A few from a newcomer to this forum. Been lurking and gaining a lot of useful info here - and enjoying the tone of the contributions. I'm coming to grips with the 5D3, having been shooting with the 7D.
These were all shot with the 5D3 and 400mm f/5.6. Significant crop.
DB, welcome to FM. Nice bird flight pictures, and they are all hard to make. The grackles strike me as particularly challenging with nice background and great detail.
The Barn swallows are a real problem to get as we all know full well.
I think that your 5DMkIII + 400 f/5.6 setup is the best one can have for good light BIF photography these days. (The 1DX performance still remains to be seen)
My much anticipated week-long photo trip into the UT/AZ desert didn't go anywhere nearly as planned, so very few pictures got taken. All I ended up with was a few snapshots of the car, as part of a long standing tradition of taking pictures of him (and his predecessors) at famous locations... I hope that some day I'll come back to do some real photography as I originally intended.
The variety here keeps me coming back, often for multiple views. Peter my friend, this is another inspired collective! I'm going back a couple of weeks (still officially summer) to an evening backyard concert by local Celtic band 'Dust Rhinos'. The lead singer is a friend and I shot the entire event in the style of family PJ as it was a fundraiser for his daughter's school trip next year. I could bore you with dozens but I'll provide only these...
All shot using a Canon 5d2 and 70-200 2.8 II, all borrowed. Now I know how the 'other half' lives, lol!
Another from last year. I'd love to say i had to stealthily sneak up on the subject, but in actual fact i only had to quietly open my window as he/she was merrily eating my neighbour's garden. Must be a fearless sort too, as its not like we live on the city ourskirts.
350D this time to get a few more pixels on the subject. 70-200mm f/2.8L
Five pounds of live bait minnows thrown into the lake , and TIF photography became significantly easier. Live bait fish is the way to go. The little guys loved it too.
p.10 #11 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
This image shows a drift in exposure and WB which always happens when one takes an unplanned straight up shot. Most of the time I am shooting at close to zero azymuth, and all my camera M mode settings are optimised for near-horizontal shooting.
For one, large azymuth shots start to exibit strange clear sky colours bordering on magenta....and all in all, they are something I try to avoid for a variety of reasons. However, this bird was just too tempting.
p.10 #14 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
PetKal wrote:
DB, welcome to FM. Nice bird flight pictures, and they are all hard to make. The grackles strike me as particularly challenging with nice background and great detail.
The Barn swallows are a real problem to get as we all know full well.
I think that your 5DMkIII + 400 f/5.6 setup is the best one can have for good light BIF photography these days. (The 1DX performance still remains to be seen)
Thanks for the comments. I must admit that there is a lot of serendipity involved in decent BIF but I'll take it. The 5D3 is a bit reach limited with the 400 so a super tele may be on the horizon - after a few necessary sessions in the gym . Ideally a new cropped 7D with a modern AF system is preferred though. Or both!!
p.10 #17 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
Hi Peter,
Thanks, and you are so right! It's Huntsville, Alabama. Beautiful outdoor wedding on a historical plantation property. Very cool. So I got to use some of my less used 'gears' such as the 50 1.2. Love that lens.
p.10 #18 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
eskimochaos wrote:
It's too bad they got rid of the 4.2l v8 in the b8 s4. It's a beast in our s5 and the sound is extremely seductive.
Yes, the sound is very seductive. But in all other aspects the B8 V6T is the better power plant. It's nowhere near as efficient as they promised (and on the track it's actually hungrier than the V8, at 5mpg average, vs. 7mpg with the V8), but at the end of the day, sound aside, the new power plant and the car around it is head and shoulders better. <end hijack>
p.10 #19 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
Doctorbird wrote:
I rarely get the eyes so visible on these guys.
They are difficult when it comes to showing their eye as well as a catchlite in it.
I suspect many people just photoshop catchlights in.
If an image is sharp and the bird is not too distant, then there may be a catchlight captured, just that it is very tiny. If one enlarges the image to 100% crop, then it might become visible.
See an example below:
(1) The original SOOC shot.
(2) About 100% crop (the catchlight is there, but only 1-2 pixels of it)
(3) A crop which I might post process just a little bit and then present.....the catchlight is visible just barely enough, and it doesn't need any enlargements in photoshop.
The grackles strike me as particularly challenging with nice background and great detail.
