Last week, I tried photographing the exotic flamingos that make Kuwait their home. My effort was a little bit off, as they live in this kind of a swamp that is pretty difficult to get close to.
I thought I'll give it another shot hoping that it is high tide which would make the flamingos a little more accessible. Well, it was not high tide (need to check the tide calendar before trying it next time), but luckily for me, a bunch of flamingos were feeding very close to the shore.
I used the same lens as before, 80-200mm f2.8. This picture is a 100% crop of the 10 megapixel image. A 400mm would have been just the ticket to get a closer shot of these amazing birds.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Bracketing with D200
If you have a penchant for bracketing your exposures, there is no better tool than the D200. You can bracket upto 9 shots at varying exposures from 1/3 to 1 full stop.
For those who love HDR photography, this is indeed a drool worthy feature. My earlier D70 could do only 3 shots in auto-bracketing mode. I still managed to get some decent HDR photos though. I can only imagine what those pictures would have looked like if shot with the D200.
Even if you don't like HDR, the ability for such a wide range of bracketing means that you can enable bracketing for most of your shots and then select the best exposed one. Nowadays, memory is very cheap so storage is definitely not a problem.
In this shot, I took 5 exposures at 1 stop interval and then merged all the 5 pictures in Photomatix software.
For those who love HDR photography, this is indeed a drool worthy feature. My earlier D70 could do only 3 shots in auto-bracketing mode. I still managed to get some decent HDR photos though. I can only imagine what those pictures would have looked like if shot with the D200.
Even if you don't like HDR, the ability for such a wide range of bracketing means that you can enable bracketing for most of your shots and then select the best exposed one. Nowadays, memory is very cheap so storage is definitely not a problem.
In this shot, I took 5 exposures at 1 stop interval and then merged all the 5 pictures in Photomatix software.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Flamingos in Kuwait
I was quiet surprised to learn that there are flamingos in Kuwait; as I had never seen a single one in my 15 years of living here (except in the Kuwait zoo).
Apparently, they are found only in a specific area in Kuwait. There is a sort of a sanctuary near the Shuwaikh hospitals area, and the flamingos are found there.
I decided to check it out so I packed my camera gear and headed towards the Al-Sabah maternity hospital; as I remember seeing an access area to the beach there.
I was indeed surprised to find a whole flock of flamingos near the waterside. Unfortunately for me, it was low tide and it was not possible to get close enough to them to get a decent shot.
This was shot with my 80-200 f2.8 zoomed to it's maximum of 200mm. Not good enough!.
Now I need to visit the place again during high tide, hoping to get a little closer to the birds.
Apparently, they are found only in a specific area in Kuwait. There is a sort of a sanctuary near the Shuwaikh hospitals area, and the flamingos are found there.
I decided to check it out so I packed my camera gear and headed towards the Al-Sabah maternity hospital; as I remember seeing an access area to the beach there.
I was indeed surprised to find a whole flock of flamingos near the waterside. Unfortunately for me, it was low tide and it was not possible to get close enough to them to get a decent shot.
This was shot with my 80-200 f2.8 zoomed to it's maximum of 200mm. Not good enough!.
Now I need to visit the place again during high tide, hoping to get a little closer to the birds.