Craning His Neck

[Old Timer]

Caught this guy this morning very much by chance. On my way to a morning meeting and was running a little early saw some geese in a pond and stopped to garb a couple of shots then noticed this fellow wadding in the shallows. I got a couple of shots off from a distance than when I tried to move in closer he got spooked. I squeezed off a couple as he took off. I'm not a wildlife photographer by an means, don't have the equipment for it, but I was fairly pleased with how these came out. Taken with the D70 and 80-200mm f2.8. I'd appreciate your comments.

[OldSchool]

Very nice. And the focus looks sharp too. All auto focus?
Tim

[almo]

I like all of these OT. You did a great job with the in flights especially.

Keep it up dude!

almo

[Old Timer]

Very nice. And the focus looks sharp too. All auto focus?
Tim

Thanks Tim and Almo. They were all taken on continuous auto focus, aperture priority at f7.1 fairly low light conditions.

[silvercb67]

Wow! Very beautiful. Nice work...

[mjs1973]

Very nice shots OT. There are two things in these photos that stick out to me. First, the great colors. In the first two shots it's in the water, in the 2nd the color in the bird is great. The other thing that really grabbed my attention was the sharp focus. Keep it up OT.

[OldSchool]

Thanks Tim and Almo. They were all taken on continuous auto focus, aperture priority at f7.1 fairly low light conditions.

Thanks for the reply OT. Just curious, are you shooting JPEG or NEF? And, what software are you using between the camera and your final image?

Coming from a 20 yr old SLR to the D70, I'm amazed at what auto-focus gives you -- especially when using a long lens with a moving subject (not to discount phtographer skill or anything [grin]). I don't *yet* own an auto-focus long lens, but I'm looking forward to it. I rarely took a good shot with my old manual focus longish lens and a moving subject. I always seemed to miss on the focus/DOF/camera-shake using low ISO film.

Cheers,
Tim

[Old Timer]

Thanks for the reply OT. Just curious, are you shooting JPEG or NEF? And, what software are you using between the camera and your final image?

Coming from a 20 yr old SLR to the D70, I'm amazed at what auto-focus gives you -- especially when using a long lens with a moving subject (not to discount phtographer skill or anything [grin]). I don't *yet* own an auto-focus long lens, but I'm looking forward to it. I rarely took a good shot with my old manual focus longish lens and a moving subject. I always seemed to miss on the focus/DOF/camera-shake using low ISO film.

Cheers,
Tim

Tim you are very kind. I use to be pretty good with long lenses and manuel focus but as I got older and the eyes started to go I knew I needed some help. I am not always as successful at tracking a moving object as I was today and I forgot that I had it on continuous fire and was knocking it off a frame at a time instead of letting the motor rack. Another hold over from the manuel film days when I couldn't afford to let the motor rack because of film and processing cost.

However to answer your question I always shoot JPEG fine and post processing is done in PS 6. These didn't have a lot of work done to them other than USM and a little level adjustment. I am not at all good at Photo Shop, and stick to just the very basics. The big thing on all of these images is that they are cropped down by 50 to 75% from full frame. I was very pleased with how well they held up. Everyone gets lucky every once in a while. Would have loved to have had a 300 or 400mm lense this morning. But than I was hand holding and no telling what I would have gotten. Thanks again for taking a look and commenting in these images.

[jar_e]

Great shots, and lovely timing on them!

Nice shooting,

Jared

[another view]

Very nice! Your timing is good, the only comment I have is that the sharpening looks like a little much from here. But then I don't have any decent shots of a GBH...

[paulnj]

$%&&*(*))(!!!!!!!(insert swear)

These image are great.

But in fairness to my ego... can you tell me how much you cropped

[Old Timer]

$%&&*(*))(!!!!!!!(insert swear)

These image are great.

But in fairness to my ego... can you tell me how much you cropped

Paul I am so glad you responded to this post. I have admired your bird images so much over the last few years. I have tried several times and never really got an image that came up to par mostly because I am limited to a 200mm lense and just can't seem to get close enough. These images are cropped more than I would have liked but the 200mm just wouldn't fill the frame. Here is a full frame of one of the in flight shot as an example. Thanks for taking a look.

Larry

[paulnj]

YOUR JOKING RIGHT!!

That is a very good distance to be from a GBH that is not accustomed to humans.

I have MANY frames with my subject that size in the frame from a 520mm equivelant(your at 300mm )

Once again.... GREAT JOB!

[Old Timer]

Have mercy OT -- don't you ever take any bad shots? Every time I open your posts your images are always terrific. These are no exception. Excellent color, exposure looks right on, clarity is amazing -- I like every one of them.

Thank you so much for sharing these with us -- can't wait to see what you post next!

My Best to You,
Penny

Penny coming from you this is very high praise. Thanks so much. I just wish I had more time to devote to my photography. The D70 has given me an opportunity to take more chances and try so many more thing over the last year. I try not to limit what I shot to just one type or subject, I like trying lots of different things with the camera. It has been a while since I have had much to post but am looking forward to getting more images that will stand up to the standard that you and many others here at PR have set. Thanks again for the kind comments.

Larry