Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/01/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Last Sunday I was at Vedanthangal, a bird sanctuary close to Chennai. This is basically a very large village pond which has acted as a breeding ground for migratory birds for centuries - it is known to have been actively protected by the local people for over 300 years. The British actually forced to notify it as protected area in the late 18th century, on complaints by the villagers, because of indiscriminate shooting of birds by their own soldiers. It is a shining example of conservation that can be achieved if the local inhabitants believe in the cause - in this case driven mainly the value of the bird guano as a fertilizer. I went there to try and improve my admittedly shaky technique for shooting birds in flight. All shots taken the Nikon D700 with a fairly ancient lens, the 180mm f2.8, with a 2x Kenko teleconverter attached, not the fastest focusing combination possible, but lightweight! Most of the photographs were taken from a two story high viewing gallery. Please see the photographs large. Painted Storks in flight: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Vedbirds/Vedanthangal_20110116_0381-Edit.jpg.html http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Vedbirds/Vedanthangal_20110116_0394-Edit.jpg.html Composites - I also experimented with composites - blending two shots, one of the daytime moon and one of birds, into a final result - I would like honest feedback on the results: #1 - http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Vedbirds/Vedanthangal_20110116_0269-Edit.jpg.html #2 - http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Vedbirds/Vedanthangal_20110116_0269-Edit-2-Edit.jpg.html #3 - http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Vedbirds/Vedanthangal_20110116_0382-Edit-Edit.jpg.html C&C, as usual, welcome. Cheers Jayanand