Geese & Loon

[minndonn]

Here are 4 photos I took last week. I did not have the camera along when the loon was putting on a real show strutting and playing. Just missed getting a picture of a young loon swimming under water. interested in what settings could have made them better. using a Cannon XTi. On the loon taking off I don't know why it is fuzzy. These were taken from a small moving boat in breezy conditions. Sun was bright, camera handheld.

1/500 F9.0 ISO 400 300mm

1/800 F9.0 ISO400 70mm

1/4000 f5.6 ISO800 300mm

1/400 F9.0 ISO 400 300mm

[Steve Foss]

mindonn, since the fuzzy images here are fuzzy all the way through (no really sharp portions), my guess is it was a camera shake issue. A non image stabilized lens in a small boat handheld at most of these focal lengths and shutter speeds usually will yield blurred images.

As for the 1/4000 shot of the loon, I have no idea why that one is OOF. Could be a wave slapped you a bit when you tripped the shutter and caused you to jerk. And I'm assuming this one is full frame, not an image where you cropped out a lot. If it is a really strong crop, that also would increase the look of blur.

If you're using one of the inexpensive 70-300 zooms, your images will never be tack sharp, but the 1/4000 shot in particular should have been much sharper. I'd work on you steadying technique from dry land and see how sharp the images are when you're not out in the wind and waves.

[minndonn]

I have a SIGMA lens that does not have image stabilizing. Also the boat was always rocking a little. I was going to use a monopod but that wouldn't have worked in the boat either. The flying geese the boat hadn't stopped moving yet. I will try some pictures to see if the lens is the problem also. I also did some rapid shutter pictures.

[MarchelRipley1]

Softer than a babies bottom.