Your Canon Photos No.1: 4th to 13th May 2023

These are Cormorants from quite some time ago, taken with my very first DSLR and my very first birding lens which were a Canon 350D and the 400mm f/5.6L, hope the age isnt too much of a problem. I could sit there and wait for them to take off for hours on end, how exciting it was.

Ray

Then I could go on for about half a century or so, and my archive isnt even that big compared to many others :o)

Thanks.

Can imagine for the difficulties in that bright sunlight, too much light there and too dark in the shadows. Bracketing seems to be only way to overcome such problems but despite the hard light the last image is excellent in that regard.

Ray

Ray,

I assume the bird was taking off in the first two pictures. Is that correct? It's interesting to see how the cormorants have to run to do a takeoff, before flying off. I never have the patience to wait for the birds to land or takeoff, so I take very few photos like that.

Dave,

I liked seeing the photos of the memorial. The details are amazing. I enjoyed the blue sky also. Why did you need the RF35? How different would the photos have been? I'm not familiar with the RF35.

Very impressive results from the 350D @raythentic.

Subject: F18 Tulip

I hope you all don't get tired seeing my tulip flower pictures. I had to take one more at F18, to get the depth of field I wanted. I like pushing the limits despite what some might say about lens diffraction.

I have just looked into the timestamps for a possible verification on that. Pictures one (IMG_0461.JPG) and two (IMG_0483.JPG) were taken a few minutes a part but as it is the very same branch in both pictures I guess the bird must have failed at it first attempt to get airborne. The third picture (IMG_0599.JPG) however was captured about 45 minutes later so chances are for that to be an entirely different bird.

I captured so many different Cormorants during multiple sessions back then, just waiting and 'gunning away' as they landed and took off, I couldnt tell which bird was which, captured on which date and at which time :)

The exact spot I do remember though as it is a dual bird colony, with the Cormorants nesting in the treetops and the Herons nesting just above the ground. The difference there between then (2008) and now is the accomodation that has been changed, from a bird hide container with benches and large open windows to a minimalistic bird viewing screen with medium sized slits for viewing ports and with nothing to sit on. The colony itself is unchanged however, shame they removed the container few years back allready as it would have been perfect with todays equipment, I imagine I could sit there for hours still.

How could we do that? 😉
Keep 'em coming. I enjoy them.

Thanks but I guess the 400mm f/5.6L provided for a lot as well as it was a joy to shoot with.

I'm a sucker for vibrant colors and soft textures, flowers are amazing while flowers with insects on 'm are even more amazing.

David,

Thanks.

Lens diffraction is that the lens progressively loses sharpness as the aperture decreases (generally from what I understand). For more details or accuracy, you could read up on it. But if we are able to get a more sharp picture with increased depth of field, then it's worth it. Because of lens diffraction or even noise, people often avoid high F-stops or high ISO levels.