{"id":2365,"date":"2014-01-07T12:31:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T03:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-01-07\/2365"},"modified":"2014-01-07T12:31:11","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T03:31:11","slug":"freezing-bird-movement-with-a-fast-shutter-and-arctic-temperatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-01-07\/2365","title":{"rendered":"Freezing Bird Movement with a Fast Shutter (and Arctic Temperatures)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 2000 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nTarget Acquisition<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I was supposed to be visiting a dear<\/span> friend<\/a> in Milwaukee\ntoday, but the cold snap hitting most of The States created havoc with the air system<\/a>\nand so I'm still at my folks' place in Ohio (where at the moment it's\n-12°F \/ -24°C with strong gusty wind). So today<\/span> between trying to\n(and failing to) contact the airline to figure out my schedule, I tried<\/span> shooting the birds out on the back deck again, as I did<\/span> the other day<\/a>. It was cold<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 4000 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nPeanut<\/span>\ntargeted and locked on\n<\/div>\n\n

I was in all-manual mode today, with both focus and exposure. The Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm<\/a> has no\nautofocus, and I can't<\/span> trust the automatic exposure with it because the\ncopy I'm using has had a CPU<\/span> added with limited success (similar to the problems<\/a> I had<\/span> when I\ntried<\/span> adding a CPU<\/span> myself), so today I went<\/span> all manual.<\/p>\n\n

I explicitly wanted a fast shutter speed to mostly (but not completely)\nfreeze wing movement.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5000 sec × 3, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 2500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nAbsconding With The Loot<\/span>\nthree-frame composite, 1\/10-second separation\n<\/div>\n\n

I tried something different for some of the shots today: instead of\nfocusing on where the birds were, I tried<\/span> to focus on where they would be, then\nhoped to get the double luck of them actually going there, and of me actually\nsnapping the shot at the precise moment they were there.<\/p>\n\n

Smashing the 10 frames-per-second shutter helped with the “<\/span>preciseness”<\/span>. In the shot<\/span> above, notice that the focus is not on the peanut, but a bit<\/span>\nbeyond, and so it's the second “<\/span>frame”<\/span> that's in focus.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 2500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nPeanut Ballet<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Did I mention that it was cold today? The first<\/span> time I went<\/span> out in the\nmorning it was a relatively<\/span> toasty 15°F (-9°C) with a light<\/span> snow and no wind, but still plenty\nchilly for the birds...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nFluffy<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nMonochromatic<\/span>\nexcept for the finches: goldfinches and house finches\n\u30aa\u30a6\u30b4\u30f3\u30d2\u30ef\u3068\u30e1\u30ad\u30b7\u30b3\u30de\u30b7\u30b3\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As before, the finch feeder was crowded and offered a lot<\/span> of birds coming and going...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nGoldfinches<\/span>\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a>  ·  2880×<\/span>1800<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nSorta' Successful<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

My new focus idea (focusing where I thought<\/span> they'd fly) needs some\nwork... it rarely worked, and when it did I'm not sure it was worth it. The shot above<\/span> seems to suffer from bad focus and motion blur even at 1\/1250 of\na sec.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 1250 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nAnother Successful Failure<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Part of the problem was that the lens is manual-focus only, and is only\n125mm. I would<\/span> have liked the 70-200mm for this. Another part of the\nproblem is that my fingers were freezing; the temperature was dropping like\na rock<\/span> all day (dropping 25°F so far today).<\/p>\n\n

I couldn't be out there on such an inhospitable day and not feed the birds\n(as we're apt to do, as seen earlier\nwith Anthony<\/a>,\non my laptop<\/a>,\nand in close up<\/a>), so I threw<\/span> snacks\nto the woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and bluebirds.<\/p>\n\n

If I didn't throw the snacks to them, they'd come looking, and I could<\/span> use this to my advantage\nby leaving a worm<\/span> on my knee and trying the “<\/span>focus a bit<\/span> beyond”<\/span> technique and hope to get lucky.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 2000 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nNot Lucky<\/span>\nfocus is an inch or so behind the worm\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 2000 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nNot Lucky<\/span>\nespecially for the worm; focus is an inch or so behind the worm\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 2000 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nLucky<\/span>\nfocus is an inch or so behind the worm\n<\/div>\n\n

It was cold. Did I mention that? By this time<\/span> it was about 6°F\n(-14°C). My fingers<\/span> were painfully cold within minutes of going out,\ndespite wearing gloves.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 400 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nBluebird<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 2000 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nDowny Woodpeckers<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 800 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nSkittish<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

This bluebird hovered (as best a non<\/span>-hummingbird can) for a short<\/span> time checking me out.<\/p>\n\n

I suppose I'll try again tomorrow... both photographing the birds, and contacting United Airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was supposed to be visiting a dear friend in Milwaukee today, but the cold snap hitting most of The States created havoc with the air system and so I'm still at my folks' place in Ohio (where at the moment it's -12°F \/ -24°C with strong gusty wind). So today between trying to (and failing to) contact the airline to figure out my schedule, I tried shooting the birds out on the back deck again, as I did the other day. It was cold.<\/p>

I was in all-manual mode today, with both focus and exposure. The Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm has [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}