Good weather and a drive to get some pictures is keeping me out and about in some odd places at the moment.
I've been looking to get a decent sunset to use as a backdrop to a calling pheasant. Problems I've had in the past for getting this kind of shot were, lack of time when the weather was good, lack of co-operation from pheasant and more often than not just wrong location.
Took me a while to get this kind of thing tonight and I've just realised that the EOS AF system does not work when shooting a scene like this, it keeps jumping to the trees where there's more contrast to be had
Thanks Graham.
Re the AF problem, it's not just the mk3 that was struggling, my mk2 and 4 were both as bad, if. The Mk3 was the only one that could actually get a handle on the birds head, until it started moving.
In fairness though, it is probably about the most tricky situation that could be thrown at AF
Good action well caught John, but as stated, quite a busy background; . I suspect any camera would have issues with this type of scene; thankfully we still have a manual switch !
Hi John, you weren't wearing a suit either were you, when you took this?
As Graham sad, a bit busy, but different, any more foreground? Nicks suggestion is a good one (as ever) but I have found it hasn't really made too much difference, but try it.
TFS
Steve
Posted by Simon Litten on April 14, 2010 at 9:24 AM
Yep, that works for me.
Nice one.
Simon
Posted by Mark Davies on April 14, 2010 at 10:27 AM
Nits covered ,nice image and full of potential .
Austin Reed by chance ? LOL
Cheers ppl.
In all honesty the busy background is something I was after in the shot, although the ugly blown highlights weren't on the agenda
Re the AF thing; AF sensitivity has been set to low since the cameras were bought, nothing worse than jumpy autofocus.
Posted by Guy Rogers on April 14, 2010 at 12:41 PM
Hello John.
I've looked at this for some time now and yes the background is busy but I feel it works really well on this image. As you have captured some nice light and good detail in the phesaent, and the pose is really nice so to me the Phesaent still hold your attention. The only thing I might have liked is a little more at the bottom as the Phesaents feet are very close to it.
Posted by Andy Shepherd on April 14, 2010 at 2:32 PM
Interesting shot John, I like the golden BG.
Andy...
Posted by David Kjaer on April 14, 2010 at 4:53 PM
Hello John
Works for me - I like the BG gives you a great feel for the location and you have captured the warm evening sun well. Nice pose and composition although perhaps a tad tight at the bottom. Really nice image!
Discussion
13 repliesI've been looking to get a decent sunset to use as a backdrop to a calling pheasant. Problems I've had in the past for getting this kind of shot were, lack of time when the weather was good, lack of co-operation from pheasant and more often than not just wrong location.
Took me a while to get this kind of thing tonight and I've just realised that the EOS AF system does not work when shooting a scene like this, it keeps jumping to the trees where there's more contrast to be had
1D3
70-200
1/250th
f2.8
As for the AF on the MKIII, it's well documented, but a lot depends on how you've got the camera set up.
Re the AF problem, it's not just the mk3 that was struggling, my mk2 and 4 were both as bad, if. The Mk3 was the only one that could actually get a handle on the birds head, until it started moving.
In fairness though, it is probably about the most tricky situation that could be thrown at AF
David
Tim
As Graham sad, a bit busy, but different, any more foreground? Nicks suggestion is a good one (as ever) but I have found it hasn't really made too much difference, but try it.
TFS
Steve
Nice one.
Simon
Austin Reed by chance ? LOL
In all honesty the busy background is something I was after in the shot, although the ugly blown highlights weren't on the agenda
Re the AF thing; AF sensitivity has been set to low since the cameras were bought, nothing worse than jumpy autofocus.
I've looked at this for some time now and yes the background is busy but I feel it works really well on this image. As you have captured some nice light and good detail in the phesaent, and the pose is really nice so to me the Phesaent still hold your attention. The only thing I might have liked is a little more at the bottom as the Phesaents feet are very close to it.
Interesting shot John, I like the golden BG.
Andy...
Works for me - I like the BG gives you a great feel for the location and you have captured the warm evening sun well. Nice pose and composition although perhaps a tad tight at the bottom. Really nice image!
David