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My zoom lenses ;)


My zoom lenses ;)
Photo Information
Copyright: Monika MvJ (thistle) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1317 W: 77 N: 3012] (9272)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-11
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 4200, Nikkor ED 38-114 F/2.8-4.8 + Binoculars
Exposure: f/3.7, 1/42 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Sparrows in the world - Pardais no Mundo [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-11-03 15:04
Viewed: 2099
Points: 66
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
You can see my "zoom lenses" in WS ;)

And here's the explanation:

Lately I read a bit about digiscoping and this reminded me about russian hunter binoculars that my father used to bought. It's old and lenses are a bit damaged, but it has big focal length and gives clear images.

I always wanted to take photos of birds, so I decided to try. I choose Tree Sparows as a models. Big herd of these fellow live in my garden so I just had to go outside to find them sitting on one of nearby trees.

I know the quality of this shot is far from perfect, but I'm very happy with the results.
Why?
Imagine holding heavy binocular in one hand, camera in the other trying to put the camera lenses in right place when they really don't match with the lenses of binoculars. Before this you must set the focus in binoculars, later in camera. Of course exposure must be right too. When you're trying to take a photo, it is almost imposible not to shake the camera or binocular because your hands are already quite tired [if you want to use tripod you must first find a way to attach binocular to it. I was too lazy to do that ;)]

Anyway, at the moment when everything is set as precisely as it can be and you think you are ready to take shot, the sparrows will probably decide to fly on the other tree ;)

So, last weekend I spent some hours chasing the sparrows, and this is one of better shots.
It was underexposed and quite noisy, so I did a small PP to corect this.

You would probably want the DOF to be greater, but unfortunatelly I don't have any way to control it. So I have only 1.5 sparrow in focus instead of 3 ;)
liquidsunshine, Libor, khris_rino, mogens-j, marhowie, scottevers7, Fisher, cedryk, Athila, Alan_Kolnik, manyee, red45, TAZ, iglootrek, Active, wallhalla15, Tommysugar, PDP, dew77, Signal-Womb, hummingbird24, Markus, Betty has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Xplorator: Romaniathistle 1 11-27 14:47
To Signal-Womb: DOFthistle 2 11-10 06:08
To Jancie: Neighboursthistle 1 11-04 10:18
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Critiques [Translate]

Nicely done Monika,
I think this system you have used works very well.
The results are good. The detail of the lower sparrow are excellent, the lighting is very nice.
You must have a very steady hand to get the image as sharp as you did.
Very good post my friend. TFS
Nearly the weekend.....yippeee. ;)

  • Great 
  • Libor Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 176 W: 1 N: 25] (1101)
  • [2005-11-03 15:17]

Ahoj Moniko
You're right quality isn't good.
But I see.I usualy spent a lot of hours too
and I didn't take good quality shot.
This shot isn't bad! Conposition and timing
is great.This shot have a great atmosphere.
I like it !

tired hands + 1.5 sparrow DOF + sharp results + nice background = FULL MARKS!!

DOF... So what ? Your eyes don't focus from 1" to infinity at the same time either !! (fortunately... or we would be lost in useless details...)

Selecting a focus range and focus zone is your choice and I must say this was a rather good choice in this case ! As long as you get 1 individual completely sharp, this is good enough. In fact I think it is even better that way, with the 2nd sparrow blurred, as if it were the shadow of the 1st one, almost superposed with the same attitude. Colors are nice too with the sunlit background.

Great job !

  • Great 
  • eleana Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 207 W: 80 N: 75] (2233)
  • [2005-11-03 16:04]

Hello Monica!
I imagine your adventures with this construction... Great result! Wish you next successes in your hard experimentes :) Good luck!
Eleana

  • Great 
  • puciu Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 519 W: 0 N: 16] (2603)
  • [2005-11-03 16:11]

Witaj Monika. Pomimo zmiany tematu, zdjęcie nadal świetne.
Robert.

Monika, with the equipment at hand I think you did a fantastic job - getting one of the sparrows in focus, amazing. I can see now that all of us with heavy lenses at our disposal we actually come easy to our pictures compared to your effort. IMO the sparrow out of focus adds some atmosphere to the picture and the light is lovely. Hats off for your great effort and result.

This is very good Monika. Very interesting how you've gone about getting the shot. I applaud your effort & the time it took to get this one. Very good detail and focus on the near sparrow. Great light & color. Well Done!
Thank You.

Hi Monika,
Hey you should get 10 points for the effort alone. You did a pretty good job with this exposure. The light and colors look great. As you say it could use more DOF, but still a wondeful shot gor how you did it,
Scott

  • Great 
  • Fisher Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1540 W: 309 N: 2234] (8915)
  • [2005-11-03 20:37]

Hi Monika,

Excellent shot and well done on the composition and details.
Beautiful work.

Mike

  • Great 
  • cedryk Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 966 W: 52 N: 1693] (5184)
  • [2005-11-03 21:11]

Swietna kompozycja, rzeczywiscie DOF moglaby byc wieksza ale rozumiem ograniczenia techniczne :-) Rozmieszczenie mazurkow daje ciekawy powtarzalny motyw, swietnie uzupelniany przez galazki. Gratulacje! Michal

  •      
  • Athila Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 305 W: 232 N: 432] (1564)
  • [2005-11-03 21:51]

Beautiful picture Monika!

Sharpness is excellent on lower left bird, and exposure is great to. I like the triangular composition and the shallow DOF is wonderful.
You got amazing results you got with that setup, and it's not that easy to handle. I tried once before for moon picture.
Great job and TFS

  • Great 
  • radz Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 605 W: 11 N: 616] (3396)
  • [2005-11-03 22:34]

This is cute&very well taken,details are sharp.

Hi Monika,
You did very ell with you "lens". The details are very good and the DOF is also good for used of a binocular.
Well composed and good POV.
Very well done.

Cute shot Monika, great exposure revealing these birds in the warm lighting. Paul :)

  • Great 
  • manyee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3059 W: 231 N: 6135] (20978)
  • [2005-11-04 1:05]

I think you did a great job, Monika. I really like your sparrows. : )
Great composition of those three, and as you said, one of the sparrow is very sharp. What a clever gizmo you have concocted to take your pictures! Bravo. TFS. : )

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2703 W: 74 N: 8857] (30219)
  • [2005-11-04 2:59]

Wow, Monika ;-) You're candidate for spy with such equipement ;-) I like composition and colours of your picture very much. DOF is slightly short, but you know it well ;-) Lovely trio! I hope you'll make some more experiments with your binocular!

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2241 W: 47 N: 3167] (10926)
  • [2005-11-04 3:54]

Wow ! What a wonderful and interesting shot ! Congratulations Monika and thanks for sharing.

" the Life is so rare in the universe and the Nature so precious, take care of them! " Christian...

Hi Monika

Another busy night so not much time to do an indepth critique, sorry, but I do like what I see very much. Nicely composed. Good sharpness and detail with excellent exposure. Well done. Thanks.

Oh Monika, I'm still smiling after reading your notes! I wish I had seen you running around with your camera and the old binoculars!! The neighbours must have had a good laugh at you:)
I love those dear little balls of fluff on the tree. The lower left sparrow is great, and knowing you, you'll work at it until you get them all in focus! Great results. Good job!

Congratulations Monika,
According to the condition you did an excellent job.
I really like the composition of your picture and the BG is hot !!!
We should all try to make a picture through russian binoculars... should be a fun experience !!!

Czesc Moni :)
rewelacyjne zdjecie. Z poczatku troche denerwowalo mnie to, ze w tle nieostry jest ten ptaszek, ale jednak gdy sie spoglada na foto ciut dluzej widzi sie jego 'przeslanie'.
Bardzo dobrze Ci to wyszlo:) Pomysl i wykonanie na bdb+...hihi
Ptaki to wdzieczny temat do fotografowania, chociaz trudny, Tobie sie jednak udalo bez zastrzezen - bravo! i te kolorki i wdzieczny model...ahhh :)
TFS i pozdrawiam goraco :)
Basia

Hi Monika,
wow, this is so beautiful,
looking like an aquarelle-painting.
What a lovely motive and a perfect Background with so pretty colours.
Very well done, thank you very much
Sabine - wishnugaruda

  • Great 
  • Graal Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 755 W: 31 N: 20] (5032)
  • [2005-11-04 14:21]

cześć,
świetne te wróbelki, bdb złapane. Podoba mi się ostrość i kolory. Brawa za pracę z opisem - również.
pozdr. Al.

Wow, Monika - they are cute.
You did very well with your lens. The near sparrow is razor sharp. I like the warm colours and the bg. It´s a great composition. You did a gret job. Thanks for posting. Have a great weekend.

Beautiful composition!
A small family of this nice bird!
Bye Tom

I think you've got an excellent result Monika. The sparrow n the foreground has great detail.
Looks to me like its quite a useful combination. I look foreward to more experiment, that's what TN is about, trying differnt things to see what you can achieve. Well done.
sorry pts tomorrow.

  • Great 
  • PDP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor [C: 2821 W: 344 N: 3779] (11769)
  • [2005-11-08 17:28]

Hi Monika, great use of the binocular...I admire your persistence :-)

A lovely threesome, and I like the effect of the limited DOF. Lovely composition and excellent details considering the Heath Robinson nature of it all!

Great stuff, well done.

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4774 W: 294 N: 4020] (13209)
  • [2005-11-09 10:15]

Hello again Monika!
Very nice trio.Colors,DOF you managed,clear details,simple BG,catchlight in front ones eyes are wonderful.TFS...:-)

Interesting experiment with stellar results Monika. Great details and tight composition of three. I am confused as to why the middle bird is out of focus while the near and far bird are in focus. No need to explain this BTW, Great post.

Great job Monika!

Considering how you got it, an amazing result!

I love the details of this composition, excellent colors and BG.

The tree branches themselves compliment your photo and give it an artistic touch.

Well done, my compliments, and thank you.

Considering the fiddly and difficult system, this is an outstanding result. Very well done.

I was skeptikal to open this one due to the subject being so common but it had an unxpected effect when I did, it made me homesick of Romania instantly... From the thumbnail I also suspecting "overposing" but I see its all there natural ... Reading youre comment makes it even more interesting: through binoculars? :0 Pretty darn good for a binocular shot if you ask me, "Wonder Woman" ...

  • Great 
  • Dave Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 525 W: 47 N: 674] (2173)
  • [2006-02-07 10:37]

This is beautiful Monika!
Very nicely composed and exceptionally well done considering the equipment you have to work with!
Thanks,
Dave

Hello Monika.

Excellent picture, nice composition and colors.

Regards.
Jose Luis.

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