Posted May 1st, 2011

Swan Heaven?

I have been bingeing on new equipment the past month or so and my visit to Swan Haven a couple of days ago was something of a test and practice session with the new camera and lens identified below as well as a Gitzo GK2580TQR carbon fibre tripod. Everything performed wonderfully ... except perhaps for the photographer being held back a bit by the unfamiliarity of my tools. A slow, cool spring has resulted in the swan counts peaking later than in recent years and even at this late date there is still only a small strip of open water at the site. That prevented me from getting as close to the birds as last year so I benefited less than I had hoped from having double the focal length of the lens I used then. I had to crop this image fairly heavily to achieve the framing. The evening light was wonderful, though, and that made for some successful photography.
Pentax K-5, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM @ 500mm, 1/500s @ f/11, ISO 400