With my travels, I'd like to be able to say that I always have beautiful weather, golden and red sunsets, wildlife abounding about me, and a focus lock speed something like instantaneous. I'd like to say that...
... but I can't.
Still, on a day in central Wisconsin where I left my client at day's end hoping to shoot, only to get out of the car into biting blowing sleet and snow, with a wind that quite quickly numbed my fingertips. The photos I landed could be considered "high key", if shooting snow and sleet against a blown-out sky and a bird flitting through are such a thing. I did have this odd expectation that things would improve in a short time.
They didn't.
And I barely missed colliding with a wild turkey that scampered in front of my car minutes later, albeit by fully and completely testing my rental car's antilock brakes in full shuddering splendor. At least I had a new sight - I've never before seen a wild turkey fly over tall trees. On the other hand, I might have done the same if somebody laid on the car horn as loudly and long as I did from a range of maybe fifteen feet.
But, sitting in my hotel room in the early evening collecting and answering e-mail, I looked out the window to see that the sky was clearing to the west, and there was a hope of sun, so I grabbed my camera and shot out the door.
Some nearby cranberry bogs have sported several GBHs, but my real hope was an osprey's nest that I'd spied on Monday morning. The "nest shots" weren't great, but I shot a lot of flight shots. This is where the D100 is sometimes a bit laggardly, in that the AF isn't as fast as one might like.
Exposure was, as usual, a bit problematic, as the female osprey was wheeling across the setting sun. EV compensations were being switched as the bird moved, all the time trying to keep the bird in frame, focused, and shot at the right moment. All this with a (still) bitingly chill wind making my fingers less and less agile.
But a shot or two seemed to fall in the range I desired.
D100, 200-400mm AFS/VR with TC17EII (net 650mm), ISO200, 1/180s, f/7.1, handheld, cropped about 20%, processed in NC
It's predicted that there will be some sun over the next few days that I'm here. There are birds aplenty, landscapes of vast proportion, and a camera in my hands. Life is good.
Always shoot.
John P.
... but I can't.
Still, on a day in central Wisconsin where I left my client at day's end hoping to shoot, only to get out of the car into biting blowing sleet and snow, with a wind that quite quickly numbed my fingertips. The photos I landed could be considered "high key", if shooting snow and sleet against a blown-out sky and a bird flitting through are such a thing. I did have this odd expectation that things would improve in a short time.
They didn't.
And I barely missed colliding with a wild turkey that scampered in front of my car minutes later, albeit by fully and completely testing my rental car's antilock brakes in full shuddering splendor. At least I had a new sight - I've never before seen a wild turkey fly over tall trees. On the other hand, I might have done the same if somebody laid on the car horn as loudly and long as I did from a range of maybe fifteen feet.
But, sitting in my hotel room in the early evening collecting and answering e-mail, I looked out the window to see that the sky was clearing to the west, and there was a hope of sun, so I grabbed my camera and shot out the door.
Some nearby cranberry bogs have sported several GBHs, but my real hope was an osprey's nest that I'd spied on Monday morning. The "nest shots" weren't great, but I shot a lot of flight shots. This is where the D100 is sometimes a bit laggardly, in that the AF isn't as fast as one might like.
Exposure was, as usual, a bit problematic, as the female osprey was wheeling across the setting sun. EV compensations were being switched as the bird moved, all the time trying to keep the bird in frame, focused, and shot at the right moment. All this with a (still) bitingly chill wind making my fingers less and less agile.
But a shot or two seemed to fall in the range I desired.
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D100, 200-400mm AFS/VR with TC17EII (net 650mm), ISO200, 1/180s, f/7.1, handheld, cropped about 20%, processed in NC
It's predicted that there will be some sun over the next few days that I'm here. There are birds aplenty, landscapes of vast proportion, and a camera in my hands. Life is good.
Always shoot.
John P.
