Birds are hard to shoot

.Steve · Oct 10, 2006

Took a walk in the forest preserve near my house, hoping to get some great shots. But...birds are hard to get.

AIRIC · Oct 10, 2006

You will do better when you get the 100-400 and some sunshine. Keep trying.

Cheers,

Eric

LaFoto · Oct 11, 2006

.steve, I have always thought the very same! And I can't photograph them at all. They always fly away or are waaaaayyyy too far away even for my 300mm lens to capture them AND fill the frame in the end. No way! So I would need to work with crops such as yours here and live with the consequences. I wonder how Eric, Ray, Peter etc. do it!?!?!

Flash Harry · Oct 11, 2006

use a hide and bait to get in range

.Steve · Oct 11, 2006

AIRIC said:
You will do better when you get the 100-400 and some sunshine. Keep trying.

Cheers,

Eric

D'oh!

It was with the 100-400mm, but with a 2x extender, so the autofocus doesn't work so well. I think the battery was starting to die out on me, so I had to manually focus.

Not to pat myself on the back, but these were both between 150-160 feet away. I heard some rustling in the trees, so I stopped midstride, and looked around. Saw these guys.

M Brex · Oct 11, 2006

mmm.... they don't suggest me...
the frames are rally bad...

Pirate · Oct 12, 2006

I have the same problem with bird photography, and what's worse is that I have a relative that does National Geographic quality work. I too have a zoom with a 2x tc and find it hard to focus because when I do they move slightly leaving me fuzzy. But it's not rare to have your auto focus not work since you lose so much light with the teleconvertor. Let me know if you find any secrets that I can use, Good luck !