I decided to delete and repost this image after I made some minor adjustments. This is my first real attempt at some bird photography, and I have to say I had a blast. This was taken this past weekend at Tulelake Wildlife Refuge in Northern Californa (about 40 minutes from Klamath Falls).
Canon 20D
Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS
1/2500s f/11
ISO 400
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 19, 2006 at 1:58 AM
Terrific shot, Ryan! Wonderful saturation and no blowout of the whites. Definition is great and you were able to get the shutter speed and aperture to do it. Really, really nice.
Bird photography can be infectious but is very challenging, especially with the smaller species. These big guys don't fly as fast or as erratically and you don't need the focal lengths that you do with the smaller ones. At least you've got that nice 300/2.8 which is a really nice lens for bird photography (I wish I had one).
I rented the 300 f2.8 IS for this. I'm considering purchasing the 300 f/4 IS (a little lighter on the budget). I did get a few smaller bird shots, but this one was my favorite overall. I have a whole new respect for bird photographers (my respect was pretty high to begin with, but now...wow!). I had a blast giving bird photography a shot. I used this lens frequently with the 2x extender and it performed very well (which gave me a 960 mm equivalent on my 20D). I'd love to get this particular lens but it is a bit to pricy for me.
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 19, 2006 at 2:42 AM
I have the 300/4L IS Ryan. It is a very good lens and will autofocus with the 1.4x TC on the 20D, but not with the 2x TC. Most of the bird shots up on my website were taken with the 300/4. This one posted here a few days ago was also taken with that lens and TC.
I don't know too much about Avian photography, but I like this.
Posted by Tim Goodspeed on April 19, 2006 at 3:33 PM
Ryan, this is very nice. The bird is in a very good position at the time of capture. I like the DOF and color as well. It's great as is, but if it were mine, I might be tempted to add a bit to the left side to take him a bit out of center and provide more space in the frame for him to fly to.
Glad to hear you had a good trip and success with a rented lens.
Ryan,
It doesn't get much better than this. I'm thinking if the wing was in the up position, then the wing shadow wouldn't be covering it's body. Minor suggestion in an otherwise awesome image.
Eric, I did get one with his wings up, but the tip of the wing toward the camera was just barely out of the frame...darn it! I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out though.
Tim, I'll experiment with some different crops, your suggestion has some merit. Thanks.
Discussion
8 repliesCanon 20D
Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS
1/2500s f/11
ISO 400
Bird photography can be infectious but is very challenging, especially with the smaller species. These big guys don't fly as fast or as erratically and you don't need the focal lengths that you do with the smaller ones. At least you've got that nice 300/2.8 which is a really nice lens for bird photography (I wish I had one).
Glad to hear you had a good trip and success with a rented lens.
It doesn't get much better than this. I'm thinking if the wing was in the up position, then the wing shadow wouldn't be covering it's body. Minor suggestion in an otherwise awesome image.
Tim, I'll experiment with some different crops, your suggestion has some merit. Thanks.