Alaska Cruise Pics I took Part 1 Eagles

[98slowbra]

Hello all, I am no pro at taking pics but I do try my best. I would like to get your opinion on some pics I took on our Alaska Cruise. Here is my gear I have
Gear I used
Canon 60D
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM II Macro Zoom Lens
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM AF Standard Zoom Lens
Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM SLR Lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens
Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Frantasmic]

Cool pics. There are eagles near where my in-laws live, but I haven't gone out and tried to photograph them, but I want to.

 

[98slowbra]

Another Canon 60D user, that is very cool. I really like mine.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

What settings did you use? Aperture or Shutter Speed?

 

[98slowbra]

What settings did you use? Aperture or Shutter Speed?

I used manual on these, I did have my fstop at 2.8 so I could freeze the action cause the boat was moving up and down and the Eagles were moving pretty fast. I say I got pretty lucky with some good shots. The pros say I should have had my fstop at 7 but with no tri pod I thought they would come out blurry so I played it safe at 2.8 with the sigma 70-200

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I used manual on these, I did have my fstop at 2.8 so I could freeze the action cause the boat was moving up and down and the Eagles were moving pretty fast. I say I got pretty lucky with some good shots. The pros say I should have had my fstop at 7 but with no tri pod I thought they would come out blurry so I played it safe at 2.8 with the sigma 70-200

Okay, so I should set my F-stop at my lowest which would be 3.5. What shutter speed did you set?

 

[98slowbra]

Okay, so I should set my F-stop at my lowest which would be 3.5. What shutter speed did you set?

I will have to look at the pic and see I was going all over the place with that to get a good pic shutter speed on these were 1/1250 and ISO was 100 since it was a sunny day, fstop(Aperture) was 2.8. Set on Manual for this. Remember the lower the Fstop you will be able to freeze the pic and shutter speed set high. What kind of camera and lens do you plan to use? If you want you can set your camera up to do shutter speed priority and see what you come up with. For me this was my 1st time ever shooting birds so I set it up the best way I could think.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I will have to look at the pic and see I was going all over the place with that to get a good pic shutter speed on these were 1/1250 and ISO was 100 since it was a sunny day, fstop(Aperture) was 2.8. Set on Manual for this. Remember the lower the Fstop you will be able to freeze the pic and shutter speed set high. What kind of camera and lens do you plan to use? If you want you can set your camera up to do shutter speed priority and see what you come up with. For me this was my 1st time ever shooting birds so I set it up the best way I could think.

I use a Nikon D5000. My plan is to use a Nikkor 18-300 F/3.5 - 5.6 zoom lens on my wildlife excursions. I like to shoot in aperture priority mode when I do landscapes. I don't shoot much action, but am excited about getting eagles and whales.

 

[98slowbra]

I use a Nikon D5000. My plan is to use a Nikkor 18-300 F/3.5 - 5.6 zoom lens on my wildlife excursions. I like to shoot in aperture priority mode when I do landscapes. I don't shoot much action, but am excited about getting eagles and whales.[/QUOTE

you should be good, I do not know much about Nikkor lenses but I would try it outside and try to shoot some birds to see how the lens does just in case. I know Sigma makes a good 70-200 f/2.8 lens and it is a pro lens and they do make them for Nikons. Lenses are not cheap by any means took me over 4 years to get the lenses I have since at the time each was $1000 or more for the ones I wanted. The Canon lenses were just out of my price range at $3000 each.

 

[98slowbra]

Also the excursion I took to get these Eagle pics was Bering Seat Crab fishermens tour in Ketchikan.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

you should be good, I do not know much about Nikkor lenses but I would try it outside and try to shoot some birds to see how the lens does just in case. I know Sigma makes a good 70-200 f/2.8 lens and it is a pro lens and they do make them for Nikons. Lenses are not cheap by any means took me over 4 years to get the lenses I have since at the time each was $1000 or more for the ones I wanted. The Canon lenses were just out of my price range at $3000 each.

I know right? The only reason I was able to get the 18-300 is because it was $300 off at one point. I won't be doing the Bering Sea Crab excursion but a wildlife quest in Sitka.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[98slowbra]

For the landscape pics I took and put up here, that was the Pilots Choice in Juneau, now that helicopter ride was by far the most fun and the scene was just unreal. We landed on Eagle Glacier and we went up higher to what they call the Ice fields. That was one heck of a excursion.

 

[boBQuincy]

I would be happy with those eagle photos. Good work!

 

[boBQuincy]

I use a Nikon D5000. My plan is to use a Nikkor 18-300 F/3.5 - 5.6 zoom lens on my wildlife excursions. I like to shoot in aperture priority mode when I do landscapes. I don't shoot much action, but am excited about getting eagles and whales.

Setting the aperture to it's lowest number will force the shutter speed to the fastest available for the lighting conditions. In this case it will be f/3.5 at the shorter focal lengths and f/5.6 at the longer end (which is probably what you will need for eagles). In bright sunlight f/5.6 would give about 1/3200 second at ISO 400, that should be fast enough to freeze some action and to be steady at 300 mm.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Setting the aperture to it's lowest number will force the shutter speed to the fastest available for the lighting conditions. In this case it will be f/3.5 at the shorter focal lengths and f/5.6 at the longer end (which is probably what you will need for eagles). In bright sunlight f/5.6 would give about 1/3200 second at ISO 400, that should be fast enough to freeze some action and to be steady at 300 mm.

Thank you so much for this advice!

 

[jabysmom]

nice shots!