A few from today...

[Copy_Kot]

A few from toady. The eagle pictures were taken at the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge and the others are from Lake Ontario. Most of them aren't nearly as sharp as I would have liked them to be.

A young bald eagle. I was able to get even closer, but the images are too blurry to post (I miss the sun).



An adult bald eagle. If you look closely near his/her tail, you can see a fish in his/her talons. It is really hard manually focusing (using the 2X converter) on moving objects.



I don’t know why, but I like this gull…



A couple of mallards…





And finally, a cormorant waving goodbye…

[karen m.]

I am really starting to like mallards, very nice.

[paulnj]

Nice job getting close to that 2nd winter eagle! I too like that ring-billed gull image.

[Copy_Kot]

Thank you Karen and Paul.

Can someone please tell me how I could have kept all of the mallard in the second (mallard) image in focus? The tail feathers are really bothering me.

The camera settings were at...

Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 640
Aperture: 11

Thanks in advance for any help.

[scott-devon]

All very nice Paul! I really like that first mallard shot.

[paulnj]

focal length and distance to subject are VERY IMPORTANT to answer that question

a google search of "depth of field calculator" will answer your question if you input those variables

easy answer DOF preview if possible and bracketing your aperture . The lens will have quality fall off as you close down to say F22 though.

Might I suggest using a iso of 400, F16 and let the IS do it's job I can shoot my 100-400 at 1/60th on somewhat static subjects with ease using IS

[Copy_Kot]

Thank you Scott...

And thank you Paulnj, I'll try doing that today.

[Loupey]

Cool shots, Copy. The gull shot is interesting - I think because of the sharpness/coloration of the eyes and how the feathers around it give it that "selective blur" effect. A bit centered though.

On the mallard shot that bothers you, how much of a crop is this? Did you use your 1.4x or 2x on this also? DOF is a function of focal length and distance. So if you were close enough that this image is nearly full frame, you may not have been able to get everything in focus even stopped all the way down.

One of the drawbacks of getting too close :mad2:

[Copy_Kot]

Thanks Loupey.

I had the 2X on and I was within 10 feet of the mallard... only a very slight crop.

[Bevb]

Copy_kot were these hand held or were you using a tripod?

[Copy_Kot]

Copy_kot were these hand held or were you using a tripod?

Bev, all of them were hand held.