The Grey Wagtail that I saw a few days ago has become a regular guest at a watering hole along the banks of the Bued River.
Its visiting hours are now quite predictable, allowing me to set up a make-shift blind so I can capture it quite close.
For this job, I brought out my old EF 400 f/2.8 IS from its storage
box - its 3.0 meter MFD and its extreme sharpness at wide open
even with a 2x TC should be very useful. The combination of long
focal length and close shooting distance should melt the background
and foreground elements very nicely.
My old 5D MIII gets mounted as well - I need relatively fast shutter
speeds to freeze the actively foraging bird, and sometimes I had to
bump up the ISO to get the Tv fast enough. The larger FOV is
likewise very helpful when trying the locate the forager while shooting
in a
prone position. There are plenty enough pixels with the 5D MIII to
allow me to crop later in PP, and still retain the ability to make large
prints.
Finally, I had to support the whole shooting rig (over 14 lbs.) with
a bean bag which is lying on the ground. To protect my beer belly while
shooting prone, I used a flattened cardboard box. I suffered from a
terrible stiff neck after a few minutes of shooting, but it's a lot of
fun....
certainly making the Covid-19 lockdown more bearable. :)
_____
Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea, migrant)
Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations.
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Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, April 12, 2020, Canon 5D III + EF 400 f/2.8 IS + EF 2x TC III,
800mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/800 sec, manual exposure in available
light, bean bag on the ground, near full frame resized to 800 x 533.
|
1500 x 1000 version
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Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, April 12, 2020, Canon 5D III + EF 400 f/2.8 IS + EF 2x TC III,
800mm, f/5.6, ISO 640, 1/640 sec, manual exposure in available
light, bean bag on the ground, major crop resized to 800 x 533.
|
1500 x 1000 version
 |
Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, April 12, 2020, Canon 5D III + EF 400 f/2.8 IS + EF 2x TC III,
800mm, f/5.6, ISO 1600, 1/640 sec, manual exposure in available
light, bean bag on the ground, major crop resized to 800 x 533.
|
1500 x 1000 version
 |
Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, April 12, 2020, Canon 5D III + EF 400 f/2.8 IS + EF 2x TC III,
800mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/640 sec, manual exposure in available
light, bean bag on the ground, major crop resized to 800 x 533. | | |
1500 x 1000 version
