*OFFICIAL* Snapshot of the Day (one image per post please) #1

[M_Six]

Ah, the rarely seen Raspberry Elk. Nice capture.

[Activ]

A little red

Foreign AutoHaus :: BMW E46 M3 by Trevor Thompson, on Flickr

[The1]

Originally Posted by oneintheory

looked like a pretty busy year!!!

nice compilation.

[The1]

Originally Posted by MATT0404

Whatchu Lookin' At? by mkrepp, on Flickr

Shot just as the sun was coming up this morning. Ran into a herd of 50-60 elk. Mainly cows, but a couple bulls in the mix. One was rather large, likely a 6x7, but by the time I got my camera up, he was just over the ridge.

how's all the equipment working? looks like you're going to put it all through it's paces!

[The1]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Ah, the rarely seen Raspberry Elk. Nice capture.

lol, I think there are more pictures of Big Foot then the Raspberry Elk...

[Chewy734]

random, wild Elk in NW PA? What the hell Matt...

[Chewy734]

Originally Posted by The1

"knot"ty

cool shot. how have you been enjoying FF photography anyways? Haven't heard any reviews from you.

Thanks Reed. I'm enjoying it a lot so far. I like the 5D2 much more than the 20D, especially for landscape and portraits. I miss the reach I used to get on the 20D, but I think my new 100-400 mm should help satisfy my telephoto cravings. Now, I just need to find time to shoot with it. I bought that lens in early December and I haven't been able to use it even once yet.

[The1]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

Thanks Reed. I'm enjoying it a lot so far. I like the 5D2 much more than the 20D, especially for landscape and portraits. I miss the reach I used to get on the 20D, but I think my new 100-400 mm should help satisfy my telephoto cravings. Now, I just need to find time to shoot with it. I bought that lens in early December and I haven't been able to use it even once yet.

It is a hard lens to find a use for day to day. It's reach is a bit long, and it's minimum focus distance is long, so there really isn't much chance of indoor use.

That being said, once you're outside with it, the minimum focus distance doesn't really hold it back. there's actually great bokeh from it when capturing things close up. Besides. How close do you really want to get to some of the things you might be shooting with a lens like that

I know I was standing 10' away from an Elk with my 70-200, and was thinking, I wish I wasn't this close..... Meanwhile my dad is behind me with his point and shoot saying, "get closer Reed, I want the picture to show how close you really are" with a big shit eating grin on his face.

I don't need to get that close again, especially when it's antlers are almost as tall as me....

[MATT0404]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Ah, the rarely seen Raspberry Elk. Nice capture.

Originally Posted by The1

how's all the equipment working? looks like you're going to put it all through it's paces!

It's working out really well. I'm enjoying the familiarity of the 5d2 and the resolution/full-frame.

Originally Posted by Chewy734

random, wild Elk in NW PA? What the hell Matt...

Haha, these were taken in the Moshannon State Forest near Benezette, PA. There's a rather large population of elk in the region. Here's one of the biggest racks of the day. Not a great picture (heavy crop, high iso), but a pretty big bull. There were three of these guys foraging just off the road as we were driving by.


Big Rack by mkrepp, on Flickr

Originally Posted by The1

I know I was standing 10' away from an Elk with my 70-200, and was thinking, I wish I wasn't this close..... Meanwhile my dad is behind me with his point and shoot saying, "get closer Reed, I want the picture to show how close you really are" with a big shit eating grin on his face.

I don't need to get that close again, especially when it's antlers are almost as tall as me....

Haha!

[Kgolf31]

Wow, nice shots on this page!


Day at the Range by M0nk3yy31, on Flickr

[spanner1751]

I love nice shiny brass!!!

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by The1

The nice clear Colorado high altitude air definitely helps moon shots a lot. Comparing between ones i've shot around home to ones I've shot near my dads place in CO makes a massive difference.

however, that 500mm makes a huge difference too

Yes, the sky helps a bunch. I'm 5400 feet above sea level. Also, the moon was well above the horizon (maybe 30-degrees) when I shot that, avoiding a lot of extra atmosphre.

Yeah, the 500mm is like cheating. Not only does it have reach, but it's contrast and color is among the very best possible.

Finally, make certain that you don't overexpose. That shot was at -1EV in Av mode to account the high brightness of the moon vs. the sky. Also, there's lots of contrast on the surface, so the highlights can easily get washed out, killing detail.

Dave

[MATT0404]

One more shot from yesterday:

Elk Cows Foraging in the Early Morning by mkrepp, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by MATT0404

One more shot from yesterday:

If you don't mind, I'd like to offer some suggestions after looking at your EXIF.

Don't be afraid to crop. Just because you used a 400mm doesn't mean that the subject is large enough in the screen. I would have featured one of the cows. At least crop the partial one out on the left.

You under exposed. Generally anything with a lot of brown and dark should be shot at +1EV instead of 0EV, as you did. You can normalize the brightness in RAW conversion if it's too bright. (The old saw about not blowing out important highlights still holds).

For nature and with a long lens, I use ISO 800 as my default. Shutter speeds in the 1/1000 to 1/2000-sec shows up as sharper images. Also, at that ISO you can often stop down to f/8 or f/11 to gain DOF.

Here's an example, taken with the 500mm, a buck among other deer, cropped to eliminate other distrations, shot at ISO 800 and +4/3EV, f/6.3 resulting in 1/1000-sec.:


White-tail buck in sunset light by dcstep, on Flickr

The lens helps, but you can't rely it to create an interesting image.

Dave

[Chewy734]

nice shots guys!

[MATT0404]

Originally Posted by dcstep

If you don't mind, I'd like to offer some suggestions after looking at your EXIF.

Don't be afraid to crop. Just because you used a 400mm doesn't mean that the subject is large enough in the screen. I would have featured one of the cows. At least crop the partial one out on the left.

You under exposed. Generally anything with a lot of brown and dark should be shot at +1EV instead of 0EV, as you did. You can normalize the brightness in RAW conversion if it's too bright. (The old saw about not blowing out important highlights still holds).

For nature and with a long lens, I use ISO 800 as my default. Shutter speeds in the 1/1000 to 1/2000-sec shows up as sharper images. Also, at that ISO you can often stop down to f/8 or f/11 to gain DOF.

Here's an example, taken with the 500mm, a buck among other deer, cropped to eliminate other distrations, shot at ISO 800 and +4/3EV, f/6.3 resulting in 1/1000-sec.:

The lens helps, but you can't rely it to create an interesting image.

Dave

Absolutely, I appreciate the constructive criticism. Thanks for the info!

Edit:

Elk Cow in the Early Morning Sun by mkrepp, on Flickr

Being used to my 40D, I'm always weary of cropping. The 5d2 really helps in this area.

[remmib]

Originally Posted by dcstep

If you don't mind, I'd like to offer some suggestions after looking at your EXIF.

Dave

How did you read the EXIF on that pics. My two Exif reader didn't found any??

[Kgolf31]

Originally Posted by remmib

How did you read the EXIF on that pics. My two Exif reader didn't found any??

Click on the picture to get to the Flickr Page.

Go to Actions, View EXIF Info

[remmib]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

Click on the picture to get to the Flickr Page.

Go to Actions, View EXIF Info

Doh, thanks a lot, always bugged me that I couldn't find exif on many Flickr pics.


Not from today, but I like the sky.

[UdubBadger]

nice rem

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by UdubBadger

nice rem

+1

I'm a big fan of dramatic sky pics. Nicely done.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by remmib

How did you read the EXIF on that pics. My two Exif reader didn't found any??

I clicked on the image and it took me to Flickr where his EXIF is posted.

Dave