Gender: Male Age: 50 Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 42 Location: Hengelo
Posted: Fri 06 Apr 2012, 11:49 Post subject:
@Kevin
Thnx for your reply. Google translate doesn't work verry good, so when written in english it becomes all clear
Most people can read and write in english, so that's no problem at all.
The picture of the cardinal is very nice.
Hopefully i buy the lens in a few months and will test it with the 2.0x and a 1.4x converter.
Your result with that combination gives me hope.
Do you have more pictures with that combination to share? _________________ Canonspul: 1D MK III | 24-70mm f2.8 L USM | 300mm/f2.8 IS USM I | extender 1.4 II | extender 2.0 III || 430EX II | Tamron 180mm Macro |
Gender: Male Age: 54 Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 3 Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Posted: Fri 06 Apr 2012, 14:15 Post subject:
Hi Jef
Glad to help. I have an entire website of photos made from this combination, just click on my www button or go to www.kmhwildlife.com.
Here's a teaser:
Some tips:
I always use f11 - you are going to get maximum sharpness with a teleconverter by stopping down the aperture (reducing the size of the hole) and at the distances I shoot at (very close) I need the extra depth of field. Sometimes even at f11 I will have a face, beak, and body in focus but the tail is not.
I shoot very close to my subjects, this is a given with any lens including 600s and 800s. The longer the distance, things like atmospheric conditions can degrade sharpness of the image. Most of the time I am around 4.5m from the bird, sometimes a bit closer - the 300 f4 is a great tool for this and is nice for butterflies and large insects at even closer distances. Much of the time I am using a pop up blind to do this. Much of my works are set ups - much like backyard photography. I did use the 2x 300 combination in stalking situations often enough in the past.
I use flash, almost always. My bird photography has been an evolution with this combination. It started with butterflies and insects where I was using the combination hand-held - mounted to a BushHawk shoulder stock and a speedlight mounted to the lens collar with a bracket. With birds it was simply a matter of adding a better beamer to the flash. To counter hand shake I was using the IS and the shoulder stock to stabilize myself, the flash was used to stabilize the subject while using slower shutter speeds - a well known concept for macro and close-up photography.
To me it only seemed natural to apply the practice with birds as well, with the flash dialed back for use as a fill light. Once I began doing set ups with a blind it made more sense to use a tripod and eventually I also realized that as long as I was setting up on a perch I would gain better quality control of the light by placing the speedlight on it's own stand off-axis from the camera. This allowed for better use of the concept that light illuminates and shadow defines - this is what gives you apparent sharpness in the fine detail and can be excellent on feathers. Also, as long as the light is on it's own stand you can place it closer to the perch which allows the quality of the light to be softer - the closer your light source is to a subject the larger it's relative size becomes which gives you a less directional light ( = harder) but instead a light that is broader, scattered and wrapped around the subject ( = softer). You can then even modify the speedlight with diffusers (like bouncing off an umbrella) to make the light even bigger and softer. The cardinal and the finch are both examples of umbrella bounced, off-axis light. The cardinal in fact even had a second speedlight on the background to lighten it up with the halo.
Will this combination work for you? There is one way to find out, and if you don't like it you will still have a nice 300 that is quite handy for many subjects - it is an underrated but terribly useful lens. For me it has allowed me to grasp the vision that I am always chasing, not in an easy manner that a 600 f4 might allow but in a way that has made me work hard and use my mind - ways that were healthy for my imagination and creativity. Looking back I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
On the website there is a section called The Laboratory where you will find photos of various things that I do to make the photographs on the website. You might find a useful thing or two there.
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Posted: Fri 06 Apr 2012, 11:49 Post subject:
