Was waiting while unloading propane from my tractor-trailer when I saw this killdeer about 60 feet away. Got as close as I could and found a good place to rest the camera. First it just sat in the open, then got up, walked a little ways, and did the ol' broken wing trick. Tried that a couple of times, and when I didn't move, it just walked away.
Was unloading in an "apocalyptic" scene near an old abandoned grain elevator out in the middle of flat farm ground and was beginning to think there wasn't going to be anything to take a picture of.
Arvin

Taken with the Tamron 70-300mm, K20D, and cropped. Got some purple fringing on the dead grass that really comes out in the crops.

[Tom Lusk]

Despite many attempts over the past couple of years, I've never been able to capture this behaviour.

Well done!

It just goes to show, that if at all possible, you should always have your camera close by. Often you do not get a second opportunity.

[acbees]

Thanks, Tom. After seeing your photos, a compliment from you means quite a lot!

I've seen other photos taken with the same Tamron lens and not noticed the purple fringing. Settings were ISO 400, f/6.7, 1/1000 sec, and 220mm to 240mm. I'm just getting started with the K20 and with the editing software and would welcome any guidance or suggestions from anyone to help avoid or remove this in my photos. Or do I just need better glass?
Arvin

[dws1117]

Good captures.

I have the Tamron 70-300mm and purple fringin can be a problem at times. Most of the time it can be corrected in PP. If not i don't worry about it too much since I'm not a pro and don't rely on my pictures to feed my family. The pluses far out weigh the minuses with this lens especially given the low cost.

[dws1117]

I'll also add that I've noticed reduced PF when used at f/8 or smaller.

[JCSullivan]

EXIF says 360mm - how far/close to the subject were you? This is a question I ask all the time.

I don't mean to hijack this thread so please excuse me. I was out with my 400mm yesterday. The lense wouldn't focus within about 10 feet (I suppose that's understandable) but sure had a hard time filling the frame with a finch 12 to 14 feet away. What in the H am I doing wrong?

[roentarre]

Quite a nice series of shots

[Peter Zack]

Nice series and the second is great. He's clearly watching you carefully to see if you're getting the message. Well captured.

PF can be mostly removed in software and as said before, you could have reduced the shutter speed and stopped the lens down to help avoid that. Even raise the ISO a bit more to stop down more.

JC we all struggle to get close and evidence of that is all the comments about long fast glass. These shots above were cropped. Shoot as sharp as you can and some careful cropping might help.

[JCSullivan]

Stupid me - I didn't notice they were cropped. What an idion.
JC leaves room red-faced.

[gawan]

Very nice! The middle picture specially, as it shows the story you told, Has nice yellowish colours in her(his=?) back.

[acbees]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions. Appreciate all the help. Have got a lot to get the hang of with both the camera and the software. Wanted to show you all that bees weren't the only things I took pictures of.

As I was getting out of the truck with the camera my tank started giving me that "I'm just about empty" sound. Between running out of time with that, not sure how the bird was going to react as I moved closer to it, and shooting with a long lens, I just quickly set the camera to Program Line-High Speed, guessed at the ISO, and started snapping shots when I found a decent place to rest it. I'll try to apply your suggestions next time and hopefully take a little more time to set up.

Thanks JC for the link to the bird site. They don't have many killdeer shots, so I might add some.
Arvin

[JCSullivan]

Arvin, birdsite.org is a single person operation WITHOUT advertising. Mike does it out of love (he does all the programming himself) and of course building the site depends on the rest of us.