Jun 10, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
At first I didn’t recognize these doves and we had a few this morning. I liked the pattern in their plumage, they were doing cool things so I shot away. I really like this shot, the very narrow band of DOF gives the gathering a neat feel I think. So I clicked.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp0809.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
Then there is this basic biology of drinking but doing it a nice shaft of light. And the best part, they are just plain old Mourning Doves, young ones out of the nest. Kinda uncommon shot of a very common bird. Most pass up these kinds of opportunities. I just love em!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp0823.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e3 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jun 10, 2010 | Moose Adventures, Wildlife Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1053.swf, 391, 600 [/swf]
Yeap, we’re down in TX and the weather started to turn in our favor today. The temp hit 98.3 this afternoon and with that the birds started to pour in. This is a Scale Quail which was kind enough to hop up on a stump to pose. Now if only next time it will move a little to the left so the background is just a little cleaner. I know, I know, yesterday I was moaning it was cool, today the birds need to go to modeling school. What’s next?
Photo captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e3 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jun 3, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
I am a little amazed after my quick blog posting about the 200-400VRII w/TC-20eIII works…but…I didn’t get one query. That but though is a big but and has absolutely nothing to do with image quality!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP0544.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
Finding a subject to do real world field shooting and cooperative to do a side by side has been a challenge. In the last couple of days the Violet-green Swallows have come back to Mono Lake to nest. And with sex in the air, a photographer testing a lens just doesn’t register. Thanks goodness, this was not only a gorgeous male but dang helpful in illustrating my points.
Photo on left is just 200-400VRII / on right is the exact same everything but with TC-20eIII added.
First and foremost, shooting the 200-400VRII with the TC-20eIII (no, didn’t test and not going to test with 1.7x) produces gorgeous quality, easily producing a 24×30 print which is my standard. With this said, I would personally never use that combo. The 200-400VRII lives to be shot on its own! The reason is two fold, the main one being the DOF is just too damn narrow! I had to work my butt off and think way too much about technique taking my concentration away from the subject. Next, the number of elements in the 200-400VRII cuts the light down enough so the AF system isn’t as responsive. Shooting the exact same swallow with the 600VR w/TC-20eIII, AF was snap on. Those two factors would keep me from taking this as a serious wildlife photographer solution. Sorry.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP0634.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP0664.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
This pair of swallows was great, the male displaying to keep other males away from their nest site. And the female bringing in nesting material, feathers being a very popular item. I was only 9.5′ away during my shooting which made testing real simple. Now many have asked about the “old” 200-400VR with the TC-20eIII. I have no clue on that combo. Many have asked about the combo I did test, hopefully you have my own personal conclusion there, it works and works optically beautifully. I still get a lot of folks asking if the new 200-400VRII is “better” than the old version. Like I stated just last week, displaying via the web a visual of what I’m seeing on my Cintiq just isn’t going to happen. IMHO and for MY photography, the new 200-400VRII produces a cleaner image. Or in terms that have become infamous in my 70-200VRII video, it’s a TAD of an improvement. YOU will have to decide for YOUR photography if the upgrade is worth the price. I’ve already put my money down (thanks Jeff) so my mind is already made up. I sure hope this helps some folks, it’s all I have to offer.
Jun 2, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
The 200-400VRII is primarily my “big game” lens but entering into the summer, there just isn’t any big game around the house in the Sierra so field testing by photographing them isn’t possible at the moment. Well, not field testing just won’t do!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3192.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
With PRS coming up soon, I decided to practice my panning and at the same time, field shoot with the new 200-400VRII. So Jake & I headed to Mono Lake to a creek the California Gulls come into in the afternoon to bathe. I set up purposely so the gulls would be backlit and let some natural fill light reflecting off the tufas deal with some of the shadows. I set myself up where the gulls would set their wings in a glide just prior to come to the creek and pulling up to land.
We shot for about two hours, until our arms got tired of handholding and panning for nearly 800 images. I was VERY impressed with my results which are basically hundreds of images like this, a single gull coasting on in.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp2957.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
And why did I concentrate on just flight for two hours? You been to Mono Lake in the afternoon? You can’t find a nastier background for birds than its bleached bright white alkaline! Yeah, the gulls did interesting and funny things, but you need welding glasses to see it the light is so bright. I’ll take the interesting backlit green background over this white out anytime! The new 200-400VRII seems to be a tad better balanced handheld which I do like. I shot the whole time at f/8 and the D3s did all the AF work. The lens continues to impress me and support my own personal conclusion that it does produce a cleaner image.
Photos captured by D3s, 200-400VRII on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 1, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
I spent more time here on the Platte then just 24hrs, but this is how this 24hrs ended. It ended with a moral!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5688.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
We arrived at the bridge to see this, gray skies with gray birds landing in gray water. Yuck! It might just be enough to really depress you. Unless you know better and have the Radar App on your iPhone. With it and some years behind you, you could see to the west there were no clouds. Gray clouds in front of you, clear on the horizon can only mean one thing boys and girls!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp4829.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Color! Yeah baby, five minutes before official sunset and the color started to glow. And what a cool color it was for a few moments!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5714.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Then it went to the more typical reds of sunset. I felt sorry for those who left early, when the gray skies abound because I know they looked back in their review mirror to see this. Putting in the time once there is the easy part, especially when you’re already there and you have fifteen thousand Sandhill Cranes flying in! Mark even put up the hood on his hoodie because of the fear of being bombed! It was a spectacular end to a spectacular this 24hrs on the Platte!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e3 / 70-200VR2 / 600VR w/TC-20e3on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 1, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
The alarm went off. Got up, stuffed the sleeping bag, policed the area, set up the tripod and 600mm to the sounds of cranes calling outside. Opened the window slowly to see the cranes hadn’t walked up closer during the night.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5389.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Now that might sound bad and if you have a short lens, it can be a little bit of a heartache, but time does cure it. The birds move about and some fly off and in a little while, there are shots to be made. Especially when the stragglers start to think about flying off.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5540.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
“The Dance” is something I just love watching, so much so I all too often forget to hit the button. When pairs are forming or bonding, they do the most entertaining dance. The D3s was killer because of its video, I got some amazing footage! I shot the entire evening and morning with the TC-20e3 and it performed beautifully! The AF wasn’t happy with the gray on gray so I often manually focused but the images quality, well you can see it here. This isn’t the project I bought it for, but it worked great!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e3 on Lexar UDMA digital film
