Adrian Dancy
9P1A9580 Black Redstart (female)
Black Redstart (Phoenicuras ochruros)
0700.08.09.2020
I was not able this year to make any images of black redstarts with a wide-angle lens, since I lost my only wide-angle lens in the Irwell Valley last year and I have not replaced it. So my only option for more extreme photography was to shoot close birds at 1000mm FL. The problem for me is that I am pretty crap at hand-held shooting in low light. I do not have good upper body strength and I have chronic cervical spondylosis making it difficult to hold almost anything at head height for more than a few seconds. Shooting at 1000mm for a very close subject was always going to be a big ask in any event because the depth of field would necessarily be very shallow: between just 3mm-4mm!...so even if I was steady, getting critical focus would always be problematic. Happily, I took one shot at 1000mm @ 1/125 Sec and that single shot paid off. I expected a blur but was pleasantly surprised when viewing the back of the camera screen. However, we all know that the camera back screen can lie and the computer monitor would be the acid test. Well if the image was soft I would not have shown it here. I was blown away by the detail. Because I can only shoot with the centre focus spot using the Canon 7Dii with a 2X converter, it meant the bird's eye would be dead centre of the image which compositionally would be unacceptable. I have therefore applied a crop to improve composition.
9P1A9580 Black Redstart (female)
Black Redstart (Phoenicuras ochruros)
0700.08.09.2020
I was not able this year to make any images of black redstarts with a wide-angle lens, since I lost my only wide-angle lens in the Irwell Valley last year and I have not replaced it. So my only option for more extreme photography was to shoot close birds at 1000mm FL. The problem for me is that I am pretty crap at hand-held shooting in low light. I do not have good upper body strength and I have chronic cervical spondylosis making it difficult to hold almost anything at head height for more than a few seconds. Shooting at 1000mm for a very close subject was always going to be a big ask in any event because the depth of field would necessarily be very shallow: between just 3mm-4mm!...so even if I was steady, getting critical focus would always be problematic. Happily, I took one shot at 1000mm @ 1/125 Sec and that single shot paid off. I expected a blur but was pleasantly surprised when viewing the back of the camera screen. However, we all know that the camera back screen can lie and the computer monitor would be the acid test. Well if the image was soft I would not have shown it here. I was blown away by the detail. Because I can only shoot with the centre focus spot using the Canon 7Dii with a 2X converter, it meant the bird's eye would be dead centre of the image which compositionally would be unacceptable. I have therefore applied a crop to improve composition.