Seeing Nature through the eye of a 500mm lens...Pt. 2

Beautiful images, well captured!!! Thanks for sharing them.

Thanks DWMike

These few shots came from a set of photos I took back in January this year at Conowingo Dam. I could not find these photos and just the other day I found these and others. When I loaded them to the hard drive for some odd reason I did not load them in my Photoshop library so they sat on the hard drive unseen (I shoot in the Raw format and can only view them via PS). Come to find out these have been the best Eagle in flight shots I've gotten so far so needless to say I was glad to find these photos. So here they are.

The skies were pretty blue this particular day

Another shot in the blue sky

This next shot is nice but I wish I did not clip the top of its wing

On this shot I caught the Eagle with its wing fully upright

Here the Eagle is cruising over the water. You can see the power lines in the distant

Still cruising toward the dam

Another shot of the Eagle

Here's another shot but its wing is blocking the light on its face

Here is the last photo. As you can see I had very little time to catch this between the tree branches...but success.

Wonderful shots Met!

Sorry ^_^

This message was edited Jun 5, 2010 2:47 PM

Great photos Met! They're so clear and sharp. I've got to keep practicing to get mine this clear.

Very nice Eagle set Met!

Thanks all. I will continue to attempt to get a real close up BIF shot of the Eagle.

Excellent shots of the Conowingo Bald Eagles, Met. Glad you found them. I didn't go back to Conowingo after mid-December. Anyway, I'll bet you get some close-up eagles, in flight, this Fall.

Yeah Linthicum I would have gotten better with the 500 by then. I went to the North Tract today. I saw a few of the birds in your thread; Orchard Oriole, Prairie Warbler and Yellow-breasted Chat - got a few ok shots of the Oriole and Prairie Warbler. I even saw the Hooded Warbler fly by.

Well back in May I purchased the Canon 2x teleconverter and tested it on the 500mm lens; the result = 1000mm. I tested the setup with my backyard buddies. Even at an f10 aperture the DOF is very shallow because I was only about 18-20' from the birds. With the 2x you have to stop down a bit to get a better quality shot because the images take a hit with the 2x tc unlike the 1.4tc. Well here are the results. First up is the Female Cardinal (such a lady)

Male Cardinal

First Tufted Titmouse

2nd Titmouse photo

The greedy Blue Jay

1st shot of the Mockingbird

2nd Mockingbird photo

Female House Finch

Male House Finch

Morning Dave

2nd Morning Dove photo

This message was edited Jun 6, 2010 8:23 PM

Here's a photo of the Grackle (last one at 1000mm). As you can see I could not get the entire bird in the frame. Using a 2x close up can be tricky since I can only use the center AF point because with the 2x the 500 lens becomes an f8 lens and as a result only the center AF point is available. All in all I like the 2x but I don't think my keeper rate will be as high as those from the 1.4 tc.

This message was edited Jun 6, 2010 8:30 PM

Well done, Al. I can see how narrow the depth of field is; the first shot of the Mourning Dove demonstrates that very well. You've got the eyes in sharp focus in each shot and so long as you've got that, the OOF parts of the bird don't matter, (IMHO). I love the shot of the male Cardinal.

Great shots Met! Love the male Cardinal!

Thank Margaret and Pelletory. I agree as long as the eye(s) is/are sharp I'm ok with the shot.

This message was edited Jun 7, 2010 3:30 PM

Great photos Met!! I especially loved that House Finch and the Dove.

Thanks Duc

I'd say your shots at 1000mm turned out real good. I don't have a 2x teleconverter but do have the 1.7x and 1.4x. I've never been real pleased with the results from my 1.7x (850mm) and seldom use it. Of course, I haven't used it with fairly close subjects. Sometimes, I see something way off in the distance but become disappointed with the results. I suppose my expectations may be a little too high. I'm not sure. I've taken some dismal looking shots at Blackwater out over the water. Possibly the combination of distance, haze, lighting, etc.

Anyway, nice job.

Thanks Linthicum. Yeah the real test would be taking photos at a distant. I think my keeper rate would drop significantly but I figure if I fire off 4-5 shots one will be in focus. I did get some Osprey flight shots that were keepers...talk about having a hard time locating them in the sky, but once located and locked I was golden. I will have to post the ones I got.