A weekend in the country (some large images)
Discussion
Well, we made it back from the wilds of Norfolk 
Totally blew the weather forecast out of the window and had a great time.
Full images are on line at [url]www.pbase.com/cvp/norfolk[/url] but here is a selection of my favourites
Things didn't start too great with this as the best from day one
but things then improved rather somewhat
A bee getting the early nectar
A crab on the beach at Cromer
Begal Eagle Owl demonstrating his incredible flying skills
A little reward for doing the right thing (Mrs CVP's image)
Stocking up to feed the kids - not 100% in focus but they were moving so fast the AF on the D100 simply couldn't keep up
And finally a lovely Harris Hawk after his display
If you're heading over there I can thoroughly recommend the Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham. Small hotel wiht only about 20 rooms. Lovely and friendly with good food and a decently priced wine list.
We also really enjoyed Pensthorpe park where the bird of prey images were taken and then the broads in general at this time of year are really nice.
Also worth a stop is the Walpole Arms at Itteringham (if you can find it!) as the food is great and really quite cheap for the skill that goes into it.
Chris
>>> Edited by CVP on Wednesday 4th May 18:46
Totally blew the weather forecast out of the window and had a great time.
Full images are on line at [url]www.pbase.com/cvp/norfolk[/url] but here is a selection of my favourites
Things didn't start too great with this as the best from day one
but things then improved rather somewhat
A bee getting the early nectar
A crab on the beach at Cromer
Begal Eagle Owl demonstrating his incredible flying skills
A little reward for doing the right thing (Mrs CVP's image)
Stocking up to feed the kids - not 100% in focus but they were moving so fast the AF on the D100 simply couldn't keep up
And finally a lovely Harris Hawk after his display
If you're heading over there I can thoroughly recommend the Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham. Small hotel wiht only about 20 rooms. Lovely and friendly with good food and a decently priced wine list.
We also really enjoyed Pensthorpe park where the bird of prey images were taken and then the broads in general at this time of year are really nice.
Also worth a stop is the Walpole Arms at Itteringham (if you can find it!) as the food is great and really quite cheap for the skill that goes into it.
Chris
>>> Edited by CVP on Wednesday 4th May 18:46
FYI, this is what it says if you go directly to the picture link,
"Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@pbase.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Apache/2.0.50 (Unix) Server at ck37.image.pbase.com Port 80"
"Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@pbase.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Apache/2.0.50 (Unix) Server at ck37.image.pbase.com Port 80"
The Eagle Owl wins it for me. The head-on shot is superb. I'm impressed by that kind of thing as I either suffer from lens hunt at the vital moment, or end up focusing a foot behind the subject 
I guess I need one of those Canon 1DsMk2 jobbies that are so good you just point and shoot! Thought for the day: full circle?
I guess I need one of those Canon 1DsMk2 jobbies that are so good you just point and shoot! Thought for the day: full circle?
HankScorpio said:
They're cracking!
Did you have to be very patient to get the results you wanted...?
Not too patient really. The snail was most cooperative
The bees were so intent on the flowers they really didn't notice me. I have loads of shots but most are underexposed too much. For the owl and the hawk I was using my D100, aperture priority with f4 set. Focus mode set to continuous focus and closest subject priority. Lens was a 300mm f2.8 AFS that I treated myself to second hand. All supported on a tripod with a fluid pan and tilt head. For the owl this was the only in focus shot I got out of about 10-15 flying. All the sitting ones are crisp.
The big problem I found was being quick enough on the panning to follow the bird in flight. The owl kind of drops off the perch and then skims along about a foot of the ground.
Chris
simpo two said:
The Eagle Owl wins it for me. The head-on shot is superb. I'm impressed by that kind of thing as I either suffer from lens hunt at the vital moment, or end up focusing a foot behind the subject
I guess I need one of those Canon 1DsMk2 jobbies that are so good you just point and shoot! Thought for the day: full circle?
Absolutely not. I used my D100 which is "old tech" now. Your D70 should work just fine for these types of images. The big advantage I had was using an AFS lens. They are just so quick compared to the older style lenses, something our Cannon colleagues have known for ages
Chris
V6GTO said:
Nice pics, Chris, I love the bee, just a pity the flower is 'blown'.
Martin.
edited to correct spelling...typed p1ss instead of pics!
>> Edited by V6GTO on Wednesday 4th May 21:50
Yep, diffuclt getting the dynamic range for a black bee on a white flower. I might try a bit of PS trickey to see what I can do.
Chris
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