Week 22 - June 2, 2013
For the Birds
This week is for the birds. Well, certainly about the birds. The Boise Camera Club took a trip to the World Center for Birds of Prey, which is headquartered right here in Boise, Idaho. The Center works to insure the survival and well-being of birds of prey around the world. Use the link above to learn more about who they are and what they do.
Suffice it to say, it was a great photo opportunity for the club, making for interesting subjects and some challenging photography. Getting some of the "glamour shots" of the birds wasn't so tough, but trying to get photos of Wally, the huge Eurasian Eagle Owl they have, as he swooped across the courtyard from perch to his handler was not so easy. I used my Canon 50D and my Canon f/2.8 70-200mm IS L lens. For the flying shots I had the best luck with manual exposure, a shutter speed of 1/1250 and apertures around f/4 at ISO 400. Focus was set to servo mode with the idea that as Wally closed in on the camera, the focus would track with him. Good theory anyway, no so easy in practice. I also set the shutter to burst mode so that when Wally left his perch, I leaned on the shutter button and got about 5 shots for each short flight. No doubt like anything, practice would likely improve my technique, but a good share of this was just plain luck.
Some of the static shots I did with a Tamron 18-270 f/3.5-6.3 Di II lens I borrowed from my son, Mark. He had just purchased the lens and I wanted to give it a try. I was rather impressed with it's compact size, nice for traveling, and decent sharpness. Have a look at the slideshow below. You should be able to freeze a shot to look at it and manually control the show too if you'd like.
This week is for the birds. Well, certainly about the birds. The Boise Camera Club took a trip to the World Center for Birds of Prey, which is headquartered right here in Boise, Idaho. The Center works to insure the survival and well-being of birds of prey around the world. Use the link above to learn more about who they are and what they do.
Suffice it to say, it was a great photo opportunity for the club, making for interesting subjects and some challenging photography. Getting some of the "glamour shots" of the birds wasn't so tough, but trying to get photos of Wally, the huge Eurasian Eagle Owl they have, as he swooped across the courtyard from perch to his handler was not so easy. I used my Canon 50D and my Canon f/2.8 70-200mm IS L lens. For the flying shots I had the best luck with manual exposure, a shutter speed of 1/1250 and apertures around f/4 at ISO 400. Focus was set to servo mode with the idea that as Wally closed in on the camera, the focus would track with him. Good theory anyway, no so easy in practice. I also set the shutter to burst mode so that when Wally left his perch, I leaned on the shutter button and got about 5 shots for each short flight. No doubt like anything, practice would likely improve my technique, but a good share of this was just plain luck.
Some of the static shots I did with a Tamron 18-270 f/3.5-6.3 Di II lens I borrowed from my son, Mark. He had just purchased the lens and I wanted to give it a try. I was rather impressed with it's compact size, nice for traveling, and decent sharpness. Have a look at the slideshow below. You should be able to freeze a shot to look at it and manually control the show too if you'd like.