Just got a new Canon Rebel t3i and wanting to be able to use it while hunting and training the dogs. I am looking at getting a telephoto lens, but will be far in the future before I can do that more than likely. What are some tips to help a newbie to the canine and wildlife photography world out. Tips, tricks, settings, or cheap camera accessories to help me improve.
I have a D7000 with Nikkor 17-55 f2.8. I am still learning, hope I can shoot like some of you guys on here some day. No post-processing on these, but they look better on my computer before I hosted them on tinypic. I just got lightroom a couple days ago and haven't had time to play with it yet. I am saving up for the Nikon 70-200 f2.8 vrii and Tamron 150-600 f5-6.3. Would I need a gimbal head for that 600mm lens? Maybe ill try the 70-200 with a teleconverter first. And I thought gun dogs and fly fishing were my most expensive hobbies...
At to the Gimbal head question, YES, but you don't have to spend the $500.00+ for the most common versions. Manfrotto makes a less sophisticated one that works very well for a fraction of the cost. I'll post a photo of my 600 on the Manfrotto head in a day or so. As for lightroom. Tim Grey has a VERY good 2hr introduction to lightroom tutorial on youtube that I STRONGLY recommend you watch BEFORE doing ANYTHING in lightroom. It walks you through setting up files and importing and so on and could save you quite a bit of grief and time in the long run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSwkDC3q7uk
I'll throw my two pennies in on the support. I would probably NOT put the big lens you're looking at on a Gimbal type head. I would invest in a good set of legs and a nice ballhead (Kirk or RRS), because they are so much more versatile with the rest of your gear. Gimbals are nice for the big primes like Hugh's 600 f/4, but IMO, would be a pain with the lens you mentioned, and basically unusable with any of your other lenses (even the 70-200). You could always add a Wimberley Sidekick to your ballhead if you felt the need for a Gimbal. FYI, you can buy "used" from Wimberley at a good discount.
BTW, really like the first shot of your Golden. We often get caught up in the long telephoto shots, but often times getting in tight with a wide angle makes a much more interesting and dramatic image. Well done!
I'll add that I would not recommend the tamron 150-600, alot of them have been returned by people not happy with the results, I personally know of 5 that were purchased and all returned.
Yes it needs ALOT of light , the AF is very slow, and gets very soft beyond 400mm. They filled a nitch with a inexpensive zoom lens that works well with good light, still subjects and under 400 mm.
Well I have a set of oben ct-2481 carbon fiber legs (26.4lb rating) and oben bc-139 ball head (39.6lb rating) arriving in the mail today. I thought about getting gitzo and arca-swiss or kirk, but just couldn't reason the money right now. I skimped for a lighter duty setup to basically save $250 right now. I hope I won't regret it a year from now. I am hoping I will be happy with this setup with my current lens and maybe even the 70-200 when I can afford it or find a good used one.
Just be sure that you NEVER release your grip on the camera unless you are positive the ball head is VERY secure. Don't know what the 150-600 weighs, but under certain circumstances these very large lenses can flip forward and then drag the tripod over with them causing a huge wreck. The real benefit to gimbal heads is that you can just release the camera and it will stay where it was pointed. I have a second tripod for my smaller stuff with a ballhead on it; the big tripod is really not ideal for the smaller lenses anyway. I also strongly recommend talking to your insurance agent about "all hazard scheduled insurance". It is not terribly expensive and, although I have never had to use mine, I know several photographers who REALLY wish they had invested themselves. You will be using your equipment in the field, around enthusiastic dogs, perhaps in boats, on piers, or otherwise over water, and at least three of the disasters I know of occurred when the equipment took an unexpected trip into a pond.
Jack,that is almost exactly (spec wise) what I use as my main support set. I have a Kirk BH-3 (the smaller one) and a set of Induro C214 legs, which are actually a little lighter than the ones you spec'd. I have no problem running the 70-200 on it. Have even put a 300 f/2.8 on it in a bind!
I'm a big fan of the Wimberley mounts. I use the Sidekick for my 300 and the Wimberley WH-200 for my 600 4L IS. Both very smooth and great for bird or action photos. The one downfall: a bit pricey.
Someone post some recent pictures. I got to meet Mark Atwater last week and he shot my dog. Pretty awesome work and got to pick his brain some. I took the couple shots below that I thought turned out well. Still learning my way through Lightroom.
Anthony Morganti has a bunch of lightroom tutorials on youtube that have helped me a lot. I copied his basic workflow but I took screenshots some of the work panes for you plus a side by side of before and after. I left hue and luminance alone. Added a graduated filter to work on the sky and clouds after cropping to the rule of thirds and leveling. I used medium contrast preset on tone curve. I followed Anthony's instructions on Lens Corrections, effects, and camera calibration.
Colleen - The pictures I posted were taken by me. Mark's pictures of my dog are on his website right now, I haven't decided what all I'm going to order yet.
I took this in New Mexico a couple weeks ago. My first time shooting stars and it was a learning experience. This was shot jpeg so I didn't have as much control as I do now that I shoot raw.
I searched the internet for Photoshop and Lightroom. I was surprised by how expensive they are. There was a recommendation for a more simple Photoshop 11. Anyone have experience with this version?
I have all the camera I need. Sony SLR digital with some good lens (includes a Minolta 70-210 and a inexpensive Tamron 200-400). I do videos in addition.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent tripod? My current tripod is a cheap light weight one from Best Buy.
Search Adobe Creative Cloud. It's a monthly subscription and not too bad but not dirt cheap. I think it's about ten bucks a month. IF you decide to use lightroom, I strongly suggest that you watch Tim Grey's introduction to lightroom on youtube before you even install the program. It will save you grief.
While PhotoShop and lightroom are both great tools and fun to play around with I think people spend to much time learning how to "fix" and post process rather than leaning how to make it come out of the camera correct the first time.
Having started in the 70's and having shot a lot of pretty unforgiving "chrome" films, I fully agree that one needs to start with a good image, but digital has introduced some new factors, especially when it comes to sharpening. I also feel like digital lacks the dynamic range of even the most demanding films. Having been involved in "competitive" photography for a number of years, I have seen that good post processing can make the difference between a win and a no show.
Wayne, there are quite a few programs that allow you to do various amounts of post processing. I used Paint Shop Pro before I switched to a MAC. I liked it quite well. In my opinion, the biggest advantage to the adobe products is that they are the industry standard and have the largest community of users, so there are tons of tutorials on Youtube and you are also more likely to find someone you know who is familiar with it. Creative Cloud for photographers comes with full versions of both Lightroom and Photoshop, so at about $10.00/month, you get access to two very powerful programs.
As to tripods, how much you want to spend? Manfrotto makes quite a few nice medium priced tripods and several nice ballheads. Gitzo is pricier, but they are really nice too. How worried are you about weight? Aluminum weighs a bit more than carbon fiber, but is MUCH less expensive.
I am looking for a tripod that is stable. A high wind will blow over my current cheap tripod with my Handycam on it. Also Youtube is constantly saying "we note your video is shaky" or something like that when I record in windy conditions.
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