A Black Kite at Yakumo and Nuthatch at Onuma today.................
A bit slow birdwise recently. This morning saw heavy rain and I could hardly get out of the car at Yakumo. There were a few eagles upstream, both species including several adult Stellers Sea Eagles but they were milestoo far away for a photo. There were a few other winter birds about: Glaucous Gull, Goldeneye and various other ducks, Great Crested Grebe and a small flock of grey geese flying offshore.................and this Black Kite carrying a big piece of wood for some weird reason.
At Onuma there were Whooper Swan, Grey Headed Woodpecker, Great Egret and the tame Nuthatches and tits...................these shots were ISO 1250 or 1600 and they don't look too bad. i'm missing not being able to process them in Lightroom yet.
A few Great Egret and a lone Night Heron on the river near my flat yesterday. Early November can be a quiet time. We checked the port at Kamiiso at the start and end of the day but the wigeon flock containing the American Wigeon seems to have left..................
After watching Liverpool lose (and then England lose to New Zealand in the rugby (union), less important but still galling) I know the winter is going to be a long hard one. Even though Liverpool and England both took early leads there was a grim inevitability about both their defeats. Being a sports fan is all about managing disappointment. A bit like life.................
What has that Kite got? Just out of interest, what f stop were you using, and were you using a converter?
ReplyDeleteI think it was just a piece of flotsam off the beach. The kite shots were taken with the bare lens (500mm) at f5.6, 1/1600 sec, ISO400 in M mode.
DeleteThe Nuthatch and Marsh Tit shots were handheld with the bare lens at 500mm at f5.6, 1/1000 and ISO 1250 or 1600............................
DeleteNice image quality, Stu. I still can't bring myself to use high ISOs. I took a folio of work to the Birds Australia office in the early 90s and was scolded for using ISO400. I should pump it up more now as I messed up on some recent shots in Australia when I used ISO640 for 400mm @ f5.6 at 7am and 90% of flight shots were blurred. It's a real balancing act. It is interesting to find out what combos other photographers use.
ReplyDeleteISO 400 slide film always looked grainy, didn't it ? I'm amazed at what we put up with looking at old slides of mine. Now digital 1600 seems like the new "400" to me… only it's still miles better..
DeleteHi Russell, ISO 400 is pretty much my default setting. The 7D was generally OK up to 800 (certainly for low res shots for this blog or small prints), I'm hoping the Mark 2 will be as useable up to 1600.
DeleteHi John, yes I dont know how they managed back in film days. To be honest when I look at old photographic fieldguides the standard of some pics is often not that great. I can understand why now.
DeleteIt's official : Kites are crazy. Nice to see teams like West Ham and Swansea doing well in the Premier League table, but where will they be next May ?
ReplyDeleteHopefully below Liverpool. And above Man Utd, Spurs and Everton.......................
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