Pronghorn Antelope

Glad to see youre getting through some of those shots from your fall trip out west! Gota' love those speed-goats! Nice job getting so close to those critters. I never photograph them, I'd like too, but just have not maded the effort to get close.

the exposure was great considerting the light, both your whites and shadows have some detail.

The only drawback that I can see, is that there's no catch light in the eye therefore the eye looks deep and dark. A little sparkle in the eye always gives the animal "life."

Take care James!

Nice close up, did you get the telephoto then?

LOL, no. I did not get the telephoto. This was purely an example of being patient and trying to get close in a non-threatening way. I think I succeeded, however, the gentleman was starting to get a bit anxious and I did not get as close as I would have liked.

James

Tony,

Your comments about the photo are well taken. As you can see, the shot was taken in mid-day...and I had not planned on pulling out the camera at all. However, as I don't always get an opportunity to get close to the Pronghorn when I am out, we figured 'what the heck.'

The trick of these photos was to try to make the best of the harsh light. Over-all, it was a success - though you are definitely right that a catch light in the eyes would improve things.

James

Hi guys
I am looking around for some suggestions!!!!I use a cannon 30d with a 100-400 for pics of deer in Mississippi. MOst of it is under low light conditions!!! very hard for me--since I am a novice--I did get some great pics of some pelicans in flights only with the help of "Jo" in the UK that really set me straight, but these deer that I am trying to get are comming out right at sun up and sundown. All of the auto settings just will not get enough light to frweeze the subject, either the aperture(5.7) is too small and I can't get anything or the exposure is so long that the subject is blurred--There just has to be a way to get better at this-----frustrated

Tip sullivan--tsdefeet@msfootcenter.net

Hi Tip,

Welcome aboard. First, a few questions.

(1) What lens are you using?
(2) What ISOs are you shooting at?
(3) Are you shooting hand held, or with a tripod?

Cheers
James

Tip I am in Alabama and deal with the same frustrations. I have not found a solution. When I increase my ISO I get too much noise and it never looks good. Tripod just doesn't help either. I am also a novice but have come to the conclusion that it will take an expensive 2.8 300mm or 400mm lense to get the shot. I can't afford the lense so I have not solved the issue either. Let me know if you find a solution. I would love to hear it.

Matt

Hey Guys,

I am shooting with a 70-200 F2.8 with a 2x converter. This gives me the equivalent of a 400mm F5.6 lens - not the fastest animal in the barn. Until this year, I had not been pleased with a lot of my shots - even when I was shooting with very fast shutter speeds. This year, more than any other, I have learned to depend on a solid tripod. The tripod, of course, does not help you in situations where the critters are fast moving and you are in low light - but they do help prevent most problems with hand shake. I know that a lot of folks complain about noise, but I have decided that a slightly higher noise photograph is better than a poorly focused one - so I have been doing a lot of ISO 800 and 1600 shots as well.

I have avoided getting one of the larger, faster lenses for the very reason of cost as well. While I definitely want to move to a larger, faster lens, I am doing it slowly.

It might be helpful to see some examples of shots that did not work out the way that you expected them to.

James

This is another shot that I took with my 70-200 and 2x converter combo last year when I was out in Yellowstone. I was admittedly way too close, but I was using natural blinds and I don't think the critters were very worried about me. For folks who have seen me post this in the past, I apologize for the re-post. It is just, IMO, a good example of what you can do with the 200 with 2x converter.

That is great James. I can't get any sharp results with my 2x converter, even on a tripod. Any suggestions?

Hey Matt,

Do you think you can post some examples of shots that you are not happy with? I will be glad to try to help, but 'seeing' the problem really helps.

ALso, which lens are you using with the 2x converter? The other element is the tripod head.

James

I am still no further along with learning a method of posting to the web page. I just have not had time. I hope to have more time this winter. I have used to converters with both the 20-200 2.8 and the 100-400 IS on a bogen tripod and head, I don't have them in front of me and can't remember the model. They were used in situations that should have been fine( such as on a road with no wind). Using the same lense without the converter gave me sharp pictures but I just don't have the reach I would like.

thanks