Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 28, 2006 at 2:09 AM
Those of you that live in the Portland area and that are at least a little bit inclined to photograph birds might enjoy visiting Champoeg Park on the south side of the Willamette River (about 7 miles east of Newberg). Great spot for these Savannah Sparrows, Western Bluebirds, nesting Ospreys, and various other species.
The lighting was midday sun but ended up highlighting this Savannah Sparrow rather nicely!
20D, 300/4L IS + 1.4x, 1/2000 @ f5.6, ISO 400
Posted by AJ Montgomery on April 28, 2006 at 11:38 AM
Super photo! Great comp, super background and immense detail. He even posed for you. This is very nice. My only suggestion would be to consider removing the white spots on the top of the stump. (looke like droppings)
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 28, 2006 at 11:51 AM
Thanks, AJ!
BTW, you guessed correctly, those are droppings (They are more natural than the fence post...) I may clone them out, not sure yet...
Posted by AJ Montgomery on April 28, 2006 at 12:09 PM
Geoff, how do you find the performance of the 300 F/4 and the 1.4x? Looks good on the web, but do you find there to be any loss of sharpness with the TC? I have the 400/5.6 and have always wondered if the 300 with 1.4 would be the better way to go since you get IS. Beyond that, I am considerig the 300/2.8 so that I can use both the 1.4 and 2x TC's. Now I just need to muster up the $$$.
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 28, 2006 at 12:20 PM
AJ, I do lose some sharpness with the 1.4x. I think my hit rate with the TC is lower but it's a tradeoff because without it I wouldn't be in range for a lot of the smaller birds that I take shots of. And I'm still not in range for a lot of shots even with the 420mm and 1.6x crop factor!
I've been told by very knowledgeable people that the 400/5.6 would be a really good lens to have and I have to say that being able to get 400mm w/o the TC would be nice. But then I don't have IS (which is very useful for me) and I wouldn't have another option of a 300mm lens at f4 unless I had both lenses. In Oregon, f5.6 is limiting too many times during the year.
If I had the bucks I would get the 300/2.8 for exactly the reasons you mention. If I really had the bucks I'd get a 1D series body, the 300/2.8, and the 500/4, but it ain't happening any time soon!
One thing about sharpness with these dynamic subjects... I always take bursts of shots because I find that in a burst sequence one of the middle shots in the burst will invariably be sharper than the rest. This particular shot was an example of that. In fact, this shot is barely sharpened from the original RAW image - it was one of those rare really good ones that I don't often get for these types of subjects.
The dodo doesn't bother me much at all. I'm wondering if there is too much on top. What do you think?
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 29, 2006 at 2:59 AM
Hey there, Rick and Erik -
I think maybe the bird poop will be pooper-scoopered up in the next iteration.
Meanwhile, I really wanted a square presentation for this image which means that I had no choice but to include as much on top as you see here (because there's no more below than what you see). I kind of like it plus it leaves me room for some text at the top...
Discussion
7 repliesThe lighting was midday sun but ended up highlighting this Savannah Sparrow rather nicely!
20D, 300/4L IS + 1.4x, 1/2000 @ f5.6, ISO 400
BTW, you guessed correctly, those are droppings
I've been told by very knowledgeable people that the 400/5.6 would be a really good lens to have and I have to say that being able to get 400mm w/o the TC would be nice. But then I don't have IS (which is very useful for me) and I wouldn't have another option of a 300mm lens at f4 unless I had both lenses. In Oregon, f5.6 is limiting too many times during the year.
If I had the bucks I would get the 300/2.8 for exactly the reasons you mention. If I really had the bucks I'd get a 1D series body, the 300/2.8, and the 500/4, but it ain't happening any time soon!
One thing about sharpness with these dynamic subjects... I always take bursts of shots because I find that in a burst sequence one of the middle shots in the burst will invariably be sharper than the rest. This particular shot was an example of that. In fact, this shot is barely sharpened from the original RAW image - it was one of those rare really good ones that I don't often get for these types of subjects.
This is nice and sharp, and great dof. I'd lose the doo-doo though.
I think maybe the bird poop will be pooper-scoopered up in the next iteration.
Meanwhile, I really wanted a square presentation for this image which means that I had no choice but to include as much on top as you see here (because there's no more below than what you see). I kind of like it plus it leaves me room for some text at the top...