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12-04-2009, 12:30 PM   #121
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QuoteOriginally posted by Eaglerapids Quote
Nice shots RollsUp, those Puffins are very cool birds. I don't think I've ever seen one in real life or the other one either for that matter. Great exposures.
What do Puffins eat to need a bill like that?
Thanks Eaglerapids. They eat fish, invertebrates and some crustaceans according to some sites that came up when searching for Horned Puffin. I mostly see them with their beaks filled with small fish and I thought that was all they ate.

12-10-2009, 08:45 PM   #122
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Seagulls aren't nearly as dramatic as eagles but they get the job done.



The big guy at work:


Last edited by Eaglerapids; 12-10-2009 at 08:58 PM.
12-12-2009, 01:17 AM - 1 Like   #123
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12-13-2009, 05:48 PM   #124
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wide open, ISO1250, 1/500sec




12-14-2009, 12:42 AM   #125
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Heron _How to advice

These shots are not nearly good enough to be in this thread, but hopefully I can learn something. I had a 28-80 lens mounted ready to take a landscape of a bridge on a foggy and misty morning. The river bank is about ten feet above the water. As I stepped to the edge of the bank I started a heron in the water below and he took off across the river. I don't think I had enough zoom of speed to catch much, I was somewhat happy with what I got. I was set up with aperture priority 7.1, and auto ISO, and single auto focus.

To get BIF shots what kind of lens and settings do you like to use and of coursewhat type of lens? I did not crop these so hopefully the bird shows up online.
Attachment 49524
Attachment 49525

Last edited by ramseybuckeye; 01-15-2011 at 07:46 PM.
12-14-2009, 08:29 AM   #126
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Three things come into play, generally:

1) Distance to subject
2) Focal length
3) Aperture/"speed" of lens.

Generally you want the longest, fastest glass you can afford. It's rare that you have "too long" a lens for circumstances, but you almost always find yourself wishing for more. Then, get as close as you can to the subject. Shoot as near wide open as you can to increase shutter speeds. Bump ISO as needed to keep the shutter speed high; a noisy image can be cleaned up while a blurry one from subject motion cannot. In a situation like the above it's very very hard to get a great shot since the light levels are so low you'd really need to crank ISO to get something useful and the light itself isn't the best.

To give you an idea of gear, I shoot with a 400/5.6 lens (always wide open), and keep ISO anywhere from 160 to 3200 to keep shutter speeds at a minimum of 1/1250 when shooting birds in flight.


PS: EagleRapids, that first shot of the two is wonderful -- great light on that one!
12-14-2009, 01:05 PM   #127
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Thanks Pingflood, good info!

12-14-2009, 10:57 PM   #128
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Thank you Pingflood:-).
Also if I may add to Pingflood's suggestions. There are many big time shooters around these eagles right now and I'm listening to all their tips. The biggest one for me has been to shoot manual. We're shooting a lot of times in cloudy, today it was snowy, grey, days. On top of that the eagles are really feisty at first light and when the light is fading in the afternoon. This means high ISOs and wide apertures in order to get the highest shutter speeds. But the thing about a cloudy grey day is that once you find the right exposure to get the white of the eagle's head and tail right on the edge of blowing out but not blowing out so that you have the max exposure for his dark body you can stick with this exposure for a long time. A guy was saying today that when he got the exposure right for a bright part of the water it wasn't right for a darker part of the water. I told him we aren't taking pictures of the water we're taking pics of the eagles:-). This is why the last pic I posted is high key, the sky is totally blown but I wasn't taking a picture of the sky, I was taking a picture of the eagle and in order to properly expose him, the sky had to go. His head and tail aren't blown and we can see detail in his body and wings, end of story. Shooting manual has freed me of worrying about exposure once I find it, leaving more time to try to get sharp pics which is very very hard in it's own right. Bright sun, I find, is much harder to properly expose these birds.
Of course these high key images aren't a freebie. Sometimes just getting the head and tail right on the edge tends to wash out contrast in the body, it's a fine line getting detail in the body and washing detail out of it and this is a big issue I'm working through now.
I guess another way to state this is I'm working on the best ways to gain contrast back into the photo in post:-), BUT every once in a while I get a high key photo that is just beautiful practically right out of the camera and I'm trying to figure out if this can be achieved on purpose or if it's a function of some kind of magic light and if so I want to be able to recognize this light and take advantage of it. Right now I believe it's the latter.


Last edited by Eaglerapids; 12-14-2009 at 11:04 PM.
12-16-2009, 03:43 PM   #129
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QuoteOriginally posted by Eaglerapids Quote
I guess another way to state this is I'm working on the best ways to gain contrast back into the photo in post:-), BUT every once in a while I get a high key photo that is just beautiful practically right out of the camera and I'm trying to figure out if this can be achieved on purpose or if it's a function of some kind of magic light and if so I want to be able to recognize this light and take advantage of it. Right now I believe it's the latter.
Sounds and looks like you are getting there! Thanks
12-16-2009, 07:18 PM   #130
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Nice Eagle shots Eaglerapids!
12-16-2009, 08:54 PM   #131
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Thank you borno:-).
12-25-2009, 08:09 AM   #132
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Eagle 1, cleared for landing on branch 2a, cleared for landing, we hope you had a good flight, welcome to Lake Coeur d'Alene.....
over and out.

12-25-2009, 06:10 PM   #133
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sometimes you wish you didn't put the teleconverter on

12-27-2009, 06:36 PM   #134
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Black Swans over Lake Macquarie, NSW Australia.
Not a great shot but for interest I will put it up.

12-29-2009, 01:44 PM   #135
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QuoteOriginally posted by Eaglerapids Quote
Eagle 1, cleared for landing on branch 2a, cleared for landing, we hope you had a good flight, welcome to Lake Coeur d'Alene.....
over and out.
That's a really spectacular one. Must look great as a large print.
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