Quote:
Originally Posted by Weebl
Dave, Cornell is quite an achievement. That is my "go to" site for certain information on cats and I am sure their ornithology dept. is comparable. Since I will shoot from 6-10 feet away my DOF is very thin so I will have to shoot fast to get a couple with different focus points per hover.
The ones I like the most are when you can see their tongues hanging out
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Yeah, Cornell is the Bomb. I love that they've got images and the bird's vocalizations. They used a butterfly image of mine to illustrate back yard environments to attract birds. I took the image in the wild, but they liked it. They used another in a newletter that came and went.
When you're lucky enough to get that close, then you need to shoot at f/8 or f/11 and push the ISO up to maintain a decent shutter speed.
My example above was about 20-feet away with the 500mm. If you look at the back wing in the Original size, you can see that it's OOF. IF, big if, you can get the eye in focus and, better yet, with a light in it, all else is forgiven.
I keep shooting even when they're on the other side of the flower, knowing that they'll soon move and I may get a lucky shot during the move. I click off one at a time and keep the focus on them by "bumping" the AF and then shoot a burst when they move or approach a flower in my clear view. You can use a tripod, but I find that hand held gives me the highest keeper rate.
Dave