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PC's fifth attempt


Peter Connan

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On 1/10/2018 at 8:59 AM, xelas said:

Yes, sure ... maybe an ostrich but I am willing to bet a chocolate that 500mm will stayed glued to D500 :wub:!!

 

Interrupting this thread:

On this occasson I really wished I had a shorter lens.

 

These two are un-cropped images, taken on the 31st of December.

The first is the arrival, the second the departure.

500_too_much2ODP.jpg.682152ddeacf7435d32c03bb5f965ff5.jpg

 

 

500_too_muchODP.jpg.f6e3af11b8307a386767bf4ac7fccde4.jpg

 

Of course, for the rest of the holiday I also carried the D3 with the 300mm lens on, and NOTHING landed there...

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Dave Williams

Some advantages to a zoom lens!!

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Indeed, but I don't have one, and I am certainly not swopping my 500 for one.

 

4) Swainson's Spurfowl

 

Bosveldfisant Pternistes swainsonii

 

SwainsonsODP.thumb.jpg.167e5739a7d4fd5fb7c50475e4ab53bb.jpg

 

SwainsonsODP-2.jpg.7e87996bde9ed7eb39dbf418cbe36eb9.jpg

Once again, this is a female as there is no spur.

 

1/2000 and f4 for ISO280

1 January, Pilanesberg

In terms of birding, I found the area around Mankwe dam to be by far the most productive.

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5) Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

 

Gryskopmossie Passer diffusus

 

Grey-headedODP.thumb.jpg.201a4e98869d971442589c2beab04719.jpg

 

1/2500th @ f4 for ISO400.

 

One of the big issues with bird photography is getting the exposure correct. Because the bird is normally relatively small in the frame, matrix or area metering usually gets it wrong, unless you happen to be lucky and the bird is the same brightness as the background. On the other hand, if you also try capturing them in flight, you need to be much better than me to keep them tracked accurately enough to use spot metering.

 

I tens to use matrix metering, but dial in exposure compensation a lot depending on what the bird looks like and whether it is above or under the horizon. This is one of those lucky events when it wasn't necessary.

 

However, when shooting in the same situation for an extended period, it may be worth while to switch to manual mode. I now do this when for example trying to shoot birds at their nest.

 

Mankwe hide, Pilanesberg, 1 January

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6) Red-eyed Dove

 

Grootringduif Streptopelia semitorquata

 

RedeyeDoveODP.thumb.jpg.d7b18c822d27d4e11ee65a655d37e125.jpg

1/2500th @ f4 and ISO 140. Full manual mode as described above makes it possible to shoot both darker and lighter birds and against varying backgrounds in the same light without having to constantly adjust the exposure compensation. But when doing this one has to be aware of changes in light, and have a look at the histogram every few minutes. I am not sure I am confident enough to use it if there are clouds about yet.

 

Mankwe hide, Pilanesberg

1 January

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6 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

But when doing this one has to be aware of changes in light, and have a look at the histogram every few minutes.

Awesome. I will take your word for all this. I have problems getting the buggers to sit still long enough while I get the focus right.

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Thank you @PeterHG

 

@Galana, this is indeed usually the biggest problem. Once a week I work in a different office from the rest of the week. On that day, I drive past a suburban dam where I have had some reasonable success at finding bird, so while it's summer and gets light early enough, I tend to leave home a few minutes early and take my camera along.

 

Coming home this evening, I showed my wife a picture on the back of the camera and said "meet the FNLYB".  If I say it was a Yellow-crowned Bishop, will that be enough of a clue for you to decipher the rest of the acronym, and the reason therefore?

 

It is for this reason that I try to always have my camera set up on my "birds in flight" settings: a fast shutter speed, wide aperture, continuous drive mode and a fairly responsive AF setup: This gives me the fastest reaction time for a fleeting bird. Anything slower should hopefully give me enough time to re-configure the camera to suit it... 

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2 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

will that be enough of a clue for you to decipher the rest of the acronym,

Am I allowed to use swear words?:angry:

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I see you're on the right track @Galana

 

7) White-winged Tern?

 

Witvlerksterretjie

Chlidonias leucopterus

 

WhitewingODP.jpg.4f7e30ed45d391ec4528661b204c289c.jpg

 

Whitewing4ODP.jpg.709ae5a83ae62734986df92350f8b663.jpg

 

Terns fly above the water, then dive in to catch fish on or near the surface. In the last photo, you can just see his "footprints in the water".

 

Both of these had -0.7 stop of exposure compensation.

 

1 January, Mankwe dam, Pilanesberg

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13 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

I see you're on the right track

In front of your wife too?

 

Thanks for picture #7.

Removes all doubt about my own "Black-winged White Tern"

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8) Whiskered Tern

 

Witbaardsterretjie Chlidonias hybridus

 

WhiskeredODP.jpg.9fc9319b9ec98ae713d2d7e3c5fd055f.jpg

1 January, Mankwe dam, Pilanesberg

 

The following two were taken late last year at Marievale, and are included just to show their typical fishing behaviour:

Splash2ODP.jpg.9aeebe9abc3ebc7513672ba3c5620d12.jpg

 

SplashODP.jpg.4c44ae94040762f08429abbc88fa0e88.jpg

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Thank you @lmSA84

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Really Peter you're causing me problems because I already have an expensive wine habit and now you're giving me an irresistible urge to buy a prime lens! My wife is gonna kill me :blink:

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Dave Williams
1 hour ago, lmSA84 said:

Really Peter you're causing me problems because I already have an expensive wine habit and now you're giving me an irresistible urge to buy a prime lens! My wife is gonna kill me :blink:

 

@lmSA84 Not if you share enough of your wine before asking her! 

Edited by Dave Williams
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Dave Williams

That new body certainly gives some great results Peter.

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2 hours ago, lmSA84 said:

Really Peter you're causing me problems because I already have an expensive wine habit and now you're giving me an irresistible urge to buy a prime lens! My wife is gonna kill me :blink:

 

Just do what my OH does @ImSA84 tell her after you’ve bought it!!

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@lmSA84, it is easy to get new bodies and new lenses ... if your wife is using them :D

 

Peter, the fishing sequence is extraordinary :wub:!

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Thank you very much @lmSA84, @Dave Williams, @PeterHG, @Tdgraves and @xelas.

 

Here's where it's less good than the D750:

 

9) Red-winged Starling

 

Rooivlerkspreeu

Onychognathus morio

 

Every morning of our stay, I would be sitting at the gate from just after five AM, waiting for it to open at 05h30. And every morning, there were Red-wings and Fork-tailed Drongos about.

 

This is the only place I ever saw them, and later in the day they were not around, and I certainly wasn't going to wait for the sun to rise before entering the park...

 

RedwingODP.jpg.9f70c552415e2f35089ff388de1700a3.jpg

 

So, VR on, wind the shutter speed down to 1/320th, resulting in ISO3200 and hope for the best. Note that this was shot hand-held, and the keeper rate was pretty dismal. Of the Drongo, I did not get a photo that I am happy to post here.

 

1 January, Pilanesberg, Bakgatla gate.

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Dave Williams

I see nothing wrong with this one Peter, the light is dull so there is bound to be a little noise but it's not really noticeable until you look very closely.I hope to get one as good later in the year!

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Same here, not as contrasty as in good light but I have seen many of ours with lower ISO and worse noise. You should post one drongo also, just for a reference.

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Thank you @Dave Williams and @xelas.

Yes, it is OK. But it would have been better with the D750, assuming I could get closer, which I believe I could in this particular instance.

 

Will post the Drongo at some stage.

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Again I see nothing wrong with that shot. I would be happy with that. I think sometimes we are too picky on details (as you will have noticed with some of mine.)

The game is to get a photo, not necessarily a portrait.

To paraphrase a well known saying:- "What's got is history, what's missed is mystery."

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