29 March 2017

Teleconverter déjà vu


One of my (many) faults is that I appear destined to constantly repeat the same mistakes over and over again...........


I was trying to photograph some Black Scoters in one of the harbours to the north of Onuma. I had the teleconverter on, I've missed quite a few shots over the last couple of years because of too much reach but I thought the ducks were not so close so why not...............nothing else seemed to be happening.

An Osprey flew over...............cue lots of identical hovering shots like these............



At this point I could have taken the teleconverter off but I didn't because a) it was a bit windy, b) I'm lazy and c) 99 times out of 100 the Ospreys give up and move on without doing anything.


Unfortunately this was the 1 time in 100 when they do something..............it dived right in front of me.


It must have been less than 8 meters away. 

I had no chance at 700mm on a APS-C camera (and actually probably the bare 500 may have been too much as well) At least I got a couple of shots with its face in focus. Nor did it emerge with a big wriggling fish.............we both kind of failed. Still, it was by far the closest I've ever been to an Osprey and was pretty exciting despite the teleconverter frustration.

I have unfinished business with this Osprey.

5 comments:

  1. I rarely use my teleconverter. But then I rarely get close enought to an Osprey. A few going over this week but none near me.

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    Replies
    1. Don't think i've ever been nearer than 100 metres to one in Europe...............

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  2. Spectacular, anyway. "Too close" is an unusual problem to have !

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    Replies
    1. Thanks John, in terms of bird photography I guess 'too much reach' is akin to 'first world problems' in the real world.

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  3. Well that first shot was fantastic, so I wouldn't worry too much! I saw my first ospreys this year and even at 1000mm they were a few pixels smeared by heat haze :)

    ReplyDelete

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