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Sunday 19th 70F, warm but rather overcast with brighter periods. I cycled back to the lake to practice getting it all wrong again. There was no sign of the Great Crested Grebes but there were over one hundred mixed gulls on the water. So I practised focusing on them. 
Most of today's images were captured using Program, Manual focusing and with the Lumix 20mm pancake lens fitted. Most of these images were far too bright.Until later, when I changed tack and set the camera to Shutter priority. Then the images were far too dark!
Next time I shall remember to review my results regularly before capturing three hundred largely wasted shots! I was able to darken these bright images but they became unnatural. See "before and after" examples above.
Eventually the Grebes appeared from within the tangle of lakeside trees. The larger adult carried the four chicks on its back. While the other fished underwater for most of the hour and a half I was there.
Yet again the patient bird [male?] hovered close to the far shore at 120-130 yards. This made it impossible to separate the bird from the "busy" background. It also meant using 60x zoom on the telescope to make them less than insignificant.At 25x they were tiny. Equivalent to 1200mm focal length. 60x meant my images were not sharp enough. Particularly after cropping and resizing. It does make you think how a telephoto lens would cope at these distances.
Much later on the two adult Grebes rejoined and moved far enough forward to put some water behind them. Until then most of my images were pointlessly confusing. With the waiting bird completely lost against the background tangle of twigs and foliage.
At all times the G9 camera was telling me that the focus was sharp by painting it bright blue. It was lying! See images above.
At one point the female[?] popped up about 50 yards away. I kept taking images as it paddled parallel with my position. Only when it turned away did I finally capture a sharper image. The female is supposed to have smaller crests. So I have allotted identification purely from this viewpoint.
I keep reading that I should be using a shutter speed equivalent to my effective focal length. How that is possible without setting ISO to ridiculous figures is anybody's guess. Today's exposures ran from 1/80th to 1/500th second.
With a minimum effective focal length of 1200mm and on up in whole multiples I'd need very bright sunlight. Perhaps it is time to push ISO into the stratosphere to get some really sharp images? More experimentation required. I keep hearing that raising ISO will lead to increased noise. Though without any concrete figures being given.
I have discovered yet another wildlife photographer's YouTube channel. For the first time I am seeing a serious effort to teach the craft. Rather than entertain for views, subscriptions and product promotion. Despite my decades of experience at all kinds of photography I am not using a high enough ISO.
My use of an automatic P&S camera with image stabilisation has made me lazy when it comes to settings. I can almost guarantee sharp images with incredibly few failures. When digiscoping I should be using aperture priority to push to much shorter exposures while using such extreme focal lengths. My few sharper images just reflect the complete lottery of my relying on IS and Program settings. I really must check my captured images frequently. To seriously monitor my progress and the results of making any changes.
At all times the G9 camera was telling me that the focus was sharp by painting it bright blue. It was lying! See images above.
At one point the female[?] popped up about 50 yards away. I kept taking images as it paddled parallel with my position. Only when it turned away did I finally capture a sharper image. The female is supposed to have smaller crests. So I have allotted identification purely from this viewpoint. I keep reading that I should be using a shutter speed equivalent to my effective focal length. How that is possible without setting ISO to ridiculous figures is anybody's guess. Today's exposures ran from 1/80th to 1/500th second.
With a minimum effective focal length of 1200mm and on up in whole multiples I'd need very bright sunlight. Perhaps it is time to push ISO into the stratosphere to get some really sharp images? More experimentation required. I keep hearing that raising ISO will lead to increased noise. Though without any concrete figures being given.
I have discovered yet another wildlife photographer's YouTube channel. For the first time I am seeing a serious effort to teach the craft. Rather than entertain for views, subscriptions and product promotion. Despite my decades of experience at all kinds of photography I am not using a high enough ISO.
My use of an automatic P&S camera with image stabilisation has made me lazy when it comes to settings. I can almost guarantee sharp images with incredibly few failures. When digiscoping I should be using aperture priority to push to much shorter exposures while using such extreme focal lengths. My few sharper images just reflect the complete lottery of my relying on IS and Program settings. I really must check my captured images frequently. To seriously monitor my progress and the results of making any changes.
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