More about the Herons.

[gizmo2071]

I guess in the past I've never gave much credit to wildlife photographers.
I mean, I've always loved looking at their work and appreciate it, but I never really gave much thought to the "art" in doing it.
Patience is a virtue, or so they say, but if you want to get the perfect shot out there in the wild... then it's a virtue that you must have.

Given that my array of lenses doesn't really give me much oppourtunity to get the great wildlife photos.
I have 1 zoom lens that fits my camera and thats the kit 70-200mm f/4.5 and it's quality leaves alot to be desired.
I also have another 70~200mm sigma, but thats an old screw mount lens that I fit via my M42 adapter, I also have a 3x converter which fits this lens, so (yay) that give me a good 600mm lens.
Again, the quailty isn't great and the use of the 3x converter degrades it further.
It has a minimum of f/4.5 and when used with the 3x converter, that gives it a minimum of f/11.
So what good is having a minimum f/11 and having to use stupidly slow shutter speeds to capture wildlife?
Ok I can whack the ISO up to 1600 and get a shutter speed of 1/1000th max, but then that degrades the quality even more.

I could under expose by 2 stops and then bring that back in RAW conversion afterwards.... again, losing more quality (or making more noise).

So, I give full credit to those who capture stunning wildlife shots.
One day I will be able to afford a 400mm f/2.8 and maybe a 2x converter, then maybe that will allow me to get better shots. I mean I find it very relaxing, but the frustration of my lens capabilities puts a big dampener on that.

</rant>

Pano shot Here!
Stretched the whole page when i posted it.

And just a couple from our picnicy spot yesterday
You can notice the colour difference, i liked the sandy colour in the grass for the pano, but prefered a richer green for the portrait shot for vividity.

Thanks guys.
Matt
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[Digital Matt]

For wildlife photography, yes you need patience, and yes you need expensive long lenses. Part of the patience involved however (for those of us with only 200mm lenses) is moving slowly closer and closer to the wildlife until you get within range to make a compelling portrait with the given lens. I have hundreds of heron photos, taken over the span of a few years. There were many mornings at 6am spent laying on the ground, crawling, and waiting for the bird to be just in the right location. Sometimes it never was and I went home empty handed that day. (Or went home with another handful of bad duck photos )

Do what you can with the equipment you have. You'll find that you can get past the technical limitations and capture beautiful photos if you put your mind to it. You're off to a great start already.

 

[Kyuss]

I love wildlife photography! Just the thrill of trying to get closer to your subjects without them going away, or just sitting somewhere and let them come to you. You have to have a lot of patience but the reward in the end is worth it!
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[gizmo2071]

I plan on attempting to get into better positions and anticipate where the wildlife may go.
I also may need to practice my stealth to get closer without frightening the animals away ;D