ProCap … Still a tyro but learning .. I'm still working the mechanics and technical problems – adjusting the camera settings for ProCap and how to more effectively place myself and adjust the camera as the scene changes in front of me. I'm doing a bit of mental recording how birds behave when taking off, not landing yet... Hope to get to the photographic process before next winter … Yet occasionally I do get sequences that I like now. I'll show a couple pictures not a sequence as I'm not sure there is a lot interest in the process that much or these birds but then ….
Currently I sit about 10 to 25 feet from the places I expect the birds to start from. This allows me to use the 40-150mm lens + MC-14 effectively .. The field of view is about 30 degrees and, in mornings, the scene varies from tree branches that are brightly lighted to the tree trunk that is shaded by leaves on branches between it and the sun. …
The problems I am current working on are focus and the rapid adjustment of the camera as I change from the bright to shaded scene. Focusing on a bird on the tree trunk provides an interesting conundrum. I have to focus while the bird is on the trunk but when he flies he will have to move toward me a few inches to clear the trunk so he is rarely in sharp focus. My current thinking is to let him go out of focus but use F/8-F/11 to get deeper DOF (no use if he flies at me!) I would like to focus about 6 inches in front of him as he sit on the trunk but so far see no way to effectively do this … the exposure setting is another problem as the difference between bright sun and shade is about 4 stops. I'd like to control this better but so far have mostly settled on setting the EV to -1/3 and the moving to Manual so I can set the speed and aperture and let the ISO float (and the metering to spot.) … Setting the ISO would mean I have to rapidly change the SS as I move across the scene... I probably will eventually settle on a more restrictive field of view and take less opportunities...
The birds themselves are another problem and so far I'm not selective, I take them as they come.. I am sort of adding their characteristics as they take off to my memory, I hope .. They are different in how they approach and leave a site … By taking all comers size is a factor as to how much to keep in the frame so that I can capture them as they move in the frame …(too small means considerable cropping that effects the DOF and thus the focus.) Manually tracking is something to consider in the future I have enough problems for now …
More thoughts later … maybe just pictures … we'll see ….
Are you tired of these bird yet ???
WhyNot
Preview still shows me the picture but NO TEXT
