Birds of a feather - using the 100mm - 400mm IS L Series Lens

Last weekend we went back to our new favorite camping spot at Tallarook.

Some local birds popped in for a sticky beak at their new neighbours so I clipped the trusty 100-400mm IS L Series lens on and started to shoot.

The birds were quite the posers so there was plenty of opportunity to get some nice shots.

At first I found too many shots with slight camera shake and I remembered that old rule of thumb about making the shutter speed at least as fast as the focal length. So given I was shooting at 400mm I switched to TV on the 7D and set the shutter speed to 1/400th with much better results. I also increased the ISO so that in the shaded lighting of the bush the aperture was staying above the minimum F5.6 of the lens at that focal length.

The result? Well see for yourself Here

Here's my favorite.

Aussie Bush

We went to Tallarook State Park for the long weekend a week or so ago.

 
View Larger Map

We love bush camping with our Kimberley Caravan.


The butterflies were out in full force and in very good condition so I got some OK pics.

Check them out on my smugmug site here.

All of these were shot using my Canon 7D and most with the Canon 100-400mm L Series lens. The 400mm focal length allows you to get close to the flighty post-metamorphosis caterpillars and the image stabilisation allows you to take hand held shots.

Here's my favorite:

Planning Eclipse Photos

Australia only has two more solar eclipses this decade.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas3/SEatlas2001.GIF

13-Nov 2012 and 10-May-2013. I hope to take some pics of them both.

The 13-Nov-2012 eclipse is a total eclipse whereas the 2013 one is an annular eclipse.

A total eclipse is where the moon covers the sun entirely, blocking it out. An annular eclipse is when the apparent size of the moon is smaller than the apparent size of the sun so it does not cover the sun entirely. In an annular eclipse you get a ring of sun around the moon.

If you want to know more about why the apparent size of the moon and sun change then there is a good article here.

The short answer is both the earth and moon have elliptical orbits.

Total eclipses are cool to photograph because you can get a flaring effect from the illuminated gasses emitting from the sun which ordinarily are not visible due to the intensity of the light coming from the sun.

Anyway - I hope to take pics of both types but it involves some careful planning.

Now bear in mind I haven't done this before so these posts are setting out how I'm going about planning for it. And some of the resources I am using.

Location

To get the right pic - location is important.

I want to be right in the center of the path for the Umbra. (definition)

I have used the Google maps on the NASA site.

13-Nov-2012 http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2012Nov13Tgoogle.html
10-May-2013 http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2013May10Agoogle.html

Both eclipses are early morning so the sun will be low in the sky.


The sun rises in the east so I'm looking for a good view of the eastern horizon.

The 2013 eclipse covers a very remote area of Australia so I'm making this plan as part of a bigger trip to see our western state. Details of that trip plan are being discussed on my other blog. http://oz4x4ing.blogspot.com.au/

For each eclipse I plan to get there a day early so I can do a practice run the morning before.

Equipment

My plan is to get at least one photo at the point of totality and some other images either side.

To do this I'll use my 100-400mm lens.

I also need to get a filter to protect both my eyes and the camera's sensor.

I looking at geting something like AstroSolar safety film and making my own.

I already have the TPE app for the iPhone to check the direction and timing of sun rise

During the Nov 2012 eclipse I need to be able to remove the filter during totality and hopefully get a cool shot like this:

Hawaii Trip Photos Uploaded

Got some nice pic in Hawaii recently.

Check them out using the link below:

http://vitamirus.smugmug.com/keyword/hawaii#!i=1682862119&k=dKrGn9W

Understanding Depth Of Field

Found this great article on Depth Of Field.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

London Photos

I have uploaded photos from a recent trip to London.

http://vitamirus.smugmug.com/keyword/london

An Aussie, Credit Card and 20mins in B&H NYC - Its weird.

Oh yeah!

One way of illustrating the difference in living in a city of 4.0m to a city of 8.7m is the size of its camera stores.

Wow - went to B&H yesterday but only had 20mins - what a waste - it requires a full day.

Managed to pick up some great bargins for an Aussie.

Of course its cheaper again online but I didn't care that much as I saved so much.

Bought the following:

Canon 50mm Prime F1.4
Canon 320EX Speedlite for my daughter's 60D
A Lowpro Slingshot 302 AW Bag
Gary Fong Light Sphere
Cokin Filter Kit

Total saving from my usual supplier after a pretty good discount was about A$400 just on first 3 more expensive items.

Gotta be happy with that.

Thanks to the guys on dpreview for the B&H tip.

The actual B&H experience was a weird one for an Aussie. Staff everywhere but each one only handles a certain area. Then I'm directed to this place where you queue up (queues everywhere in the US - the yanks love queues) then you get to a guy (or girl) sitting behind a bench who calls everything up I was looking at - to be fair he was happy to chat but you get the feeling you need to hurry up.

Then presto while we are yacking someone turns up with a box contains all the stuff on his screen.

Then its downstairs to another queue to pay then another queue to collect the stuff. Very efficient and kinda cool.

..... but wierd.