Lately, I haven’t been very succesful with feathered subjects. Most of the time, I just cannot find any interesting birds to photograph. And in the rare case I do find one, it just won’t cooperate.
Yesterday, I gave it another try and went for a local heathland in search for Stonechats. Within minutes I had found three male individuals. Over the course of the next hour, I found out that the first one lived way too far into the heathland, number two got scared by the mere blink of an eye and the third resorted in a heavily shaded part of the heathland.
How nice.
I had already given up and drove home when I spotted another male Stonechat. It just sat there, intensely gazing at a potential evening snack, a cloud of mosquitos. I got out of the car and tried to sneak closer, slowly of course. But no matter how hard I tried, it would not let me get closer than about 20 meters. As it sat beautifully against the setting sun in glowing heath, with a backlit mosquito crowd, I desperately wanted to get a shot. So I did something I rarely (if ever) do: I stacked both extenders on the 500mm.
I had to focus manually as AF at this focal length and shooting directly into the sun just does not work. The final result is not 100% tacksharp, but in my opinion, ultimate sharpness is not a critical factor in a backlit, moody shot like this one.
Stonechat in heathland; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS, stacked converters; 1/125s at F11 and ISO 800; Gitzo tripod
3 Comments
Erg sfeervol!
Prachtig
Scherpte is inderdaad ondergeschikt hier.
Nette foto!
Ik ken het probleem, en zeker omdat ik de laatste tijd erg weinig tijd heb, het uurtje op een dag wat ik dan heb komt er niets voor de lens .
Verder mooie foto geworden Marijn.
Groetjes Arjan