A moorhen going off into the big wide world

Here's another moorhen photo, this one from earlier in the autumn when the grass was still green :) I was just goofing around with my old Minolta 500mm mirror lens...:D as you can see from the bokeh. Not all the standard shooting angle, but I like it in a silly sort of artistic way :p

Mette

That's a good one!!! :lol:

By the way – how many lenses do you have? I was reading through your posts and there were at least 4 lenses mentioned?

It looks really apprehensive, even from the back! By the way, nice butt, eh? :D

I was toying around with cropping but decided against it...was I right?

Of Sony I just have the kit lens , 18-70mm. Then I have some stuff from my long gone days as a Minolta Girl, the 500mm f8 mirror, Sigma 105mm macro, Sigma 17-35mm (not so wide any more...), Minolta kit lens 24-85mm?, Minolta 100-300mm to replace sigma 75-300mm with macro that kept breaking down (it was actually my favourite for a very long time). Usually I have the kit lens, the macro and telezoom in my bag.

Mette

Now that I take a closer look at the photo I've noticed that it can be improved a great deal by cropping a lot off the top, a bit on the left and very little on the right. Also crop so that the bird ends off-centered toward the left.

Wish the toe-tips had more "clearing room" from the frame's bottom.

A fitting title!

Wow - a mirror lens! People ask about them from time to time in the other forums here - it's nice to have input from people who actually have/used them. I had a 650mm mirror a loooong time ago and I don't really remember how it performed :rolleyes:

You have some nice gear.

Loupey, thanks for looking :) Maybe I should post a few more from the mirror lens, but I think the day I took this photo is the only time I've had it out with my Sony and I think I only used it a couple of times in Borneo (I was mainly doing photojournalistic stuff and dragonflies in those days). It requires a LOT of light! And it's got that weird bokeh that sometimes work but a lot of times doesn't :D I guess it's a poor man's long tele (I'm often finding the 100-300mm a bit short for the birds). The 100-300mm is what I use for birds, but it's just the cheap one and I've not had enough light for even the largest aperture f5.6 the last couple of months and the autofocus hunts a lot for BIF....grrr.....it's all your fault....:D :D....inspiring me and getting me interested in those d...... birds! I used to be quite happy with lady birds!

Alex, I wish I'd had more clearing room for the toe-tips too :(
I was finding it hard to crop because I liked all the stuff but I know the bird should have been off-centre. I like colours at the bottom with the green grass and orange leaves, and I like the contrast with the top's darker colours, esp blue, signifying to me the contrast between the known close environment and the further away, unknown "big wide world". Am I making sense??? And being a silly girl, I sort of like that tuft of grass on the left - I know it should go...Maybe I should just force myself :D (and remember to make a copy first! :blush2: I really wish the "save" and "save as" buttons weren't next to each other!)

Hoping you guys are enjoying the holidays with nice weather, quality family time and some photography (I was hoping for a Christmas squirrel from one of you :wink5: )

:) Mette

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pink Dragonfly

(I was hoping for a Christmas squirrel from one of you :wink5: )

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Here ya go. Shot last Christmas Eve.

Happy holidays, Mette.

I told you before, you really know how to give a girl what she wants :D You must ahave a very happy wife :)

Thanks, this is such a lovely shot, it was exactly what I had in mind :) :) :)

:) Mette

There is something I like about this shot as well. It's different, and I think it would have been perfect if the hen was looking to the left. I'd keep the tuft of grass and simply crop from the right.
And, Loupey--that's a wonderfully creative Christmas shot.

Man those colors are intense. Really cool shot, might be better if you crop that 'thing' in the upper left corner? But then again that will get rid of the bush on the left.. Great work!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pink Dragonfly

I told you before, you really know how to give a girl what she wants :D You must ahave a very happy wife :)

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:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) ...... :wink: