Wannabe Birder (Like Hawkman)

[Skippy]

I know there are a heap of folks on the forum that are into birding or want to start getting into birding.

Hawkman is well known for has magnificent shots of larger birds, and his smaller birds too .

Here is a link to a shot that Hawkman took and I wonder if anyone could tell me something about the setup.

http://www.pbase.com/gaocus/image/45923799

Canon EOS 10D ,Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
1/350s f/6.7 at 500.0mm iso200, 68mm extension tubes full exif

This is truly a beautiful shot, and notice how in the description Mr Hawkman indicates he used 68mm of extension tubes :scratch so this would mean that Mr Hawkman was a lot closer to the subject than his lens would allow him to focus right :dunno

So to allow him to get this shot he had to attach the extension tubes to allow the focusing at this much closer distance right ? ...........so if your using a lens lets say a Canon 400mm F5.6 :rolleyes <---- ohhhh gosh who would have such a lens ?? :rofl ( you whistle and I'll point :lol4 )

How far away would one have been to this bird to have to use Extension Tubes :oogle

Your mission should you choose to accept it my fellow Dgriners is to provide the answer for Skippy :rofl this message won't self destruct in 5 seconds, cause that would be just plain silly now wouldn't it :): Skippy (Australia)

[ginger_55]

HUH?

I don't understand the technical............however I did note that I was not included in your list on ONE good bird photographers on this list.:rofl

I looked at the picture you like. Great picture. Detail, bokeh (blurred background, shallow DOF).

W a lens like that and extension tubes, he might be using a tripod, which I don't.

Go out and take a gazillion bird photos...........depending on where you are, what is available and what you can stand to do, you will probably develope a style unique to your ownself.

Meanwhile you can post all those photos on the nature thread to be critiqued, get advice that way.

The most important two things in birding, IMO, are passion and patience. W/O the passion, there won't be the patience, etc.

Then in a year, or two, we can all talk abut aspiring to Hawkman's perfection.:D

good luck. I was out for 6 hours yesterday and have plans to go out this evening. Meanwhile I am on the PC working photos up, answering posts, etc.

Passion and patience!

ginger

[Skippy]

HUH?

I don't understand the technical............however I did note that I was not included in your list on ONE good bird photographers on this list.:rofl

I looked at the picture you like. Great picture. Detail, bokeh (blurred background, shallow DOF).

W a lens like that and extension tubes, he might be using a tripod, which I don't.

Go out and take a gazillion bird photos...........depending on where you are, what is available and what you can stand to do, you will probably develope a style unique to your ownself.

Meanwhile you can post all those photos on the nature thread to be critiqued, get advice that way.

The most important two things in birding, IMO, are passion and patience. W/O the passion, there won't be the patience, etc.

Then in a year, or two, we can all talk abut aspiring to Hawkman's perfection.:D

good luck. I was out for 6 hours yesterday and have plans to go out this evening. Meanwhile I am on the PC working photos up, answering posts, etc.

Passion and patience!

ginger
Hawkman was the first person that came to mind :rofl the man seems to have access to a never ending supply of birds, especially Birds of Prey.

I have access to a zillion sparrows..only they really don't count do they :dunno
The Northern parts of Australia being more tropical has a huge variety of birds, especially Parrots, and colourful birds.....

....hey wonder if it's me, all the spiders and bugs I find are either Black, Brown, or Grey, and all the birds I've found are either Brown, Black & White, White, or combinations of the three plus Grey :scratch hmmmmmm someone needs to colour my world I think :rofl

I'd like to get into Birding, least it will be Summer for me in 2 more weeks :clap well only cause I will be in USA, then when I get back to Australia, hopefully the worst of Winter will be over, and Spring will be well on its way, which will hopefully mean greater availability of Birds.

I think my only hope of getting anything decent will be at the Zoo, they have a huge Avairy there, I'll get a chance to spend more time there in the Summer and late Spring...........take care Ginger.......ohhhhhh you'd be on the list if I had a list :rofl actually it's amazing how many people on this forum are right into Birds ...........Skippy (Australia)

[Khaos]

Skippy. I truly lust after a Canon 500 lens, but alas, the cost is prohibitive for now.

The one thing you may have heard before, is that you can never have a long enough lens. It's true.

The kenko tubes extend the length of the lens allowing for a "farther" reach.

Longer lens give you a smaller angle of view. An example is that a fish eye gives you 180 degrees of view. A 500 lens gives you I believe around 4 to 6 degrees angle of view.

Now what this does is allow a small sliver of your wide landscape to be concentrated on and captured to your sensor. Thus, all those megapixels only need to be spread out over that small bird and not the bird and a large amount of real estate. Thus sharper bird pic.

So hawkman increased the focal length of his lens from 500 to 568 by adding the tubes, which the longer focal length makes the bird look closer without actually getting closer.

This is nice, but it also means the lens needs more light for the extra length and thus the maximum aperture available drops. So now you need even more light or a nice tripod.

Abridged version: The longer the lens, the longer the focal length. The longer the focal length, the smaller the area you can concentrate on in shooting. Adding extenders or tubes increases your focal length.

I hope this helped.

[tmlphoto]

I know there are a heap of folks on the forum that are into birding or want to start getting into birding.

Hawkman is well known for has magnificent shots of larger birds, and his smaller birds too .

Here is a link to a shot that Hawkman took and I wonder if anyone could tell me something about the setup.

http://www.pbase.com/gaocus/image/45923799

Canon EOS 10D ,Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
1/350s f/6.7 at 500.0mm iso200, 68mm extension tubes full exif

This is truly a beautiful shot, and notice how in the description Mr Hawkman indicates he used 68mm of extension tubes :scratch so this would mean that Mr Hawkman was a lot closer to the subject than his lens would allow him to focus right :dunno

So to allow him to get this shot he had to attach the extension tubes to allow the focusing at this much closer distance right ? ...........so if your using a lens lets say a Canon 400mm F5.6 :rolleyes <---- ohhhh gosh who would have such a lens ?? :rofl ( you whistle and I'll point :lol4 )

How far away would one have been to this bird to have to use Extension Tubes :oogle

Your mission should you choose to accept it my fellow Dgriners is to provide the answer for Skippy :rofl this message won't self destruct in 5 seconds, cause that would be just plain silly now wouldn't it :): Skippy (Australia)
Skippy,
I believe that you are correct about the extension tubes in this case. As in the macro world, they would allow one to focus from a closer distance than usual for any particular lens. I am thinking about buying some tubes to get closer macro shots with my 100mm , but also would like to use it on my longer telephoto lens as a sort of close up telephoto lens. Hope this helps. There is some slight light loss with extension tubes BTW, but not too severe if I am understanding correctly.

[Skippy]

Ahhhhhhh sometimes my failure to understand is quite annoying to myself :D
However you people are quite good at explaining things, so that's gotta be a good thing :D ....thanks for the help ...... Skippy (Australia)

I know there are a heap of folks on the forum that are into birding or want to start getting into birding.

Hawkman is well known for has magnificent shots of larger birds, and his smaller birds too .

Here is a link to a shot that Hawkman took and I wonder if anyone could tell me something about the setup.

http://www.pbase.com/gaocus/image/45923799

Canon EOS 10D ,Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
1/350s f/6.7 at 500.0mm iso200, 68mm extension tubes full exif

This is truly a beautiful shot, and notice how in the description Mr Hawkman indicates he used 68mm of extension tubes :scratch so this would mean that Mr Hawkman was a lot closer to the subject than his lens would allow him to focus right :dunno

So to allow him to get this shot he had to attach the extension tubes to allow the focusing at this much closer distance right ? ...........so if your using a lens lets say a Canon 400mm F5.6 :rolleyes <---- ohhhh gosh who would have such a lens ?? :rofl ( you whistle and I'll point :lol4 )

How far away would one have been to this bird to have to use Extension Tubes :oogle

Your mission should you choose to accept it my fellow Dgriners is to provide the answer for Skippy :rofl this message won't self destruct in 5 seconds, cause that would be just plain silly now wouldn't it :): Skippy (Australia)