Best of Wildlife

[hallkc]

I know this pic is not ultra-sharp, but I'm doing what I can with what I've got...

[Joe Gardner]

I know this pic is not ultra-sharp, but I'm doing what I can with what I've got...

Farmington Bay? Was this taken this year?

[CarpeyBiggs]

Wow, Hall, nice stuff. Where are these at?

[hallkc]

hallkc wrote:

Yep. Both were shot here; http://greatsaltlakenaturecenter.org/homepage.html on Sunday and Monday Jan 6 & 7th. They tell me that more and more eagles will arrive between now and the middle of February. I wanna get back out there, so if anyone else wants to head out that way, let me know. I'd love some photography lessons from some of you pros...

Check out the shootout fourm here!!! http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9952

[waltny]

Not the ultra-sharp photo I was hoping for, but I'm satisfied with it considering my experience level.
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Unsharp mask(or smart sharpen), lab sharpening and some layer work might have touched this up a bit. Also you loose some of that sharpness when you compress to jpeg along with the added artifact

[fire]

It snowed last weekend at Bryce Canyon and this guy was a bit stunned. It is a Townsend Solitaire. Nikon D200, 200 mm lens, 8' away.

[CarpeyBiggs]

This is from tonight. The big storm pushed down an enormous herd of elk down pretty low on the mountains. After work, I hiked up about a half mile, trying not to stir any of them up. This is from about 150-200? yards away, uncropped. 40D, 1.4x, 600mm lens, 5.6, ISO1600. The light was fading quick.

Biggest elk I've ever photographed that wasn't domesticated or interacting with humans in some form. I was excited to get the chance. In all, I estimate the herd at 150 head. It was HUGE.

[asdf]

This is from tonight. The big storm pushed down an enormous herd of elk down pretty low on the mountains. After work, I hiked up about a half mile, trying not to stir any of them up.

where did you hike up?

[CarpeyBiggs]

where did you hike up?

Up from Alaska Lane on the border of Provo and Springville.

[hallkc]

Carpey,

That shot of the Elk is great!
Does anyone know why I can't get crisper images at max focal length... I have a Nikon 55-200 kit lens with V/R, shooting w/ D200. Sometimes I use a 2x teleconverter... do you think it's because of my cheap lens, or maybe because the shutter is wide open? Maybe something else I'm doing wrong...? Anyway, I know this isn't a photography class forum, I was just curious because I'm not "school trained" in photography.

Any advice is appreciated.

[waltny]

Carpey,

That shot of the Elk is great!
Does anyone know why I can't get crisper images at max focal length... I have a Nikon 55-200 kit lens with V/R, shooting w/ D200. Sometimes I use a 2x teleconverter... do you think it's because of my cheap lens, or maybe because the shutter is wide open? Maybe something else I'm doing wrong...? Anyway, I know this isn't a photography class forum, I was just curious because I'm not "school trained" in photography.

Any advice is appreciated.

Usually glass is the seperater. The divide on low end glass to the expensive stuff is immense....

[CarpeyBiggs]

I have a Nikon 55-200 kit lens with V/R, shooting w/ D200. Sometimes I use a 2x teleconverter... do you think it's because of my cheap lens, or maybe because the shutter is wide open? Maybe something else I'm doing wrong...? Anyway, I know this isn't a photography class forum, I was just curious because I'm not "school trained" in photography.

There could be a variety of reasons. One, is technique, which creates motion blur. Second would be equipment, which would create a type of gaussian blur, most likely.

In your setup, a couple of things stick out. With a 2x stacked on a zoom lens, you are giving up significant sharpness, plus your aperture will be effectively smaller, so you shutter speed will be longer, which means more chance for motion blur. And since you are doubled with an extender, motion blur is enhanced even more... Short story? Stop down, and shoot off a tripod. If you need fast shutter speeds, you have to buy faster glass. On the long end, that means lotsa cabbage.

So yeah, basically, make sure your shutter speed is high, with the 2x and your zoom lens, I'd say it needs to be at least 1/500th to get good handheld shots, if not faster.

Hope that helps.

[hallkc]

Thanks for the tips guys:)

I went out again today and tried some more. I realize we can't all be rich and afford 8 thousand dollar lenses... but it sure would be nice. Anyway, here is the best one I could get today. (This little guy let me get pretty close to him).

[accadacca]

Ahhhh thats a nice shot, really clear.

[fire]

Elk bones in the backyard attract birds.

[JP]

I was out the other day and tried getting some shots of Mallards, boy do ducks and geese spook easy. Trying out the G/F's new camera. They took off and I was unfortunately still somewhat zoomed in for their stationary pose. All I got were a few blurred Canadians.

[cpn cntrpnch]

A moose missing his rack



along the ridge in Parleys.

[hallkc]

Wow, great pics everyone! I rented a 70-200 f2.8 lens this weekend, and was pleased to see a difference in sharpness. What do you guys think?

[hallkc]

This one is almost straight out of the camera... just adjusted the levels a bit. Does anyone have a 70-200 nikon f2.8 they don't want anymore...? I think I'm in love



By the way, I learned that it takes a long time to sneak up on an owl... he flew away right after this shot

[JP]

Hey Hal, I'd love to have those Birds of Prey at my disposal like that Great shots!!!! Check e-Bay for that lens or even B&H Photo and other Online camera stores.