[M_Six]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

Wow, you can actually see detail in the wings, and thats a kit lens?

Impressive

The new 55-250mm STM is no slouch. I've been pretty impressed with it.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

The double-deck roller coaster known as the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge.

Nice one, Ed. I like the B&W.

[rabman5]

Saw this last night before bed. Had to rush to capture it as it was moving pretty quickly.

500mm, ISO 200, 1/80 sec @ f/6.3, tripod with remote shutter.

[Weebl]

Monterey CA.
Ed, seeing how you always have the bird pictures, I was doing a bad job of tracking the Fishing Cormorant and came up with this for you.

[dcstep]

You got the otter pretty good Kevin.

[dcstep]

Barefootin' by David Stephens, on Flickr

[Weebl]

Ahh Dave, I see you were getting bird pictures also.
Toward the end of the morning they started to come in close. Given the distances and the wind, even high shutter speeds were not helping me.

[M_Six]

Love the pelican, DC. Nice capture.

Cool otter pics, Kev.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Weebl

Ahh Dave, I see you were getting bird pictures also.
Toward the end of the morning they started to come in close. Given the distances and the wind, even high shutter speeds were not helping me.

The problem is usually focus, or more specifically AF. That example you posted is a really difficult situation. The camera is prone to grab hold of focus on everything except the subject. To force the camera on the subject, you need single-point AF. Against a blue sky, you can use more AF points, when the subject isn't too close, but 99% of the time I use single-point.

Pre-focus by focusing on a point about the same distance as where you'll expect to grab the bird. (High contrast is the best, since the camera will react faster). Next, move up to the bird, but don't touch the AF button (front or back, it really doesn't matter which you use) until you're certain that you've got the AF on the bird. I "bump" the AF about every half-second as the bird is flying nearer, making certain to have the AF point on the bird each time you do it. Finally, when the bird is in range, shoot in bursts of two to four, with the camera in burst mode. I hold down for six or eight shots when something exciting happens, like a kingfisher diving on a minnow:

Kingfisher Strikes by David Stephens, on Flickr

Take lots of shots. I took 400 of the kingfisher, processed ten and thought this was best of the series.

[allachie9]

Some fabulous images posted today.
I'm ashamed to say that although I went for a walk along our West Beach this afternoon, I didn't take a camera. My excuse is that the weather didn't look especially inspiring !
I did, however, have my iphone with me, which was fortunate because I came across this wild poppy in the sand dunes.



I'm quite impressed with the quality I get from the phone.

[CANGRKE70]

Walking through a forest in Ireland.

[Itsed65]

As shown, with decent light, and if you are close enough, the iPhone has a very capable camera, especially for web viewing. It doesn't replace my big gear, but it's with me 100% of the time.

[Weebl]

Alan,
The phone did a wonderful job with that poppy.

Dave,
been there done that.

[ddk632]

Beautiful sunset tonight...


Sky Lines by Dmitriy David Khaykin, on Flickr

[M_Six]

^^^^Big sky. And it's cool how the lines in the sky run parallel to the road and waterway. Gives the image nice lines over all. You might try bringing up the shadows just a tiny hair to accentuate that.

[Weebl]

I've always liked that look but never get to see it.

[NEFARIOUS]

I was searching for material in the [pathetically desolate] yard, and I actually found some decent flowers in the morning before I went and did something that took the entire day, but then the fact that the weather reached 97°F after it was usually in the 70's to low 80's for the past week didn't help a damn thing, so I came back to the pic you see ...

Thus, I present to you, The Fragility of Life

[M_Six]

We walk this one mile route every night and a couple of nights ago we were commenting on the beauty of a petunia planter on top of a mailbox in the neighborhood. Then last night we had severe t-storms with heavy rain and hail. Tonight the planter looked like hell. Life is indeed fragile.

[allachie9]

This is Bow Fiddle Rock at Portknockie on the Moray Firth Coast. I went out with some pals hoping to get some good sunset shots. The weather was quite promising when we arrived, but it got worse during the course of the evening. We eventually got rained off at about 9.30pm, a good 45 minutes before sunset.



Then as the weather worsened, went back up onto the cliff top for another attempt.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by allachie9

This is Bow Fiddle Rock at Portknockie on the Moray Firth Coast. I went out with some pals hoping to get some good sunset shots. The weather was quite promising when we arrived, but it got worse during the course of the evening. We eventually got rained off at about 9.30pm, a good 45 minutes before sunset.

Still, given conditions, very nice, with great composition.

[Dattebayo]

Classic shot for the newspaper.

[NEFARIOUS]

Following up with this post, especially since I watered it after sunset and it actually rained a tiny bit and it's still cooler and cloudy, I present "The Revival".

The Revival by Ed W, on Flickr

(If you want to see the "in progress" one from this morning known as "Revival in Progress", click here)