Nature Swans, Herons, and Downtown

Swans, Herons, and Downtown · 07:20 PM

Okay, admittedly more the former two than downtown, but Stanley Park stands just beyond downtown Vancouver and forms the backdrop of some of these shots, most of which I'm quite proud of. All shot with my niftyfifty, the FA50/1.7 (I'm starting to love this lens more and more).

Curiosity

Flaunting

Reapproach

Unafraid

This heron was pretty young, a relatively small one about 3 feet tall. Probably due to lack of experience with humans, it was quite confident around the growing crowd, letting me get within a meter or so of it.

Surveying the Kingdom

Surveying the Kingdom 2

Bit of unrelated PP/shallow DoF fun

And experimenting with reversing this lens. Whichever lens is used ni macro, I'm always astonished by the detail it picks up that the human eye cannot - in this case, I was totally oblivious to the insects all over this plant at the time of the shot.

Also, any comments on the bokeh of this lens? While I find it generally quite smooth, the hexagonal patterns are very annoying to me, makes me want to trade for an FA50/1.4 or some other 8(+)- bladed aperture fast fifty with good bokeh.

**Bob Harris** · 12-23-2010, 12:27 AM

very nice images and bokeh, I have and love this lens, best color of all the ones I have. I have tried to get photos of herons, all have been long view, can't believe that you got that close. Very nice series, thanks Bob

Frogfish · 12-23-2010, 08:32 AM

These look very much to me like you are using matrix metering (on the centre focus point) and the shots have exposed for that and not the birds. I think you may find them exposed better next time if you focus on the birds, meter, AE-L, recompose and shoot.

That said the #4 shot is a cracker !

jaieger · 12-23-2010, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by Bob Harris

very nice images and bokeh, I have and love this lens, best color of all the ones I have. I have tried to get photos of herons, all have been long view, can't believe that you got that close. Very nice series, thanks Bob

Thanks for the comment! I definitely agree - at first it took me a while to warm up to this lens, but now it's all but ousted my DA40 in daily usage. I think I'm pretty lucky because I seem to see herons all the time, and most of them aren't camera/people-shy at all - probably cause they live so close to a large urban center .

Originally posted by Frogfish

These look very much to me like you are using matrix metering (on the centre focus point) and the shots have exposed for that and not the birds. I think you may find them exposed better next time if you focus on the birds, meter, AE-L, recompose and shoot.

That said the #4 shot is a cracker !

Thanks for the comment!

Actually I've been shooting center-weighted since I got my K-x

but yeah, I know what you mean. For the heron shots I probably could/should've opened up to f2 (just checked, was at 2.8 for all of those)...The swan ones I kinda don't mind as it is though - they were moving fast enough for me to have to jog a bit to keep up, so not much I could've done there. Didn't want to boost it too much in PP either, lest I be overrun by noise.

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12-23-2010, 12:27 AM	#2
Bob Harris Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Canon City, Colorado Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 18,477	very nice images and bokeh, I have and love this lens, best color of all the ones I have. I have tried to get photos of herons, all have been long view, can't believe that you got that close. Very nice series, thanks Bob

12-23-2010, 08:32 AM	#3
Frogfish Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Shanghai Posts: 4,490	These look very much to me like you are using matrix metering (on the centre focus point) and the shots have exposed for that and not the birds. I think you may find them exposed better next time if you focus on the birds, meter, AE-L, recompose and shoot. That said the #4 shot is a cracker !

12-23-2010, 03:13 PM	#4
jaieger Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 586 Original Poster	Originally posted by Bob Harris very nice images and bokeh, I have and love this lens, best color of all the ones I have. I have tried to get photos of herons, all have been long view, can't believe that you got that close. Very nice series, thanks Bob Thanks for the comment! I definitely agree - at first it took me a while to warm up to this lens, but now it's all but ousted my DA40 in daily usage. I think I'm pretty lucky because I seem to see herons all the time, and most of them aren't camera/people-shy at all - probably cause they live so close to a large urban center . Originally posted by Frogfish These look very much to me like you are using matrix metering (on the centre focus point) and the shots have exposed for that and not the birds. I think you may find them exposed better next time if you focus on the birds, meter, AE-L, recompose and shoot. That said the #4 shot is a cracker ! Thanks for the comment! Actually I've been shooting center-weighted since I got my K-x but yeah, I know what you mean. For the heron shots I probably could/should've opened up to f2 (just checked, was at 2.8 for all of those)...The swan ones I kinda don't mind as it is though - they were moving fast enough for me to have to jog a bit to keep up, so not much I could've done there. Didn't want to boost it too much in PP either, lest I be overrun by noise.