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Fun with 4/3rds cameras/ Image Thread

biglouis

Well-known member
Persistence pays off. Finally, a cracking close photo of a Kestrel on Hampstead Heath, London.
G9+200/2.8+TC1.4, 280mm iso500 f4 1/5000

 

Knorp

Well-known member
Persistence pays off. Finally, a cracking close photo of a Kestrel on Hampstead Heath, London.
G9+200/2.8+TC1.4, 280mm iso500 f4 1/5000

What a magnificent raptor and what a great catch, Louis.
Can you tell us something how you came to this shot and your persistence achieving this ?

TIA

Best regards.
 

biglouis

Well-known member
What a magnificent raptor and what a great catch, Louis.
Can you tell us something how you came to this shot and your persistence achieving this ?

TIA

Best regards.
The persistance was really returning to the same area at least three times over the last week in the hope of improving the opportunity to photograph the birds. The first two times I was never in the right spot. I was literally struck dumb when I returned again on Friday and the first thing that happened was a Kestrel literally flew down and landed about 10 feet from me. It then took off into the trees and although I got good photographs the angle and pose wasn't that great.



I thought, well that's it: probably won't get anything better than this but in fact it was only the beginning. Over the next three hours the birds constantly perched and hunted in the grasses at this spot on the heath - at one point there were four different Kestrels. They were completely indifferent to humans nearby - as this shot shows (not the greatest capture but it shows the lack of concern the birds had for people):



I'd also spent some time really working on my technique. I finally worked out how to use the function button on the 200/2.8 to force the focus to infinity - so it would lock on birds in flight far better, as otherwise against sky it tends to hunt by which time you've lost the framing. This lead to a lot more in flight captures. I guess it pays to rtfm!



I began to see the birds pattern of flight - they were perching on several trees and obviously tracking the territory and as I was approaching one tree, the bird flew down into the grass in front of me (again). This time I was on it with the camera in enough time to get a number of clear captures. Using the TC1.4 also gave me a bit more reach and at the high aperture a lot more sharpness (1/5000 - it was an incredibly bright day, here in the UK)



When the bird took off I was again ready to track it (using a 3x3 grid and the fast Pre-burst mode which can reach 2ofps). Hence I was able to get a pretty good capture of the bird with a very large bug in its claws:



The birds really did not seem to care to much while they were perching if you approached them stealthily. I've learned not to walk directly, staring at the bird, I tend to meander and glance and in this case I could also shade myself a bit from a tree between me and the bird. This is a 100% crop using the TC2.0 and while I have obviously had to process it to get sharpness and detail I think the lens and converter have done a pretty good job.



At the end of the day, with wildlife, sometimes you just get lucky and hopefully it coincides with being set up with the right equipment at the right time to capitalise on the opportunity.

Hope the lengthy reply is of interest.

LouisB
 

Knorp

Well-known member
Thank you for this extensive reply, Louis.
What a wonderful opportunity and I'm really stunned how indifferent to humans the birds are and that you could that close to them.
In my neck of the woods, if you only blink an eye they take off.

That infinity trick is something I will remember: great tip !

Kind regards.
 
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