noelle wrote:
How would you approach an image like this? Where would you put your focus point
I ask because I sometimes struggle with images like this
Noelle -
Because you haven't indicated EXIF data for the picture, you probably shot wide open. All tele photos compress the subject, the longer they get, the more compression you get so when you have a subject which has a good distance between front and back like the ducks, you want to stop down to get more depth-of-field, and try and set your focus point on the "middle" of the group. When I had my 400/5.6, I tended to shoot everything I could between f8 and f11 to get some depth of field. Remember, you can always adjust your ISO upwards to achieve either the shutter speed you want or the depth of field you want.
Because you haven't indicated EXIF data for the picture, you probably shot wide open. All tele photos compress the subject, the longer they get, the more compression you get so when you have a subject which has a good distance between front and back like the ducks, you want to stop down to get more depth-of-field, and try and set your focus point on the "middle" of the group. When I had my 400/5.6, I tended to shoot everything I could between f8 and f11 to get some depth of field. Remember, you can always adjust your ISO upwards to achieve either the shutter speed you want or the depth of field you want.
Thank you Chris and yes it totally makes sense. It's kinda hard with the MKII and 400 with the ISO. I do not like to go over 4oo because of the noise. i think I will try to have my 5D body with me so I can bump up the ISO and stop down
Unfortunately, I live in a large city and have only a newly-planted small tree on the property. I'm still working out natural looking layouts; maybe a birdbath will help.
wing tong wrote:
@Harry, you've got a beautiful visitor! Looks great, maybe leave a little more room around the crop. Is there any branch perches around the feeder? So far, I've gotten only towhees and juncos on mine but I've seen a flock of waxwings on a nearby pine tree so hopefully they'll pay my feeder perch a visit someday.
Of course you realize that by shooting with the 5D, you'll lose the crop factor that the MkII gives you. Another solution you may not have thought of was to get some noise reduction software like Noise Ninja or Nik's Dfine 2.0. As these programs have gotten more sophisticated over the years, the strides they've made in noise reduction is phenomenal! ....or you could just bite the bullet and get a MkIII !
Still struggling with learning how to use such a long prime, but making progress (I hope). Did a shoot today, here's a quick one (will go through the whole mess later and see if any others turned out ok). I am guessing Eastern Bluebird?
Of course you realize that by shooting with the 5D, you'll lose the crop factor that the MkII gives you. Another solution you may not have thought of was to get some noise reduction software like Noise Ninja or Nik's Dfine 2.0. As these programs have gotten more sophisticated over the years, the strides they've made in noise reduction is phenomenal! ....or you could just bite the bullet and get a MkIII !
Yes Chris I do understand that but I can get pretty close to this little duckling family.
I do have a very good noiseware program but I do not like the way the noiseware programs lessen the detail in the feathers of the birds.
I have to wait a bit on the MKIII.....I hope I can get it before I go to the Teton's in september
pingflood wrote:
Still struggling with learning how to use such a long prime, but making progress (I hope). Did a shoot today, here's a quick one (will go through the whole mess later and see if any others turned out ok). I am guessing Eastern Bluebird?
ISO 1600, 1/400, f/8, 560mm
Very nice bluebird.... you are getting the hang of it!!
noelle wrote:
Very nice bluebird.... you are getting the hang of it!!
I like your flip flops too
Thank you! I am getting better at hand holding, before I had to be at 1/800 min to get anything at 400mm, now I can eek out some ok shots at as low as 1/250 handheld with the 1.4x!
The flip flops are my little girls, in her words "Beach shoes!" (She's two, almost three.)
Yes....today I have sighted Conrad sitting on the dock of the Bay.
Apparently he's given up photography and picked up fishing. The pressure of this 400 f/5.6 competition seems to have finally taken its toll on him. He looked like he aged a lot in the past month or so.
I have just about given up on terns this season....for some unknown reason there are hardly any in my usual corner of Lake Ontario.
So I got my last TIF shot with the 400 f/5.6 (see below) and now the lens will be put back into storage for a while.
Gotta be using the 500 more often now. Particularly useful for smaller birds, like the Song Sparrow below which posed for me nicely a couple of days ago.
wing tong wrote:
@Harry, you've got a beautiful visitor! Looks great, maybe leave a little more room around the crop. Is there any branch perches around the feeder? So far, I've gotten only towhees and juncos on mine but I've seen a flock of waxwings on a nearby pine tree so hopefully they'll pay my feeder perch a visit someday.
Just a follow-up: we took your advice and put in a tree and bird bath to make some better perches. As soon as it stops raining (sigh) I'll try to get some more shots. The female cardinal visited yesterday, but was very skittish and took off before I could get a shot.
Also put some peanuts out and have gotten a crowd of squirrels to come around.
pingflood wrote:
Petkal: Can you share the exposure data on that song sparrow?
No problem: Hand-held 1D MkIIN + 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, point metering mode, Av exposure mode, no flash, daylight WB.
Actually, I should have stopped the lens to f/8 in that instance....had enough shutter speed for that.
Common grackle, I believe. Somebody correct me otherwise.
(85mm f1.8)