Tuesday 14 February 2012

Preceptor

Much better pictures today - the blue sky background makes all the difference. Not as sharp as I would like, but as good as I was going to get with my 250mm. The following three images are of one of a pair of crested serpent eagles that own Nanhua Reservoir.



Notice the clipped left wing in this next image below: there might be four or five feathers missing there, presumably the result of a fight or possibly from some sort of accident in bad weather...

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6 comments:

  1. Steve15 February 2012 at 16:35

    Fantastic shots, Mike!

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  2. Mike Fagan15 February 2012 at 17:11

    Cheers Steve - I benefited from having the sun behind me to the south-west (these three shots were all taken looking northwards). In flight, the key is to wait until the bird banks in a direction perpendicular to the sunlight, but with the bird at distance (and moving) it's difficult to get the focus 100% right (I always use manual out of habit, but maybe I should have switched to automatic).

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  3. John Venlet15 February 2012 at 22:17

    You're right, Mike, these are better photos. So, did you receive some pointers from "she is the better photographer" girl you mentioned the other day?

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  4. Mike Fagan16 February 2012 at 00:39

    John: the best advice she's "given" me is to buy a camera with a higher ISO number for night photography. Mine is a mere 1600 - hers is an imperious 6000 (my camera is a couple of years old now).

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  5. John Venlet16 February 2012 at 01:34

    Dang imperious cameras anyway. Though the advice may be sound, for years and years great photos have been taken by cameras even less imperious than yours.

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  6. Mike Fagan16 February 2012 at 14:28

    There's no substitute for skill, knowledge and preparedness - but technical improvements to existing functions for the same (nominal) price? Not to be sniffed at.

    We've had a lot of clear nights recently here in Tainan. If I had wanted to take a 2am shot of the moon reflecting on the water at say, the back of Wushantou reservoir, I might have been better off using an ISO somewhat higher than 1600 (though I probably wouldn't need to go all the way up to 6000). The improvement would have been marginal (by itself it certainly wouldn't justify any new outlay of cash) but markedly clear.

    Actually there is something I do want to buy when I get around to it though: a new tripod. My old one is knackered and won't support the weight of the 250mm anyway.

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