Scottish Deer Centre

[rasputin]

Anyone been to the Scottish Deer Centre for some pics?

I'm mostly interested in the wolves, but I do enjoy shooting (with a camera ) all animals.

Is it a good time of year to go? Any tips about what kind of pictures to prepare for?

And is there any way to see the wolves without fences in the way like raised platforms or something?

[Snapper7]

The only way to get a good picture is to be on the same level imho

[rasputin]

Finally got there... And spent most of yesterday and this morning sorting through 800 or so pics

Cut it down as much as I could - still a bit pic heavy though.

Enjoy


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[Don]

rasputin said:

22.

Love this one. The light and detail in the lady's hair and the bird's feathers is great.

[dibbly_dobbler]

Top work Rasputin! Funny you should say the wolves interest you most as I thought the best shots were of the birds - the owl in particular is outstanding

In pic 2 - if you could clone out the lady you could have a shot for wildlife photo of the year Just kidding obviously

[rasputin]

dibbly_dobbler said:

Top work Rasputin! Funny you should say the wolves interest you most as I thought the best shots were of the birds - the owl in particular is outstanding

Thanks

I agree that the image quality of the wolves isn't the best. Believe me, it wasn't through lack of effort! I was stood there watching and shooting the wolves for around 3 hours - and it was seriously COLD (but fun - I love wolves).
There were a few problems:
1) It wasn't very bright in most of the wolf enclosure, so I was at ISO 800 - my Sony A350 is not ideal for high ISO shooting.
2) I had to shoot with wide open aperture because of the light and because I was behind a fence, so at 300mm and f/5.6 my Tamron 70-300mm was seriously struggling. This is not a sharp lens at the best of times. But wide open at 300mm with a shutter speed of 1/80s it was hopeless.
3) The fence was a few metres away at the closest point (you are blocked off by a second smaller fence), so without a fast long lens, getting it out of focus enough wasn't easy. This is the reason for the odd background blur in some wolf shots.

Ignore the dodgy panoramic stitching (just took this to show wolf looking at deer), but this shows the fence:


If anyone wants to lend me a nice full frame body with a 400mm f/2.8 next time I go, that would be much appreciated



Oh and in contrast, the light in the bird area was perfect yesterday. I was at ISO 200, f/5.6 and 1/2000s for some shots - and I could use my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens which is stunningly sharp from f/4

[dibbly_dobbler]

rasputin said:

dibbly_dobbler said:

Top work Rasputin! Funny you should say the wolves interest you most as I thought the best shots were of the birds - the owl in particular is outstanding

Thanks

I agree that the image quality of the wolves isn't the best. Believe me, it wasn't through lack of effort! I was stood there watching and shooting the wolves for around 3 hours - and it was seriously COLD (but fun - I love wolves).
There were a few problems:
1) It wasn't very bright in most of the wolf enclosure, so I was at ISO 800 - my Sony A350 is not ideal for high ISO shooting.
2) I had to shoot with wide open aperture because of the light and because I was behind a fence, so at 300mm and f/5.6 my Tamron 70-300mm was seriously struggling. This is not a sharp lens at the best of times. But wide open at 300mm with a shutter speed of 1/80s it was hopeless.
3) The fence was a few metres away at the closest point (you are blocked off by a second smaller fence), so without a fast long lens, getting it out of focus enough wasn't easy. This is the reason for the odd background blur in some wolf shots.

Ignore the dodgy panoramic stitching (just took this to show wolf looking at deer), but this shows the fence:


If anyone wants to lend me a nice full frame body with a 400mm f/2.8 next time I go, that would be much appreciated



Oh and in contrast, the light in the bird area was perfect yesterday. I was at ISO 200, f/5.6 and 1/2000s for some shots - and I could use my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens which is stunningly sharp from f/4

Please excuse any implied criticism of the wolves - it was just that the bird shots were so sharp!

Good dedication to the cause

[paul911]

Love the birds of pray pics, particularly the last one. Nice work