2020 - Everything upside down

Never thought a cerveza sickness would lock the world down.
Of course it overthrow any plans I had.
With the Seychelles out of reach, the opportunity of a milky way on granite rocks - gone!
So I had to look for an alternative and I went for the Alps.
Enjoy!

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in conjunction. At the bottom

However the whole situation held a surprise for me.
I got a new toy, which I tested recently at my local Zoo.
Guess what it is (in the comment section).

Outlook

2020 is approching it’s end fast, but there is a glimpse of hope.
West Papua is supposed to reopen together with Bali on the 11th of September.
It itches greatly and I’ll do everything I can to go there.
Stay tuned.

2019 phototrips in review - Part 3

Welcome to the third part, where we jump to West Papua.
First lets have a look at the Western Parotia

Western Parotia

For this shoot I had not enough reach with my 400 lens so I had to use the 1.4x TC and since it was near the bottom of the rainforest, it was rather dim.
Which is a very challenging situation with an 400 2.8 lens and nearly impossible
So what could be improved?

  • Noise/IQ

  • Choice of Lens

First, finding one of these is rather rare and if you do you have to take it wherever you find it.
The only way I see how it could be improved is with an 400 f/2.8.

Now to the next wildlife picture, the Seychelles paradise flycatcher.
Also here applies the points before. I had not enough reach, paired with a too slow aperture.
One additional challenge I set for myself, is to capture the flycatcher with my 100 STF lens.

Seychelles paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina), see Seychelles 2019

Seychelles paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina), see Seychelles 2019

Whats your thought about these wildlife pictures and how I could improve them.
Let me know down in the comments and stay tuned for my post in late march!

2019 phototrips in review - Part 2

Welcome to the second part.
Second picture is a Seychelles tiger chameleon (Archaius tigris).

Seychelles tiger chameleon (Archaius tigris), see Seychelles 2019

For this shoot I had not enough reach with my 100-400 lens so I had to use the 1.4x TC.
This lead to higher ISO values.
So what could be improved?

  • Noise/IQ

  • Choice of Lens

First, finding one of these is rather rare and if you do you have to take it wherever you find it.
The only way I see how it could be improved is with a prime lens like 400 f/2.8.

Now to the next wildlife picture, the Seychelles paradise flycatcher.
Also here applies the points before, except if you find a nest you know where to find it reliably.
Here you have the opportunity to walk closer to the flycatcher, because they are rather the opposite of shy.
Here I can’t argue that I had not enough reach, however the light is rather dim so a prime lens with bright aperture helps!
One additional challenge I set for myself, is to capture the flycatcher with my 100 STF lens.

Seychelles paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina), see Seychelles 2019

Seychelles paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina), see Seychelles 2019

Whats your thought about these wildlife pictures and how I could improve them.
Let me know down in the comments and stay tuned for my post in late march!

2019 phototrips in review - Part 1

Welcome to the year 2020 and my first post!
The year 2019 is past and the two phototrips I made were a success, but lets have a closer look. (Seychelles 2019 and West Papua 2019.)
However there are shoots I’m unhappy with or missed.
First a picture I haven’t shown yet.

A milkyway panorama

At first glance it looks decent, but there are some shortcomings and things I learned just after coming back home…
So what could be improved?

  • Composition

  • Noise/IQ

  • Exposure

  • Choice of Lens

  • Nodalpoint/Panorama head

First I would change the positioning/composition, going closer to the two rocks. Making the milky way appear just above the two rocks and get rid of my local guide. ;-)

Second the solution to fight the noise/improve image quality, is to stack images for each section of the panorama (shoot 4, 8 or 16 pictures and stack them and stitch them).
Be aware that 4 picture will slash the noise in half, 8 will reduce it to roughly a third and 16 to a quarter.

The picture is also slightly underexposed but there is a limit how long you can expose before the stars become strokes. This is intertwined with the lens choice.
My choice was the Sigma 14 f/1.8 stepped down to f/2.2. Next time I take an f/1.4 lens with me maximum 24mm (in portrait orientation). My dream would be an 14/15/16mm f/1.4 lens…
There is also the 500 rule, which is 500/14 (focal length) which would be 35sec maximum exposure time.
However if you have a high density camera (high MP count) I would rather change it to the 300 rule, 300/14 = 20sec (21.42…..s) or in a case of a 24mm lens 300/24 = 12sec (12.5s).
Be aware, when you choose the exposure time, that you have to factor in the 4/8/16 multi picture

If you want to go even further than stacking with a faster lens, you can add a panorama head and shoot the panorama in two rows with different exposure!
One advantage is also that the panning is much more reliable and repeatable.