200-400 with Two 1.4X TCs. Hand Held
This White-tailed Sea Eagle head portrait was created on the morning of February 21, 2014 at 8:03am on the Japan in Winter IPT with the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal 1.4x Extender, an external Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (hand held at the maximum 784mm) and the Canon EOS-1D X. . ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop as framed: 1/400 sec. at f/10 in Av mode. AWB.
Central Sensor (by necessity)/AI Servo-Surround/Rear Focus AF on the middle of the bird’s bill was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Learn more and check out two great flight shots in the "The Under-Appreciated Eagle..." blog post here.
As for the image, don't be shy; all comments welcome.
Quoting from the blog: We made 3 eagle boat trips on the Japan in Winter IPT. We did so well on those that we skipped the fourth one (sorry artie, no refunds) so that we could get back to our lodge with time to pack for our flights back to Tokyo the following day. That necessary because of the several day blizzard-in-Rausu delay. In any case, I must admit that with dozens of spectacular Steller’s Sea Eagles flying around the boat and perched nearby on the sea ice I barely paid any attention at all to the numerous White-tailed Sea Eagles. Time after time they would fly by the boat at close range and I would just stand there with my lens by my side in the rest position waiting for yet another Steller’s….
I was on hand holding for the image above having added an external 1.4X TC so that I could do tight head and shoulders portraits of the Steller’s on ice when I noticed this bird off to my left with the boat drifting slowly towards it. What can I say? I could not resist the powder-puff blue background…. This image is un-cropped.
Reply With Quote
