Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

[AndyMulhearn]

All shot with my new 7D, 70-200 and 1.4x TC. the 7D is showing up the flaws in the lens combo, though not with these, mainly when I have to crop a bit more, e.g. with insects, for example:


IMG_0280 by andymulhearn, on Flickr

Or could this just be the fact that there's so little depth of field at this range, around minimum focusing distance, that it's blur not softness?

Anyway the birds:

First a couple of Blackbird shots, relatively cool around people this one, or at least me.


IMG_0155 by andymulhearn, on Flickr


IMG_0160 by andymulhearn, on Flickr

And now the Heron. I snapped two sets of three bursts and these are the best two. I had to lift the shadows to show the body but not a huge amount.


IMG_0252 by andymulhearn, on Flickr


IMG_0256 by andymulhearn, on Flickr

And now the Jackdaw intent on preening in front of all of us so an easy shot :-)


IMG_0284 by andymulhearn, on Flickr


IMG_0293 by andymulhearn, on Flickr

[tesarver]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

Nice set Andy

Tom

[Nathaniel]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

Quite sharp and nice. Like the blackbird shots better.

[Bill53]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

Bird shots look nice and sharp Andy only problem is chopping the feet off the second blackbird image. Insect shots could well be the limited depth of field as you describe but I'm sure the macro specialists on here will be able to offer advice on that.
How do like the 7D?

Bill.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

Bill, yes I realised the crop wasn't right on the blackbird (I can't even say I was being artistic) and I should have pulled that shot but anyway. Having looked at a DOF calculator, at the aperture and focal length I was using, DOF is zero which suggests that's the problem. Stopping down to f8 gives me 10mm which may have been enough.

As for the 7D, it's a massive step up from the 600D and I love it to bits even though I'm only scratching the surface of what it can do.

[AlexR!]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

Andy, yup, as you say, your dof on the bee is 4mm, which is why only one of his antennae is pretty sharp...
As for the birds, my fave is the second (young?) jackdaw. I know the background is too cluttered but he's just such a cutie!

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

Thanks for the confirmation on the depth of field Alex, after all this time I'm still learning.

The Jackdaw, one of a pair, parked itself about six feet away from me and then went for a wander up and down some chairs. I snapped the second of it just as he launched itself from one surface to another and the frame rate of my 7D was high enough to catch it in an interesting pose.

[colin C]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

With that combo you have done well, particularly the Herons and Jackdaw's. That is quite contrasty light, but you have still managed some detail in the shadows.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Blackbird, Heron and Jackdaw at the London Wetland Centre

Thanks Colin. The Heron needed a little lifting of shadows and I'm pleased at how well it came out.