Hand Holding the Naked 300 II

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on the last afternoon of the Fort DeSoto IPT at 7:26pm. I used the hand held Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the light blue water: 1/3200 sec. at f/2.8 in Manual Av mode. AWB.

One sensor to the right of the central Sensor/AI Servo-Surround/Rear Focus AF on the base of the bird’s left wing 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.

Many of you will be interested in reading the Wednesday morning blog post "The Amazing Canon 300mm F/2.8L IS USM Lens/Part I of a Series: The Prime Lens Alone" by clicking here. You will find lots of solid info, 2 other images made with the same gear, and, as is usual, learn a bit about exposure.

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome.

[christopher galeski]

like the pose,nice detail in the feather's,look's like he or she is happy to see you.

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely image, pose is amazing.
I like the exposure on the underwings which is the key that catches my eye.
the 300 is a super lens for sure

[Satish Ranadive]

Arthur Sir,
Gorgeous image in wonderful lights. Great pose with full wing spread, beautiful colors, nice water ripples,flash at feet and beautiful composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Karl Egressy]

Great nicely lit bird showing a beautiful full stretch wing position.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Artie, tack, tack sharp, and the feather detail shows up so well. Love the wing display, together with the movement of the feet 'kicking' up the bubbles.

[Ivan Sjögren]

Beautiful shot! Loving the wing stretch and the details in the feathers. Also like the green area in the TLC which adds a bit of interest

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all. I agree on the green Ivan.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Poor naked lens, you could at least wrap it in some Lenscoat! Kidding aside, nice image...looks like the heron is in for a warm welcoming hug. Nice wingspread, and I agree the strip of green at top adds to the image. I almost get the impression the image could use a bit of CW rotation, but could be an illusion. I like the concentric circle in the water...what caused it?

[Arthur Morris]

Poor naked lens, you could at least wrap it in some Lenscoat! Kidding aside, nice image...looks like the heron is in for a warm welcoming hug. Nice wingspread, and I agree the strip of green at top adds to the image. I almost get the impression the image could use a bit of CW rotation, but could be an illusion. I like the concentric circle in the water...what caused it?

I rotated it 1 degree CW even though going by the concentric ripples showed close to 2 degrees. When I did that it looked plain stupid.

As for those ripples, they were from the wadded up piece of Wonder bread that I tossed to the Laughing Gulls. You can guess what happened next....

You are very obsevant. If I told you now that they were caused by a fish that the heron was after would you believe me ? :)

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Arthur

Darn piece of bread/Fish, as long as it adds to image….

Love the underwing detail.

On my Mac it the bird looks a bit bright, but by dropping exp you might lose detail?

Just my 2c.

Andre

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks Artie. Yes, I would have believed that. I thought it was created by the heron's bill having just been there but was not sure by the lack of more water drops. I can imagine the gull invasion you got after that bread toss

[Robert Kimbrell]

A beautiful wing spread with good lighting. Great body position, I hope I can my hands on 300 2.8 one day.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Arthur

Darn piece of bread/Fish, as long as it adds to image….

Love the underwing detail.

On my Mac it the bird looks a bit bright, but by dropping exp you might lose detail?

Just my 2c.

Andre

Thanks Andre. I think that there are and always will be some brightness/gamma issues between the two platforms.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie. Yes, I would have believed that. I thought it was created by the heron's bill having just been there but was not sure by the lack of more water drops. I can imagine the gull invasion you got after that bread toss

I should have gone with the fish story! The funny thing is that Laughing Gull numbers seem to be well down and more amazingly I saw a grand total of one Royal Tern on the beach in three full days. There are usually dozens of them at this season....

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very lovely image Arthur!
Nice to see the bird coming to hug your naked lens! ha ha ha
Really nice exposure and details. If mine though, I would increase contrast a tad.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks JC. I can understand wanting to darken the image or the midtones a bit (I tried that but did not like it) but the last thing I would want to do is to increase the contrast; that would make the already bright WHITEs on the face too bright...

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Thanks JC. I can understand wanting to darken the image or the midtones a bit (I tried that but did not like it) but the last thing I would want to do is to increase the contrast; that would make the already bright WHITEs on the face too bright...

I see your point and it makes lots of sense!

[arash_hazeghi]

what I like about this image is the underwings that are lit so well. pose is great

[Binu John]

Fabulous shot! Brilliant timing! The wing spread couldn't get any better than this! The underwings are well lit with no shadows!