Ostrich drinking, Addo National Park

Great comp!! This folder is really good.

Thanks Geraldine!

I caught this ostrich just at the right moment in Addo National Park in South Africa. I like the way there's a little furrow in the water behind the ostrich as it takes a drink - almost like a slow boat's wake.

The lighting I realise is not perfect - but then, I only had 2 hours in the park before I had to drop a friend off at the airport, and it was more or less midday. 500mm lens, UV filter, Fuji Sensia 100.TIA for your comments!

I like the way the body is out of the view... it gives this image a unique way of expressing the long legs and neck, also keeping the head and water as the center of attention. P.S. Don't lose sleep over not having a polarized filter, many great shots can be had without one!

I also like the composition. It really accentuates the long legs and neck of these strange birds. I'm not sure if it's the resolution of the upload, or if its my monitor, but I wish I could see more of that "bow wave" - I can see how that would add some 3D type depth as well as some dynamicism to the photo.

Sorry to spoil the party, but one unfortunate technical detail slightly spoils this otherwise fine shot, and that is camerashake. Ok, it's to be expected at this kind of focal length. Otherwise, very nice timing and a nice pic. I wouldn't worry about the polariser at all.

Thanks for the comments =)

 

I have attached as big, high resolution a scan as I can get out of my scanner to this post, so maybe that will help.

 

I didn't use a tripod for this shot (kind of hard in a car)! I think I rested it on my jacket on the windowsill. The problem was probably car shake rather than camera shake - people tend to move around in cars, and there were two more people in the car adding little movements to the car =) I did actually ask them to stop jumping up and down, but that still happens =)

 

I didn't really notice camera shake in this shot (but if it's subtle I probably wouldn't) - I assumed the fuzzy slightly out of focus bits were due to a relatively slow shutter speed on a moving target, or to them being out of focus because of DOF limitations. (Ever used a long lens with a smallish max. aperture? it can be painfully slow; this was probably 1/90th or 1/125th tops; possibly slower). And what's the standard minimum shutter speed? 1/focal length. I've used this lens hand held while resting it on my knees with velvia, and only got one really blurry shot out of all the ones I took like that - the others were fine (to my eyes at least). A $600 lens broke my bank. A $6,000 lens is pie in the sky...

 

Ok, I could use a faster film, but grain on faster films is horrendous (I tried 400 speed sensia once. Yuk! look at the spider and grasshopper images in this folder for result).

 

Thanks for your comments! =)