July 12th, 2013:0 – Avian Friday: Seafood Buffet

Some of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may have already seen this weeks image as it was posted there earlier in the week. For the past few weekends I’ve had the pleasure of joining a few of my wildlife photographer friends for great opportunities to capture Bald Eagles. The first time out I struggled a bit with getting my settings correct whole maintaining focus on the birds. I overheard my buddy mention to another shooter that he always shoots in manual mode. I followed his lead and stated to get much better results.

I got a little lucky with this shot as at the time I was “experimenting” with using a 2X teleconverter on the big lens to get a little closer to the action. The frame rate on the new Canon 5D Mark 3 is nothing to write home about, but the autofocus is pretty darn good. I wasn’t expecting much since even a 1.4X telleconverter slows down the AF capability and a 2X even more so. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had captured this guy just as he is about to nail a Sculpin in the shallows for breakfast.

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus )

Seabeck, Washington 
1000mm | 1/2000th Sec. @f/8 | ISO 1600

Canon 5D Mark III+ Canon EF 500/4L IS USM vI + EFS 2X Rear Extender VII

Processed with Filterstorm and Nik Snapseed.

To see a larger version please click on the image.

Feel free to comment below if you like what you see or have any other observations.

Thanks for stopping by,

JayT

Tags: Bird-in-flight, Birds, Canon EF 500mm f4.0 L IS USM, Nature photography

• July 12, 2013
• Birds in Flight
• 4 Comments