On Golden (Duck) Pond....;-)

[Flew]

I went to the pond after work yesterday evening and caught some decent late afternoon Mallard shots with the D2h / 300 2.8. I also used the 1.4 TC. The light was just about perfect. Here are several examples.

Some solitary flyers:

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And some groups:

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Hope that you enjoy. :smile:

 

[Gale]

Those are excellent Frank.

Boy you are getting this down to a science. Job well done.

 

[mike mac]

?Beautiful lighting i like the formation shots thebest, these suckers are just so fast, you will have no problme nailing the big birdies now

 

[Gordon Large]

Very nice, Frank. Do you ever screw up a flight shot? I'm getting better but you still provide inspiration.

BTW - Got a schedule for Merritt III yet? After the hurricane season. I am having a hard time even comprehending Katrina.... Do you never if any Cafe members were directly affected?

Gordon

 

[HarryB]

Frank you are the MAN when it comes to BIFs.

 

[PJohnP]

Frank:

You're just singing a great mallardy there, guy !

<ducking> :Ouch: evil: :Ouch:


John P.

 

[greyflash]

Hi Frank, if you put those first six in a stack and then flipped them fast it would look like they were flying for sure. Excellent images all but I think I like the last one the best. Perhaps it's the excellent light.

 

[james thiel]

Frank you make it look easy and I know how hard it is to get these shots. I tried a few today but the light was pretty bad and I could not get a fast enough shutter speed. How fast a shutter speed do you need to freeze the wings? Beautiful images as always.

 

[Flew]

Frank you make it look easy and I know how hard it is to get these shots. I tried a few today but the light was pretty bad and I could not get a fast enough shutter speed. How fast a shutter speed do you need to freeze the wings? Beautiful images as always.

Thanks again everyone for the very kind words.

James, for Mallards, you need to be at a minimum of 1/640th of a second to keep things from looking blurred. I certainly understand the problem you are having though. In my experience, shooting flying birds is primarily an exercise in figuring out how to get enough shutter speed, and a decent aperture, to get a usable shot. I shoot in manual, so that I can control both of these settings, and vary the shutter between about 1/640th and 1/800th. I usually set the aperture between f5.0 and f8.0 (f8.0 is better, but you can't always get that with available light).

When I can't get a good exposure while achieving these values, I just bump up the ISO. I try to stay below ISO 400. Anything higher with the D2H results in noticeable noise in the dark areas of the image.

 

[bfjr]

Best ducks in flight I've ever seen!!!

 

[Flew]

Thanks Ben. :biggrin:

 

[Keith]

You are the Mallard King!!! Those little duckies are fast, you best go back after the hummers, these are no challenge for the King
Great series Frank, kudos my friend!

 

[Gilles]

The last one is so beautiful, the color, contrast, sharpness and composition are first rate. Which AF-Area mode did you use for the pictures, I never yet took a picture of a flying bird, would the VR70-200 be long enough for those kind of pictures or is it to short?

 

[Flew]

Thanks Keith. Mostly, I'm persistent. :smile:

Gilles, most of the time I shoot in the single center sensor AF-C mode, with lock-on turned on. These shots were shot using the group dynamic area mode. As for the 70-200VR, I have one and know several others that do also. While it is certainly possible to get good bird shots with this lens, most feel that it is a tad on the short side for most bird shooting applications. I did use mine at the rookery in Florida a couple of months ago because the birds are just so close there, but that is not usually the case.