I made a comment some time ago about the potential for using long lenses for landscape shots,  here's another example.    Even if I'd stopped the lens right down,  there was no way the overhanging branch was ever going to be sharp in the image,  just not enough depth of field,  so I was happy to leave it as an indistinct element.   The colour that was present at the time is very much as you see it in the finished image.  I tried a couple of different exposure levels on this,  but liked this one,  there's just a hint of detail in the foreground and I like the backlighting effect on the early morning ground haze.     Enjoy  KD.     

            Canon 5D with 500mm lens at F8.0,  shutter speed 1/3200 second at ISO 400.

How did you go at guessing the settings for the hornbill image from Friday?      I used the 500mm lens,  which given the number of 500mm shots I've published,  might have been the easy part to get.  As for the rest;    F8.0 and shutter speed 1/250 second at ISO 400.    Close Steve, very, very close!      

     Hi Folks,  really quick posting today as I'm up to my ears in work and personal commitments at the moment.  The bird is a red billed hornbill which was polite enough to pose for me during my Tanzania trip,  love it when wildlife co-operates!    I won't go digging out the data on this one,  I'll let the photo tech buffs among you try and guess the settings,  nearest correct guess gets an as yet undefined prize (chuckle).   Thanks for the recent comments too everyone.   Some of you have commented/inquired about the book project that I mentioned in my last post,  I'll provide more details about all that in the coming weeks.      cheers KD.

       This shot was taken in Ngorongoro Crater,  Tanzania at the edge of the same lake as in my previous post.    There was a steady stream of animals walking along the shoreline of the lake.    Hyenas and jackals on the lookout for any dead or weak flamingoes to feed on,  and then some wildebeest strolled by.    This image of course has been cropped down to the panoramic format and like the previous post was taken from quite a distance.

           Canon 5D with 500mm lens plus 2.0x tele extender at F8.0,  shutter speed 1/1000 second at ISO 320.

Book Project.

        Going through my images,  I started to wonder about the feasibility of putting together a coffee table type book of my Tanzania shots.    The technology has progressed to the point where it can now be achieved through online "print on demand" outlets.    One of the best known is Blurb.com.    I've been playing around with the software and layouts and I think I've come up with a pretty good collection.    The first challenge was deciding which images to use.  On my website I'm currently displaying about 250 images,  but for the purposes of the book I've had to edit ruthlessly to get the number down to less than 120.   This means I've had to leave out numerous images that I think are really worthwhile,  including some that I've posted here and had good feedback on.  

        The next thing was the actual order of the images,  does the collection "flow" well?  What should I write by way of an introduction?   What about a dust cover design?    Anyway,  the process is now underway and I'm awaiting delivery of the finished product.   The book isn't currently available for purchase,  I want to make sure that the quality of printing is what I hope for before making it available to others.     If everything looks OK,  I may also prepare a smaller format soft cover "lite" version so I can offer a lower cost alternative.   Stay tuned....   KD.

     Taken in Ngorongoro Crater,  Tanzania,   two flamingoes fly over their flock which is feeding in the shallows of an alkaline lake.    There were thousands of birds in the lake itself and there were continual fly pasts made by pairs or small groups of birds.    It was impossible to approach closely as the water's edge was some distance from the vehicle track.    The long telephoto and the 2x TE were required,  panning with the flying birds would have rendered the stationary birds as a blur so a reasonably high ISO was used to get the required fast shutter speed to freeze the movement.        enjoy KD. 

   Canon 5D with 500mm lens plus 2x tele extender (effective focal length 1000mm) at F8.0,  shutter speed 1/1250 second at ISO 400.

     This shot was taken handheld at a vehicle stop in the Serengeti National Park,  one of the few places where it was considered safe to get out of the vehicle and walk around.  The bird, and its mate,  flew back and forth continuously as I watched.  They were unconcerned by my presence.   This shot was taken using the 70-300mm DO (Diffractive Optics) lens.   Some people who spend lots of time looking at lens test charts,  grumble that this lens is "soft" when used wide open at 300mm.  Well this shot was taken at the 300mm end of its zoom range and wide open,  and to my eye the resolution of the lens and the subsequent detail in the image is fine.           KD. 

               Canon 20D with 70-300mm DO zoom at 300mm and F5.6,  shutter speed 1/320 second at ISO 100.

      Continuing the story from my last post where a cheetah popped up from the long grass to observe wildebeest as they ran by....having lost interest in the passing herd,  this cat decided to use a nearby ant hill as a vantage point.   This is quite common behaviour for cheetahs who have excellent eyesight and can use a vantage point like this to survey their surroundings.  

      I recall seeing a British made documentary series "big cat diary" a couple of years ago where several teams of film makers and presenters followed particular families of animals.  One team followed a particular pride of lions, another followed a leopard and her cubs and another team followed a cheetah and her cubs.   Great series,  if you get the chance to watch it,  do so.  Got to hand it to the Brits,  they do wildlife docos better than anyone.   I recall one particular rather humorous sequence involving the cheetah.   The presenter was seated in his land rover, which was fitted with an open sunroof, and was whispering to camera about a cheetah which was right next to the vehicle.   The animal was so accustomed to seeing the vehicle that it didn't regard it as anything other than part of the landscape to the point where it would happily jump up onto the bonnet, or indeed the roof of the car, to use it as a vantage point.   On this occasion the cheetah was sitting on the roof directly over the head of the presenter, who couldn't move for fear of startling the animal,  when the cheetah decided it was time to relieve itself by urinating through the open sunroof showering the hapless presenter who could do nothing but grimace,  the whole incident being captured on film.  Talk about dedication,   I'm happy my wildlife encounters weren't quite that close!  

      I decided to try out the toned monochrome treatment with this shot and think it works OK.     Enjoy KD.      www.kevindowie.com    

                Canon 5D with 500mm lens plus 1.4x tele extender at F6.3,  shutter speed 1/1000 second at ISO 100.

        We were in Serengeti National Park, watching a herd of wildebeest running past and experimenting with pan and blur shots (see earlier post),  when I saw some movement in the long grass.   Moments later a pair of ears popped up and I realised that we were not the only interested spectators!    This cheetah watched intently,  unseen by the wildebeest as they ran by.    We watched as he stalked through the grass,  creeping up on the herd,  but then decided not to try and attack them.   I'm sure a cheetah would be quite capable of taking down a wildebeest calf but may have been dissuaded by the presence of so many adults on the move,  or maybe he just wasn't hungry enough.   This was one of several excellent cheetah sightings we had.     Among the shots I put up on my main site recently,  I included a specific mini gallery/slideshow of cheetah shots.   Check it out at www.kevindowie.com 

           cheers KD.

              Canon 5D with 500mm lens plus 1.4x tele extender at F6.3,  shutter speed 1/500 second at ISO 50.

        I showed some zebra shots to someone recently and was asked (I think in jest!)   "is a zebra white with black stripes,  or black with white stripes?"   Huh?    It's got to be right up there with... the glass half full or half empty....  ...when a tree falls in the forest.... and other philosophical conundrums.  Too much for a simple bloke like yours truly!   All I know is that I like some of the photos I managed to get of them.    This shot was taken late in the day,  and so with pleasing,  low angle light.   The flock moves on but one curious zebra stops to look back at the camera,  whilst overhead weaver bird nests hang from the branch of an acacia tree.

                  Canon 5D with 500mm lens at F5.6,   shutter speed 1/320 second at ISO 500.

Site redesign.

       The observant among you will notice that I've now put up a banner heading at the top of the page.   If you look closely you'll see that it's a horizontal crop of today's image.   I had a devil of a time getting it right due to some of the image file restrictions on this system but I ended up with something that I think displays OK.    You'll notice that the banner has a hyperlink through to my main site at www.kevindowie.com.    

Website update.

       Whilst mentioning my main site,  as I previewed last post,  I've now got a quite extensive web gallery of my Tanzania shots on display there.    I ended up publishing a general gallery of over 150 images and several smaller galleries each of which is on a specific theme,  such as monochrome lion images,  baboon images and so on.    For those of you who've enjoyed my recent series of wildebeest shots,  there's a gallery devoted to the crossing of the Mara River spectacle about which I've written.   In addition to static galleries,  there are also flash based slideshows.   The main one runs for about 10 minutes, so get yourself settled in with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy!    KD www.kevindowie.com