Great to see that Peter has cranked-it-up for winter. I had the good fortune to attend a local skating holiday show, and got to sit with the skaters at ice-level, with no plexi-glass or netting in the way of shooting.
These are a few from the +500 I took over the 3 hour show, and provided a DVD to each of the skating clubs for the performers to have a memory or two of their exihibition. I used the 5D MkII and 7D in AI servo, along with the 135mm f2 and 70mm-200mm f2.8 MkII (with IS on Mode 2). The ISO's ran up to 3200 on both bodies, with the 5D MkII having the noise edge over the 7D.
safcraft wrote:
You know, i believe the point of this kind of thread is to show THIS SEASON pictures.
Not the ones we took last year of the year before. Go out and shoot more guys!
I thoroughly agree with you…however, in my case, waiting for winter to arrive here is an exercise in fultility. So instead, here's one from the vault while I was traveling somewhere that actually has four seasons!
With the windchill factor it was about -10 deg C by the lake this morning , and the wind kept buffeting the long lens used (800L) which made hand-holding rather unstable despite IS.
In particular, BIF shooting became quite difficult because of thus caused lack of steadiness on top of intrinsic 800L AF limitations. Took the hood off, but even that was not enough to mitigate the sail effect upon the lens.
However, the light was good. Can't have it all.
Here is a Bufflehead drake with nicely ignited head feathers irridescence, shot with 1DsMkII + 800L.
Great shots of the Bufflehead, with the 800mm hand-held no less! I wish we had some of the variety of waterfowl as you have presented on a lake near me... . Maybe I should start tracking some of the seasonal migration around the New England area to increase my options.
I am really enjoying the 135mm L, and you will be seeing more from the indoor side very soon. Also, I have another addition to the long FD series; a like-new 400mm f4.5, complete with the nearly impossible to find EH-98 extension hood. I'll gin-up some photos tomorrow with it hanging on a 5D or 7D out in the woodlands.
Thanks for getting this thread on a great roll... next job now is to find a decent Christmas tree and cut it/drag it back up to the rear deck. This one gets decorated for the birds, with lights, suet, and containers of sunflowers seed. Got to keep my little buddies happy and healthy .
Thank you, Edd......I am happy you like the little ducks. Winter brings several species of ducks to our shores such as Goldeneyes, Mergansers, Longtails, Redheads and Scaups.
135L is a beautifully agile lens....not even 200 f/2 IS or 300 f/2.8 IS are quite in the same league. Perfectly suitable for BIF photography if one can only come close enough to the action.
Looking forward to seeing pictures taken with your new FD 400 f/4.5.......that lens would have been a fascinating option in the EF mount.....it would have probably rendered 400 DO redundant.
Great to see things kicking off for the celebration of winter. And so many good shots already. Unfortunately i don't think i'll get a lot of shooting done this year due to a (worsening) prolapsed disc in my back.
I shall kick off my contributions as i did for the autumn thread, with Cannons...
Nowhere near the gorgeous ones posted by you all. LD 14, Le Claire, IA. 7D + 300/4 IS. Was pretty cold today and the lonely BE was waaaay too out of reach. Almost 60% crop
sritri wrote:
Nowhere near the gorgeous ones posted by you all. LD 14, Le Claire, IA. 7D + 300/4 IS. Was pretty cold today and the lonely BE was waaaay too out of reach. Almost 60% crop
Hey, do not be too hard on yourself. Given the conditions and the equipment used, you did photograph a very nice attitude of the bird.
We can only work within the opportunities presented to us, the equipment we've got as well as other prevailing conditions.
I think I need to share this little anecdote from last summer.
All season long a Belted kingfisher has been thwarting all of my attempts to get one decent in flight shot of him. Most of the time the bird was too distant. Then, when I'd take 800L, the bird was flying even more distant.
One day there were four of us in the marsh. My Nikon friend and I, and later on we were joined by a couple of new and apparently less experienced guys who not only had shorter and slower telephoto lenses, but they chatted all the time and didn't seem very focused on picture taking.
In order to improve our odds with the kingfisher, my friend brought along an Iphone based bird caller. Two of us laid our cameras/lenses on the ground and started to set up the caller, speakers and all. Finally, we managed to get it going loud and clear in a cyclical fashion, so we began to collect our gear ready to shoot. Alas, by that time the show was over.
As soon as the first call was issued, a kingfisher responded and made a few slow recon flights 50 ft or so over our shooting spot even before we had the cameras/lenses in our hands.
The bird never made another close approach like that despite the caller going on and on.
Guess who got some very decent kingfisher in-flight shots out of that episode ? Yes, our two chatterbox types.
A wonderful cactus history, Edd, and a fine use of the FD lenses.
Here I keep looking for background bokeh in strange places. Thank god for fast telephoto lenses which can turn some ugly man-made mess into a semipleasant background. Anything is better than empty winter sky.
.
. Maybe I should start tracking some of the seasonal migration around the New England area to increase my options.