Early Morning shake.

leighthal · Oct 18, 2009

Had a nice time on vacation. Not much of a camera vacation but did get 2 shots I liked.

1.Early Morning Shake. f/11 l iso100 l 1/60 l 500mm
What I like: the movement of the loon and the water reflection
What I hate: the darkness of the shore at the head height.
Discussion wanted: With such a distance to cover I find it hard to focus. I tried many photos of this bird at a higher iso so I could increase the speed to "freeze' the action but my focus was off on all but a handful. How does one focus so far away? Or is it more hit and miss at this distance?

2. Totem Spirit f/6.7 l iso400 l 1/125 l 55mm
What I like: The natural colours and the eyes that appear to be made of glass (but they are all wood)
What I hate: The f stop. Lost some detail in the grain. I also chopped his poor eye off. pfffthhhhh
Discussion wanted: What f stop would you have shot this at?

Derrel · Oct 18, 2009

An eyepiece magnifier for your camera might help a bit in achieving critical focusing. Not sure what 500mm lens you have, but many long tele-zooms like th 50-500 or 150-500 or 200-500 3rd party lenses have rather slow,pokey maximum apertures like f/6.3, which can lead to a focusing situation where critical focusing is often difficult to ascertain, visually. Usually, you have to rely on the AF system and the AF confirmation light to make absolutely sure you've nailed the focus.

On the totem, it looks like you simply missed the composition,and needed to have swung the camera a few degrees more to the right to have included the eye on the right side. I might have shot the totem at f/8.

leighthal · Oct 19, 2009

I have a sigma 150-500 DG HSM. It definetly has shortcomings but at the price it fit the nature bill. The focusing on it is tricky at long distances. I'll look into your suggestion of a eyepeice magnifier. Never heard of one before. Off to google......... thanks.