[Leica] Vedanthangal

[afirkin at afirkin.com (afirkin at afirkin.com)]

> 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

Not using much tele here. 180mm. I love the composites 1 and 3

Cheers

Alastair