The birds they mock me
Discussion
It's always been a bit of an ambition of mine to see a Golden Eagle in the wild and I found out fairly recently they can be spotted near to where my in-laws have an apartment in the Murcia region of SE Spain so I treated myself to a heavy lens (Fuji 100-400) and with barely and experience in how to take photos of birds in flight off I went.
I wish I'd practiced more in the UK before setting out but time got in the way, I think 99% of bird photos I've previously taken have been out of my office window at birds on the ground in the garden! Excuses out of the way, the photos which are all massively cropped in even at 400mm:
First trip out was to a viewing area near a river:
European Bee Eater by Nigel SM, on Flickr
Lesser Kestrel by Nigel SM, on Flickr
Montagu's Harrier by Nigel SM, on Flickr
Then up the mountain (Sierra Espuña)
Booted Eagle by Nigel SM, on Flickr
Golden Eagle by Nigel SM, on Flickr
Pleased I saw what I set out to see, the eagles were so high I'm not sure I could've done much better without camping out somewhere in a ghillie suit but I have learnt some lessons:
1) There's no need to blast away at soaring eagles at 15fps
2) Lens hood would probably help on sunny days (I left it at home because of space issues in my luggage)
I wish I'd practiced more in the UK before setting out but time got in the way, I think 99% of bird photos I've previously taken have been out of my office window at birds on the ground in the garden! Excuses out of the way, the photos which are all massively cropped in even at 400mm:
First trip out was to a viewing area near a river:
European Bee Eater by Nigel SM, on FlickrLesser Kestrel by Nigel SM, on FlickrMontagu's Harrier by Nigel SM, on FlickrThen up the mountain (Sierra Espuña)
Booted Eagle by Nigel SM, on FlickrGolden Eagle by Nigel SM, on FlickrPleased I saw what I set out to see, the eagles were so high I'm not sure I could've done much better without camping out somewhere in a ghillie suit but I have learnt some lessons:
1) There's no need to blast away at soaring eagles at 15fps
2) Lens hood would probably help on sunny days (I left it at home because of space issues in my luggage)
Smollet said:
Tony1963 said:
Can’t you just reverse the hood onto its lens? Takes up almost zero space that way.
That's pretty universal on most hoods. As mentioned, I have a few more shots from my dedicated bird photography Saturday. I hope these are not too much. For those interested in such things they were taken with a Fujifilm X-H2S with a 70-300mm telephoto lens plus a 2x teleconverter that I just acquired and wanted to try out.
ETA - Click for larger versions.
You're cleared for take off
Common Shelduck ?
Flying Oystercatcher
Formerly known as twitter
Pied Wagtail
Reflected heron in flight
Overall, I'm pretty pleased so far and I'm very much looking forward to further bird adventures
ETA - Click for larger versions.
You're cleared for take off
Common Shelduck ?
Flying Oystercatcher
Formerly known as twitter
Pied Wagtail
Reflected heron in flight
Overall, I'm pretty pleased so far and I'm very much looking forward to further bird adventures
Edited by Composer62 on Monday 29th April 20:29
A few from this afternoon taken through the kitchen window.
As people have asked for a few details of photos on this thread..
They are all cropped a fair bit - the final image is a screenshot showing typical crop.
Kit was a Canon R5 with EF100mm f2.8L Macro lens.
Aperture around f5, ISO 3200, shutter around 1/1250 sec - exact settings are in the EXIF on FlickR.
Noise reduction was using an old (2014) version of Neat Image Pro v7.6.0 plugin for CS6.
4A4A7119 by conradsphotos, on Flickr
4A4A7155 by conradsphotos, on Flickr
4A4A7186 by conradsphotos, on Flickr
4A4A7199 by conradsphotos, on Flickr
4A4A7195 by conradsphotos, on Flickr
Screen Shot 2024-04-29 at 20.32.45 by conradsphotos, on Flickr
As people have asked for a few details of photos on this thread..
They are all cropped a fair bit - the final image is a screenshot showing typical crop.
Kit was a Canon R5 with EF100mm f2.8L Macro lens.
Aperture around f5, ISO 3200, shutter around 1/1250 sec - exact settings are in the EXIF on FlickR.
Noise reduction was using an old (2014) version of Neat Image Pro v7.6.0 plugin for CS6.
4A4A7119 by conradsphotos, on Flickr4A4A7155 by conradsphotos, on Flickr4A4A7186 by conradsphotos, on Flickr4A4A7199 by conradsphotos, on Flickr4A4A7195 by conradsphotos, on FlickrScreen Shot 2024-04-29 at 20.32.45 by conradsphotos, on Flickr
Fullook said:
Agree with others' comments - very beautiful indeed & also never seen one. Good work.
Thank you. I’ve shown lots of people this photo, and only a handful have even heard of them! And an ex-employee of the RSPB I used to work with says she has never seen one. Very special moment for me.
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