The Snowy Owl - a Lesson in Lenses

The opportunity to photograph anything of interest when it presents itself is always one any photographer jumps upon. On this day it was the Snowy Owl which winters at my work. Three years now it has come back to the base and each time it has been too far or too late to photograph it. With a tip from a co-worker I was able to find it real close, but the light was low and my lens was slow… meaning not good in low light (a Tamron 100-300 mm 5-6.3 zoom). On a day like today I really wish I had a nice Nikon AF Nikkor ED 180mm f/2.8D telephoto or better. The limitations of my current lens is apparent with the blur from the camera shake. I could have switched back to the Tamron 17-50mm  2.8 for better light, but not enough zoom to bring the owl in close.

 

These are not the best photos in the light of a sunset behind overcast sky. It shows where I need to invest to bring out the best of the light I have to work with and the best in my capabilities. My current zoom lens works good in bright sunlight of the day, but a setting sun or soft low light conditions with f/5-5.3 just does not give enough light to the camera to work with. I pushed these images in the digital darkroom a bit, but not at all my best work. Nothing left to say here, but to save $ for the lens I need to do good work in this type of shooting situation.

 

DM