Friday 21 October 2011

Falls Lake

I had to go to the new house twice yesterday to meet with the builder etc, Its now less than a week and the clocks ticking, When i go there i have to pass over Falls Lake which is a huge lake that feeds a lot of the area with water, Its very low at the moment due to a very hot and dry summer and the resent rains have not been heavy or prolonged enough to help, It will take a lot of rain to make a 20 mile long lake rise over a foot, The trees are showing some colour although the rain has knocked some leaves off, As i passed over the bridge i noticed a bird close to the water heading my way, It turned out to be an osprey on the hunt, The lake supports a good head of Osprey and they are always a treat to see, I have photographed them here before but never really put my heart into it as they are so easy to photograph if you drive down to Florida, I think its pointless banging your head against the wall for a few half decent shots if you can get a bag full of excellent shots elsewhere, I like a challenge but am not stupid,, The nesting platforms here are quite high where as in South Carolina or Florida you can find them very low, In the UK you would get a huge buzz out of seeing an Osprey but here they are very common,
When i was at the house yesterday i put out some corn and dog food at various places around the garden and today i will stick a bird feeder up, The sooner birds and mammals start feeding there on a regular basis the better, I am at a wedding tomorrow and will be taking the camera, Although only as a guest thank god its good to shoot and to shoot in different circumstances.
Heres some Osprey from Falls Lake taken a couple of years ago




Dave

3 comments:

  1. I'm just looking at getting into wildlife photography as a bit of an escape from weddings and so I'm doing something that is just for me. In my search for inspiration and ideas I found your site and I'm pleased I did. You have some amazing work here so didn't really know where best to post a comment.

    I tried to find a list of kit you are using but couldn't so really interested to know the sort of gear on hand. I have a Canon 7D as my 'fast' camera and a Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 with 1.4x TC. The 2x just loses too much detail with this lens. Is the combo going to allow me to move in the right direction or are there other things to consider?

    I've bookmarked the blog and intend on coming back for more inspiration :)

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  2. Mark,

    You should be able to make a good start with the 7D, 120-300f2.8 and 1.4 x (I am assuming Canon) but maybe wrong.

    THe 2 x converter is best only used with the high end Canon lenses in good light, with solid support, and stopped down a couple of stops.

    The 7D needs to be exposed well to ensure you dont induce noise. I shoot well to the right of the histogram, and using Capture One as my RAW processor, I am very happy with the outputs.

    The one thing for wildlife, as you will see when you are out and about is there is no substutute for length. The longer and faster you can afford the better.

    My basic wildlife kit when I need reach is the 7D, 500f4ISl(mark1) and the 1.4 EFTC 11 converter. Both converter and lens have been replaced by improved (and much more expensive versions)

    Dave used Nikon and has the 600 f4 VR.

    But for wildlife that is not too distant, then you are starting on the right lines.

    Hope this helps and I am sure Dave will add a bit to my views here.

    If you scroll right back in the archives to the first few months of us posting, we did a number of articles on long lenses for wildlife

    Martin

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  3. Hi Martin,

    Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it. I would love to be able to justify a 500mm f4 :) I almost bought a 300-800mm Sigma a few years ago which in good light I'm sure would have done me well, but I wasn't really shooting anything that warranted it and already had the 120-300. Yes, I'm a Canon man :) I just need to find a way to justify long glass for weddings and then I will be find ;)

    Thanks again!

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