I wanted to talk a minute here about animal behavior and photography. Knowing what an animal is going to do or how they might behave is half the battle of getting a good photo or an awesome one. I attended a lecture by top nature/wildlife photographer George Lepp and he said "behavior, behavior, behavoir"...."know your subjects habits and be ready".....so I have been using this when photographing birds particularly. If you watch them long enough, you start to notice behavior patterns which are quite helpful in anticipating a moment and capturing that moment.
I started noticing this with the ducks at the local preserve I like to go to near my home. I noticed that when they started preening, they would dunk several times and then flap their wings. I started shooting fast when this occurred to try and catch it. I bumped my ISO to 800 and started shooting at 1/1600...it worked...I got several worthwhile images including the one to the right here of a Green Winged Teal. These ducks are fast but knowing what they are going to do takes practice and observation!
So I recently took a very good picture of a Harris's Sparrow and it got put on the front of the Central Valley Birding list for the month...I am very happy with that. Even thought I do get good photos...I know they can be better.
Better in terms of resolution and overall sucess rate with sharpness and detail. I experiment with different settings...shoot at a High ISO (400-800) and using a high shutter speed (1600-2000)..but I used to shoot at 200 ISO but had a lot of blurry photos. I wish I could afford a faster lens but those are soooo dang expensive. I doubt I would be able to afford one for a long while. Especially with all my current medical bills...sheesh.
I was looking at the Canon 500mm and the 600mm. I like the 600mm for the reach and would want to put a 1.4 extender on it. But it is a huge lens. I mainly shoot from my car...that would be the only way with this lens. I am looking at the Canon 100-400 too...might check that out a lens rental company and see how that works. We'll see!
