angelo_smaldo Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 wich is the best useful focal length for take seagull photos in urban/coastal envirovment? i m still preparing for my task about bears in east europe(see long post below)but is so difficult and it will take me long time to prepare all, so i decide while i prepare to stay in exercise with animals photo and take some photos of seagull in the adriatic cost. i discovered are beautiful birds, i wuold like take some photos but not single snashpots, but a "pics that tell a story" about life in urban/turistic envirovment like where i live (Rimini is one of the biggest touristic place in europe,every years millions of toursist every summer) and i would like photograph the way the birds live in the coast modified their behavior in such turisctic place 1)wich are for you the thing to take in consideration(specific behavior,interection with humans,....?) 2)i discovered are very carefull animals, they let you come near them,but at a some meters all fly away,my lens is now a 70 210 f 2.8 (that on my DCS 760 digital become a 270mm circa) i think is a little short, maybe a 400 mm (520 mm on my kodak is enough or also a 300 mm could be right?) thanx ps about bears tomorrow i ll scan new photos about romania and guys who give milk in a bottle from hands to bears, i ll post it the link in this and the other post) thanx all angelo smaldore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Depends how close you are. Anything from 14mm to 600mm should do the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 I just took some pictures of these birds, and I found the 135mm a useable lens. Though you can do it even with a 28-70 or 50mm lens, just you should wait and move slowly. I think these birds are quit "friendly", so you should try to make some pictures ith wide angle as well. I don't think that you need a long telephoto (300+ mm) lens for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelo_smaldo Posted March 13, 2005 Author Share Posted March 13, 2005 yes Bob, it depends on how close you are but it look seagulls have a small transistor in the brain that say"at 15 meters we fly all away":-) and i tried in several places and times ps a seagull grup shot done 2 weeks ago: http://web.tiscali.it/global.village/seagulls.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 I have "seagull" shots taken with everything from a 16mm fisheye to a 600mm telephoto. Some will eat from your hand, some will fly away if you get within 50 meters. There's no rule here other than the obvious. The further away you are, the longer the lens you need. I'm not sure what more there is to say about lens choice.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Here's a somewhat better shot, zoom at 195mm BTW I'm told the correct term is "gulls". Technically I'm told there's no such classification as "seagull".<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stemked Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Bob, I suspect there are more than a few owners of a certain Chinese made camera that might disagree with you about there not being any true seagulls! ;) Angelo I think if you really are trying to tell a story of gulls then a variety of focal lengths would really help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauh44 Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Hi Angelo, There's a river nearby that has a lot of gulls (Rivergulls instead of Seagulls?) I once took my 500mm f/4 L IS with me, mounted on a gimbal head, and while I got some shots that I liked, it was pretty unwieldy. My 20D's viewfinder is so small it's *very* hard catching one in flight. Since they hang out pretty close to the shore, the next time I came back with a 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS, hand-held and it was much easier. If I were you, I'd go with a zoom from my limited experience. Anyway, I'll put a few shots up The first will be uncropped using the "bazooka" - the 500mm - which is an incredible lens. The other two were taken with the zoom and I cropped out some ducks or something. I guess I'm just not as quick as I used to be. ;-)<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauh44 Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 This is a 70-200 f/2.8L IS<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauh44 Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Same zoom. BYW - Bob's got a good point; much will depend on how close they'll let you get. Good luck!<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 I belive there are no river gulls either. Gulls is Gulls. <p> <em>"Gull - Any of various chiefly coastal aquatic birds of the family Laridae, having long wings, webbed feet, a thick, slightly hooked beak, and usually gray and white plumage"</em> <p> I'm probably 30 miles nearest bit of sea (if you can call New York harbor the "sea") and the parking lot of my local supermarket usually has a flock of them hanging around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank_oddsocks Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 They're scavengers, hanging around places where food scraps can be found, Their numbers have vastly increased with human numbers. My father used to pick out ones with a broken leg (fairly common) and entice it quite close (about 1 metre) with breadcrumbs. I don't condone it because they are pests, but it does work. Such experience is not necessarily transferable to bears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank_dzambic Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Put on a raincoat, or grab an umbrella (for protection), and go after them with a carton of hot french fries in your hand. You won't be going after them.....they'll be coming after you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauh44 Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Of *course* there are river gulls! We've even got Parking Lot Gulls. ;-) I'm not sure why, but there's a parking lot in my town that they love to hang out in. No water - just a parking lot. Go figure. It's also true that you may be accosted if you have french fries anywhere nearby. Lot's of people bring them bags of stale bread too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 I hear that garbage dumps are great too if you want to watch Gulls. In that respect they're a lot like bears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_broderick Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 (singing) "I want a gull.... Just like the gull... That pooped on dear old Dad!" To give at least a fig leaf of being on topic, I'd suggest that anyone photographing gulls on the seashore should be extremely careful about watching your back for sneaker waves unless you are well inland from the current high water mark. Canon Factory Service (or fill in your camera brand here) loves it when you don't look behind you regularly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew robertson Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 They are often quite tame. A 200mm lens should be sufficient for shooting them. A bit of advice, though. Gulls are like ducks - there are about 800 billion photos of them already. Get creative or prepare for sighs and eye rolling when you show off your gull photos unless they are spectacular. Regarding the guys in Romania who are feeding the bears. We have several names for those people over here in the USA - dolt, dumbass, idiot, reject, buffoon, moron, and jackass. Feeding bears is about the dumbest thing you could ever do. I don't think any nature photographers will be very impressed with such a show of unbridled stupidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelo_smaldo Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 yes i think there are 800 billion of pics of lions, bears, tigers,eagles, and aslo rare animals like panda!:-) and are great photo, in every situations and envirovment if you go to corbis and look lions or go on stock agency specialized in wildlife you ll find ton of that photo just for i.e. if i ll shoot for a year eagle, i ll never maybe shoot a pic like the picture of the week in this site so maybe the unique way to do something of original is to photograph animals in a nich or a particular situation or to tell a story with your pics ps about BEARS , i posted NEW LINK at my site about some images scanned in an italian magazine: http://web.tiscali.it/global.village/bears.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_oates Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Show a seagull some food and they will come really close... http://www.picturehost.co.uk/premium1/canopener.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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