"If you can't get close enough to fill the frame, don't take the shot"

If one is not looking for a 'portrait of this bird', I much prefer photo 1 over photo 2 in Post 26...
Photo 1 gives much more of a sense of freedom of spirit that a bird has!
Forget 'always fill the frame'!

I agree. It is possible to fill too much of the frame.

Wilt wrote in post #19018763
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If one is not looking for a 'portrait of this bird', I much prefer photo 1 over photo 2 in Post 26...
Photo 1 gives much more of a sense of freedom of spirit that a bird has!
Forget 'always fill the frame'!
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Honey Monster wrote in post #19018766
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I agree. It is possible to fill too much of the frame.
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Guys, I think you are taking the term, "fill the frame", literally, when that is not how it is meant.

I think that when people say to fill the frame, they don't literally mean to fill the frame with the subject. They usually mean to "fill the frame the way you want to", as in, "compose the image the way you want to in the camera, and don't rely on extreme cropping".

That is what they mean when they use the term "fill the frame". . They do not mean to make the bird so large in the frame so as to exclude its surroundings.


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Tom I have done that several times also there is an app that you can upload a picture of a bird and they will say what it is. It is called Merlin.

One problem I have (among many) is catarachs and SEVERE floaters in my dominant left eye, if you hold your hand out at arms length spread the fingers wiggle them and keep moving it around and then make it 3 of them that is like the floaters, at times it makes it hard to read the PC screen. Due to those I have forced myself to shoot with my right eye instead of my left, like BFF it took some doing to get it to work. The problem is that when you are watching for birds I am constantly thinking a floater is a bird, they are as big as frame filling birds. I often miss a bird until it is almost past me due to those, but I won't give up!

Jeff, It must to truly annoying to deal with those Central Spotted Floaters, worse than starlings!

I went down to Lincoln Woods State Park to practice filling the frame and also to try my 100-400 L IS mk2 with and with out the 1.4xiii. I got a few gulls, my cousin from Colorado love seagulls as they never see the PITA scavangers, the only good thing to say about stupid seagulls is that they make good practice. We have more than St Peters in Rome has pigeons!

Then saw what I thought was a hawk being chased by two crows. I suddenly realized it was my 3rd eagle in my life! It wasn't close to filling the frame but I wanted to shoot it anyway regardless. It didn't have the white head or tail that I could see and figured the shoots when blown up would ID it.

Turns out it is a 4 year old juvenile eagle AND I caught it catching a fish!!!! The first two shots are the full image and the next two are the cropped version. They may not be perfect but both my wife and I really like them. I have never seen anything like that. This year I seem to be on an eagle binge.

Shot with Canon 90D

Cropped images 90D

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Wow, Jeff!

I am amazed at your enthusiasm and effort, which are even more considerable than I had realized, given your physical issues. . I mean, not only do you have real mobility problems, but also the severe vision issues. . It impresses me so much that you are determined to get out and go after it, even though it is so difficult for you.

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Tom Reichner wrote in post #19018802
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Wow, Jeff!

I am amazed at your enthusiasm and effort, which are even more considerable than I had realized, given your physical issues. . I mean, not only do you have real mobility problems, but also the severe vision issues. . It impresses me so much that you are determined to get out and go after it, even though it is so difficult for you.

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Thank you Tom. I think it goes back to "Goldfinger" the book by Ian Flemming. In it James Bond in answer to his caddy saying he could have turned into a pro golfer said that he knew that he wouldn't have time later in life so he needed to simply enjoy the game. I was sort of that way when I played college golf for Suffolk University, I knew once I had kids golf was gone, never considered my physical issues. Now I worry about will I be able to see well enough to do photography, also the clock is winding down but that is why I am trying (key word trying) to do more exercise. I figure another 10-15 years and then it will be tough to do what I want in my 80's.
Today I walked down the beach to get closer to the center of the lake, glad I did as I was 200 feet closer for these shots BUT I was huffing and puffing when I set up my chair! My mother and her brother both had congestive heart failure and I worry about that.

To paraphrase Ian Flemming I want to get out an enjoy photography as much as possible. At this point I may not get the best technical shots (thank God for AF) but I hope I can bring some joy to people with what I do.

So far I have nothing impressive in this thread posted pictures. Sorry, I have seen way better.

kf095 wrote in post #19018888
So far I have nothing impressive in this thread posted pictures. Sorry, I have seen way better.

Well I guess I will just go back to shooting my guns and just give up...

The point is not that I am a great photog but that I am trying to learn. It must be nice to be like you and gotten great images right from the first day.

I ask questions because the stupidest question is the one that doesn't get asked and at least for me I wasn't born knowing everything I am still trying to learn and improve.

oh and KF how is this one?

for ur first post, the shutter speed was too slow... as for the topic? Yeah, people have all kinds of ideas, and some of them are wrong.

kf095 wrote in post #19018888
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So far I have nothing impressive in this thread posted pictures. Sorry, I have seen way better.
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That is because the whole point to this thread is to show and discuss pictures where people were not able to fill the frame the way they wanted to. . The whole concept of the thread is about images that aren't what we wanted them to be, so of course they aren't going to be impressive. . I thought that would be obvious to all.


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