak back along the road...I only got two shots before he took off....Also got a few shots of some bluebirds that have showed up recently and a few others...all taken with 500 f/4 + 1.4 tc
Hi Donald,
Beautiful photos. I can almost feel the feathers of the bluebirds. The duck photos have super colors and convey the sensation of motion while retaining sharpness on the heads.
GENE
Nice shots, Donald, and congratulations on your 500/4 (I'm having lens envy). I like the pose in the second eagle shot, but the bluebird shots are just fantastic (especially that first one). Did you have to take the eagle handheld or were you able to bring a monopod back with you for those shots? I imagine that lens could get a tad heavy.
Thanks for looking Dave....I took the eagle shots and the ducks handheld..the bluebirds were taken with a Gitzo 3530 w/ Wimberley 2. The 500 is not really that bad to handhold, it just takes some time to figure out the best method to hold it steady...I would not want to handhold it all day but for short periods it works really well. I was shooting with a 400 5.6 before I got the 500 and I thought I had a pretty good long lens technique...lol When I first starting using the 500 I thought something had gone wrong with my camera as I couldn't get a really sharp picture...then I thought there was something wrong with the lens...after hundreds of focus test shots etc. I finally realized the problem was me and not the camera or lens...lol Learning this stuff on my own gets frustrating at times as I don't know anyone that's into wildlife photography in my area...I've still got a long ways to go but it's getting to be more fun now. Sorry for the long winded reply...
