Green Heron in tree

[pttenn]

Shot at midday, with 20D and 200 prime non-IS, hand held from middle of the river and waist deep in water-lol, ISO 400, 1/1600. I kept waiting for him to fly but he never did, I was about 40' away.

[Gary Fairhead]

Considering the shooting conditions and reach of the 200 ( I love this lens by the way) this shot came out pretty nice. Just a suggestion with that lens.. .under the same conditions ..if the bird is not taking off..take a few extra shots at half the shutter speed ( 1/800) and half the ISO ( 200).

[pttenn]

OK..can you tell me what that would do? I took about 60 pictures but they are all pretty similar, I was afraid I was moving too much and they would be blurry, so took a bunch hoping I would get at least some clear ones. Thanks for the tip.

[MDoc]

Well worth the effort. Very nice

[pttenn]

Thank you for the compliments...I forgot to add that I had the Kenko 1.4 extender on
also, in hopes of getting a bit closer to these birds.

[Gary Fairhead]

OK..can you tell me what that would do? I took about 60 pictures but they are all pretty similar, I was afraid I was moving too much and they would be blurry, so took a bunch hoping I would get at least some clear ones. Thanks for the tip.

It has the potential of giving a sharper looking image with less noise. True..the 20D is pretty forgiving on the 400 ISO side. If I could I would shoot 100 ISO all the time but thats not feasible if you want high shutter speeds or if the light isn't available. The 200 2.8 can be hand held quite easily down to the 1/200/sec so for me 1600 sec on a static bird is overkill......I would start with 400 ISO but if there is any inclination to crop as there ususally is with the 200 because of the short reach, then the lower the ISO the more forgiving the crop will be. I am saying this not knowing the aperture used and I would not suggest taking a shot like this at 2.8 as the DOF would be too shallow. ...with the 1.4 x your max would have been F4 in any case.

If you are concerned about camera shake then my other suggestion would be a monopod. This would work best with the tripod ring for the 200 L and they are pricy but it takes the weight off of you and monopods don't mind the water either.

[pttenn]

Thanks for the explanation..I'll have to print it out and study it so I can understand what to try next time.. I went back and looked and that shot was set on auto under "action" mode because I kept expecting him to fly and had it set on rapid shot, but he sat there. I have to chuckle a bit about the "can be hand held quite easily" remark as I was standing on a rock, feeling my way forward off the edge with my foot, watching the bird and trying to get closer without falling in a deep hole and ruining my camera! The water was moving, too! It was a challenge..:)