Originally posted by rayallen That image was not cropped, Paul. I have been photographing those swans for a few months now and I think that they are used to me - that crazy guy with a funny black thing stick to his face!
I was using an old screw mount 28mm Takumar which is 42mm equivalent on a crop body. I went back today and took another image with my wonderful 15mm Limited to give you a better idea of the location.
For yesterday's image I was actually standing on one of the rocks in the foreground. No disguises were used for the production of either image.
Hard to believe you were able to come so close to these birds. The 28 mm gives about the AOV of a standard lens.
These images make two no three things clear:
Older Pentax glass with a K10d can easily beat recently developed lenses with high MP bodies. Color rendering is superb.
Ray must have been feeding these birds day after day to make them trust him to come so near.
I take your word for it but still have some doubts about the outfit you were wearing..................