Buzzard!!

[snerd]

My first wildlife shots with my new 7D!! Not the best, but my first! I was scrambling to get the 17-55 off and the 70-200 on. Have a few more but these were the best of the worst.

1.

Buzzards by The Oklahoma Kid, on Flickr

2.

Buzzards by The Oklahoma Kid, on Flickr

3.

Buzzards by The Oklahoma Kid, on Flickr

Thanks for looking!!

 

[DarkShadow]

I think you need to give your self more credit. I think theses are pretty darn good especially # 2 and 3, Catching birds sharply in flight is no easy task.

It probably would not hurt to crop some dead space at the top in # 2 but that's entirely up to you. Good work.

 

[snerd]

Thanks for comment! I just felt rushed and thought how much better it could have been if that was what I was originally looking for!

 

[coastalconn]

Good start! At first it looked like bit of motion blur but then I dug up the exif info and 1/3200 and 1/4000 are plenty fast enough. I'm guessing these are very heavy crops? I'm a little surprised by the grain at ISO 100... I would recommend stopping down a little to get a little more DOF. For a large flying bird I normally try to shoot around 1/1600th but will go as low as 1/1000th depending on light. The last one looks like the wingtip on the backside was the focus point.. It takes a lot of practice for sure...

 

[snerd]

Yes, pretty big crops. Only way I know to get the bird closer. I haven't really mastered the stopping down yet, I'm not sure what's the difference between 2.8 and 13.0!! Smaller opening, less light, longer shutter speed, I think I got that part. Just not exactly sure how it all interacts. And yes, he was moving really fast! I did think to turn on AI Servo and High Speed shooting I think 8fps? and I could see that it was tracking as I kept the button depressed. I was just not fast enough to get a good focus though.

 

[WesternGuy]

These are nice shots. I like the second one best of the three, although the head is a little fuzzy (result of cropping?). The head is nicely focused in the third one. One question - this isn't met as a criticism, just me wanting to understand names - I know these birds, from trips to Florida and South Dakota, as Turkey Vultures, so I am curious as to why you refer to them as Buzzards?

WesternGuy

 

[snerd]

No offense taken. It's just what they are called down here. Grew up calling them that. Looking it up, there are a few definitions. Probably the closest is that it's a derogatory name for the vulture. Buzzard bait, crow bait, something along those lines.

 

[WesternGuy]

No offense taken. It's just what they are called down here. Grew up calling them that. Looking it up, there are a few definitions. Probably the closest is that it's a derogatory name for the vulture. Buzzard bait, crow bait, something along those lines.

Thanks. I figured that it was something like that.

WesternGuy