NWPBanner
Welcome! NWPphotoforum.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Wild Turkeys On Parade #14909
04/28/08 03:32 PM
04/28/08 03:32 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
D
Dale Forrest Offline OP
Tracker
Dale Forrest  Offline OP
Tracker
D

Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
HI James,
thanks for changing my login etc.
I can now login OK.

I've been away from the forum due to other situations that have
kept me from my photography, but glad to be back.

Last week (April 13 2008) I decided to go back into the woods to
shoot again. After 4 days of hiking in Cades Cove, TN I was able to
get this shot on the last morning.

I was hoping to see some bears that week, but I was too early.

Around 7:30 AM on the last day, I heard some Wild Turkeys in the woods. I had just entered the open field and had all my gear ready to go. Instead of using my normal set up ( tripod,longest lens, etc.) I decided to just lay down in the middle of the field and see what happened.

Within minutes, there were several Tom's emerging from the tree line.
I had just rented the Sigma 80-400 mm OS lens to give it a test run and that was the lens that I had mounted. As they entered the field I was capturing
what I could at 400 mm. Staying perfectly still and not using any type of sound to attract them, they moved into my direction to investigate . I truly feel that not having the tripod set up and the fact that I was laying on the ground got their curiosity.

In less than a minute, they all came right up to me, and as if on cue they
lined up in a single row, evenly spaced and all at once displayed their tail feathers.

Since I had the Sigma zoom, without moving my position I was able to
get this shot at around 200 mm.



Within seconds, they all scurried away.
That was the only shot, and I don't think that I will every see that happen
again.

If I had been carrying my 400mm prime telephoto, I wouldn't have been
able to get this shot.


Dale

Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: Dale Forrest] #14910
04/28/08 03:45 PM
04/28/08 03:45 PM
Joined: Apr 2006
Illinois
Peggy Sue Offline
Pooh-Bah
Peggy Sue  Offline
Pooh-Bah

Joined: Apr 2006
Illinois
This is amazing. My first reaction was to look for cloning. Then I thought about putting music to is as if it were a dance line. What a hoot. Thanks for posting.


Peggy Sue
Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: Dale Forrest] #14911
04/28/08 05:32 PM
04/28/08 05:32 PM
Joined: Mar 2005
Florida
Jim Garvie Offline
Addict
Jim Garvie  Offline
Addict

Joined: Mar 2005
Florida
Dale,
that's a great shot and how fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with the right lens. Very, very cool!

Jim


Jim Garvie
www.jagphoto.biz
Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: Jim Garvie] #14912
04/28/08 05:39 PM
04/28/08 05:39 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Dumas, Texas
gll Offline
Tracker
gll  Offline
Tracker

Joined: Mar 2007
Dumas, Texas
you were given a gift and you captured it very well, way to go !

Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: Dale Forrest] #14913
04/28/08 07:44 PM
04/28/08 07:44 PM
Joined: Feb 2008
New Jersey,USA
mrsadie Offline
Wanderer
mrsadie  Offline
Wanderer

Joined: Feb 2008
New Jersey,USA
Nice Shot!!!


------------------- Dennis Bodnar Remember..... Practice makes Perfect!
Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: mrsadie] #14914
04/29/08 07:13 PM
04/29/08 07:13 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
D
Dale Forrest Offline OP
Tracker
Dale Forrest  Offline OP
Tracker
D

Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
Thanks everyone for your comments.
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I will always try to be
prepared with a zoom lens mounted and ready to go.

Still haven't decided which lens will be best for me yet, but I have
been renting several to check them out.

I'll post another photo of the turkeys just as they were leaving the
woods.

thanks again,
Dale

Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: Dale Forrest] #14915
05/01/08 08:14 PM
05/01/08 08:14 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
D
Dale Forrest Offline OP
Tracker
Dale Forrest  Offline OP
Tracker
D

Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
Sorry, I was working on my website and forgot that I had loaded the photo
of the Turkeys on a separate file. It should be back on now.

Dale

Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: Dale Forrest] #14916
05/03/08 11:01 AM
05/03/08 11:01 AM
Joined: Feb 2005
Manhattan, New York, New York
James Morrissey Offline
I
James Morrissey  Offline
I
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Feb 2005
Manhattan, New York, New York
Hey Dale,

I know you are using Nikon. A friend of mine who is debating the D300 is under the impression that the Sigma 80-400 might not work well with the D300. Can you confirm this? Also, would you mind sharing a few more photos you have taken with the Sigma?

Thanks!
James

Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: James Morrissey] #14917
05/03/08 08:09 PM
05/03/08 08:09 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
D
Dale Forrest Offline OP
Tracker
Dale Forrest  Offline OP
Tracker
D

Joined: Mar 2007
North Carolina
Hi James,
I believe that the sigma 80-400 should work on the D300 the same as it does
on the D200. I don't have the D300 yet so I can't really confirm that.

These are my thoughts on the Sigma 80-400
Pros
- A good hand held lens for that range to capture quick shots
- OS works great for hand held applications.
- You can force the focus while in autofocus if needed.

Cons
- Not as sharp as I would have liked it to be (my copy)
- Never have liked a variable F stop
- 1.4 extender worked, but only on MF.
- I removed the mounting collar to make it more comfortable to hand hold

Overall I like the lens, but I am still renting different lenses until I find
the one that will work best for me.

This is another image of the Turkeys when they were in the woods.
You can see that they are all looking straight at me. Even the 5th turkey
on the right is looking over the tail feathers of #4. I think that's why it
is so difficult to get good shots of wild turkeys. They must have incredible eye site.





Below is an image taken just after the turkey shots when I switched back to my
Nikon 50-300 ED F4.5 Zoom Lens. (Always has been my favorite lens ) I would
probably remove the grass coming out of the back of the turkey if I decided to
print this image. I never ever add anything to an image, but I don't have a problem
removing something if it is drawing my eye to it.



Below is an image taken with the Sigma 120 - 300 F2.8 with the Sigma 1.4 extender. (on tripod though)
I like the bokeh that the Sigma 120-300 gave me on this lens. I always tend to shoot wide open and always
manually focus on the eyes of my subject to let everything else go out of focus etc. I rarely use autofocus.




My next lens to check out will be the Sigma 100-300mm
Unless I hit the lottery and just go ahead and buy the Nikon 200-400mm

Hope this helps.
I would suggest renting a lens to try it before you purchase it though.
I use www.lensrentals.com
I highly recommend them. quick service and very helpful. you can also reserve a lens ahead etc. which helps when
you are planning a trip in the future etc.

Dale

Re: Wild Turkeys On Parade [Re: Dale Forrest] #14918
05/03/08 10:42 PM
05/03/08 10:42 PM
Joined: Feb 2005
Manhattan, New York, New York
James Morrissey Offline
I
James Morrissey  Offline
I
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Feb 2005
Manhattan, New York, New York
Hey Dale,

Thanks so much with the assistance on this. I will also agree the 120-300 shot looks beautiful. Have you tried (or considered) the Sigma 50-500? I understand that it is quite a lens at a relatively affordable price.

Cheers
James

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Who's Online Now
0 registered members (), 365 guests, and 2 spiders.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
CTiefisher, DrSuse BlueDevil, airphotog, dwilson7878, carters paul
3317 Registered Users
Forum Statistics
Forums6
Topics627
Posts989
Members3,317
Most Online629
Dec 4th, 2019

Copyright 2005 - 2020 Nature, Wildlife, and Pet Photography Forum. "NWPPhotoforum" and "nwpphotoforum.com" are the property of Nature, Wildlife, and Pet Photography Forum. All Rights Reserved. Wild Coyote Studio, New York Pet Photographer

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.1
(Release build 20190129)
PHP: 5.6.40-1+hw4 Page Time: 0.032s Queries: 15 (0.009s) Memory: 0.9641 MB (Peak: 1.9681 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 23:49:26 UTC