Weasel Airways

[Simpo Two]

A good example of photography under pressure:

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-03-02/incredible-imag...

[CVP]

Just seeing that would be amazing, never mind being able to take a good image of it. You can imagine down the pub without those images it would be the photographer's equivalent of the fisherman's "it was this big..."

[Elderly]

No doubt captured using a Bridge camera bought in 2006 with a 60x Zoom plus a screw on teleconverter .

[Simpo Two]

I think his stroke of luck, as well as having the gear ready to use at a second's notice, was in having a suitable AF method (and exposure mode) selected. In most cases you'd get a sharp b/g with a blurry dot in front.

[sgrimshaw]

No doubt he also has some great images of the fairies at the bottom of his garden ....

[CVP]

Simpo Two said:

I think his stroke of luck, as well as having the gear ready to use at a second's notice, was in having a suitable AF method (and exposure mode) selected. In most cases you'd get a sharp b/g with a blurry dot in front.

That's a good point John. It's one of the things I try and do when I've finished a particular subject is to try and remember to reset to my default options before switching off. If out birding that would be C-AF, Aperture priority around f8 on a sunny day and continuous frame advance. Normally single point AF, f8-10 and single frame. Then it's an easy adjust from your known starting point when you're getting ready to take the next image. Mind you I've made the mistake a number of times of going out at night and ramping the ISO up to 1600 and forgetting to turn it down before going out the next day and then wondering why I was getting such a high shutter speed in the daylight !

[knotweed]

The woodpecker looks happy.

[jimmy156]

Elderly said:

No doubt captured using a Bridge camera bought in 2006 with a 60x Zoom plus a screw on teleconverter .

The same storey on Canon Rumors says it was a 70d and a 300mm 2.8.

As others have mentioned he was probably in "Birding Mode" and hence had the camera ready and set up when it all happened. That was the only reason i managed this shot when it happened in front of me a while ago.

IMG_9012 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

Edited by jimmy156 on Tuesday 3rd March 19:56

[onyx39]

Don't know what lens it was, but it was huge! He had his kit on show when interviewed for bbc news tonight.

[Simpo Two]

onyx39 said:

Don't know what lens it was, but it was huge! He had his kit on show when interviewed for bbc news tonight.

It was a big, but there was no indication it was used to take the photo. But he clearly wasn't a novice.

[onyx39]

Simpo Two said:

onyx39 said:

Don't know what lens it was, but it was huge! He had his kit on show when interviewed for bbc news tonight.

It was a big, but there was no indication it was used to take the photo. But he clearly wasn't a novice.

Very true, I suspect the royalties from this he may be able to upgrade if he wishes!

[ukaskew]

Simpo Two said:

It was a big, but there was no indication it was used to take the photo. But he clearly wasn't a novice.

Saying that, the bit where he popped his built-in flash up (with a 300mm 2.8 attached) was a little cringe-worthy.

[Simpo Two]

ukaskew said:

Saying that, the bit where he popped his built-in flash up (with a 300mm 2.8 attached) was a little cringe-worthy.

Yep. Perhaps asked to do so by journalist? You can't use a pop-up flash with that lens.

'Ooh that looked cool, can you just make it pop up again while we film it?' etc.

[Simpo Two]

Update...

[Fastchas]

onyx39 said:

Very true, I suspect the royalties from this he may be able to upgrade if he wishes!

He stated on Radio WM the other night that he talked it over with his wife and decided not to copyright the photo. He wants others to just enjoy it and share around.

[Simpo Two]

Fastchas said:

onyx39 said:

Very true, I suspect the royalties from this he may be able to upgrade if he wishes!

He stated on Radio WM the other night that he talked it over with his wife and decided not to copyright the photo. He wants others to just enjoy it and share around.

The copyright was automatically his the moment he pressed the button - he's the 'author' of the work. Whether he chooses to let people copy the image/use it for free/subsequently make money from it, or give or sell copyright to someone else, is the decision.

[sgrimshaw]

Simpo Two said:

Update...