1/1000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso320
Hand held, no flash, 80% of FF, basic PS, levels, sharpening
I spent an afternoon shooting with some friends at LaSalle Marina, with the highlight of the action being the Male Wood Duck. I had lost sight of the little guy, waiting patiently for him to return to our area. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a duck in the air, incoming, and directly at me while sitting down low on the cold concrete. (20F and wind a howlin!)
After I fired a few frames at it, a smile came over my face when I realized it was our buddy, and fortunately, the D300 got a good lock on the subject in motion. This lens / body combo seems to have been built for each other, and I could not be happier to be out shooting with fine equipment.
take good care, and thanks for looking.
Last edited by Raymond Barlow; 01-21-2008 at 12:14 AM.
Reason: cleaned up the slight halo.
Nailed the little guy Raymond !!! Great bg Very sharp and well exposed Not sure if going to a higher ISO (more ss) would have help with the wing tip !!! One fine flight image Big Congrats !!!
Cool image Raymond - I agree that the D300 and 200-400 combo is great - a big step up from the D200 for flight shots. I really like the blur to the wingtip. At this res I am having trouble seeing if the head and eye are critcally sharp - there seems good focus on the bases of the wings but the eye highlight and beak look a bit fuzzy to me. I often stop- down 1 stop with flight shots to give a bit more latitude with DOF as the backgrounds are often quite distant. There is a prominent sharpening halo over the head.
Amazing looking bird, wish we had them here:D Great flight shot, I like the blurred wingtip. Sharpness is exceptional, I would have liked slightly more shadow detail under the tail (very small nit really)