Photography
Related: About this forumclose-up portrait of a bald eagle...you need to see this and here is why!
i was probably about 8 feet away from this bird, which was in an aviary at a raptor rescue center and there was a thick gauge screen between us. the amazing part is that the bird was only a few inches behind the screen. i used my nikon Z8 with the 300mm f/4 PF lens shot wide open at f/4. miraculously, even though the bird was so close to the screen, it was rendered so out of focus that it became invisible. this is common when the subject is farther back from the screen or bars at a zoo but i wouldn't have imagined it with the subject almost up to the screen.
P.S. there was nothing i could do about his feather sticking out of his nostril.
here is the screen on the front of the aviary:
Walleye
(35,988 posts)Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)....i'm sure the unseen matrix of blur compromised sharpness, but overall, it's not too bad
Bayard
(24,145 posts)That's outstanding!
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)Cartoonist
(7,552 posts)druidity33
(6,574 posts)eShirl
(18,831 posts)Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)tavernier
(13,272 posts)But if thats the same eagle that tried to swoop down and pick up my dog on the farm last year, you missed the pattern of my tennis racket on his hind end.
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts).....you carry a tennis racket when you walk your dog on a farm?
there's gotta be a great story behind all that.
tavernier
(13,272 posts)but obviously looks like lunch to the eagle that seems to spot her every time we walk out to the barn. He came pretty close one time and only missed getting her when I jumped around screaming and waving my arms. From then on I carried a tennis racket to wave around just in case. Weve since gone with the leash which she hates, but since its my daughters farm, I would hate to be responsible for losing her dog when Im visiting
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)liberalla
(10,060 posts)So glad you tried the shot - that is an amazing result!
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)Traildogbob
(10,067 posts)The Eagle that represents USA. Maybe the white stuff up the nose is symbolic as well.
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)but it is annoying in the pic
dawn5651
(657 posts)it is they go for the winter.
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)i didn't think eagles migrated.
dawn5651
(657 posts)have done to make nests for the raptors the bald eagles and hawks have come back to this area...
lastlib
(24,961 posts)Years ago, I was at a Scout event where they exhibited a bald eagle that had been blinded in an accident and so could not be returned to the wild. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to hold a piece of fish and let the bird take it out of my hand (it almost got a finger in the process!) That was a mountaintop experience for me!
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)when i lived in FL i raised a baby red shouldered hawk that fell from a nest. when it reached adulthood, it was so well behaved with me that i didn't need to wear a glove when it perched on my arm.
Deuxcents
(19,950 posts)Great shot of our majestic symbol
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)...but you know what ben franklin said about them?
prodigitalson
(2,917 posts)Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)...way out of focus. it's why dust and smudges on your lens don't show up in photos. but normally, your subject needs to be a good distance from the bars or screen in the cage......this eagle was right up to the mesh. the fact that i was using a telephoto lens at its widest aperture (f/4) and that i was so close to the subject (within about 8 feet) is what made the depth of field in the shot so narrow....but still, i wouldn't expect that the mesh would be completely invisibly.....i figured there's be some out of focus lines showing up. i imagine the overall sharpness of the shot was compromised, but at least no obstruction was visible.
Goddessartist
(2,067 posts)on Vashon Island, WA. I love them and all of the wildlife here.
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)Goddessartist
(2,067 posts)friends' house. Pretty high up. One can see the nest from the back of their house. We see them at the beach and on the KVI tower on the beach.
mountain grammy
(27,338 posts)Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)....but when i get back to CR and spend time around the monkeys with the new gear, i hope to make something amazing!
mountain grammy
(27,338 posts)we watch them all the time.. love the close up of the head and the feather in his nose.. looking forward to more.
TeamProg
(6,630 posts)Aarf!
Nice pic! What Image Quality setting did you shoot this with? And in general?
I just got a new Z7II this last July from B&H with a 24-120 S 4.0 and 14-30 S 4.0. Fun stuff! Finally sold most of my old large and medium format gear (Linhof Tech IV, Mamiya RB67 stuff).
Still deciding on resolution modes to shoot in. 50 MB individual files takes up a lot of storage.
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)i shoot RAW + jpg fine (heif). anything i post anywhere, i process from RAW and only save the jpg for reference.
TeamProg
(6,630 posts)and VR for smaller f stops.
Its weird paying 1,400 or more for a zoom when really fine large format prime lenses for my Linhof 4x5 might cost 500 for nice Schneider.
As I wrote I have a 14-30 and the 24-120 so Im thinking about the new-ish 100-400 S as a next lens.
So far so good. Its all very new to me.
2naSalit
(93,098 posts)Sometimes that works and sometimes not. Good shot!
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)i wouldn't have thought the screen would be rendered invisible.
2naSalit
(93,098 posts)It really depends on the screen, distance of subject and the lens. For me it's 50/50 so I try to avoid those shots... but I still try on occasion.
Backseat Driver
(4,636 posts)You do know that DU has a member themed photo contest. Don't recall others you may have posted, but I'd sure love see more. (for encouragement). Perhaps a photograph group member can assist you for those. I sure hope to see more of your shots.
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts).....but i'm happy just to watch it from the sidelines.
i've been posting photos in this group for years. i live in costa rica so most of my photos are wildlife shots. here are a few to give you an idea of what i do:
here are some shots from the US:
TeamProg
(6,630 posts)Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)even tho i studied film photography in college in the 1980s and had been shooting for decades, i took a long hiatus from it and only got back into it seriously in the last 4 or 5 years. the weak link for me, at the moment, is post production. i plan to do some online training to improve that part.
Callalily
(15,019 posts)And thanks for the description of camera settings!
Gato Moteado
(9,961 posts)normally, if you're shooting birds (and most other wildlife with a telephoto lens) you want to shoot wide open anyway...even if the animal is not captive with cage material to shoot through, there are branches, and foliage and other distractions that you want to render out of focus.
i can't remember which camera you had, but next time you go out to photograph birds, set the aperture to wide open (the smallest number) and set the camera to single point auto focus area mode and place the focus point somewhere near the center of the frame.....then when you see a bird within shooting distance, place that focus point over the eye, acquire focus and shoot.
when you shoot wide open, you're getting very little depth of field (range in front of and behind the subject that will be in reasonable focus) so you want to be dead on with the focal plane, and that's why you want to use single point auto focus area mode (instead of letting the camera decide where to focus)....the newer mirrorless cameras have animal eye detection AF area mode....i haven't tried it yet on my camera.