December 2006

December 2006: Gray, wet and warm. No snow, no freezing cold, no sign of winter. No time for walking around and taking pictures. Gray sky, gray landscapes ( the leaves are long gone ), gray houses and gray faces. The perfect time to feel a little depressed.

Sounds similar to what I have written underneath my November image. You are right. It is exaclty the same. This years winter leaves a lot to be desired so far and this is also similar to last year where winter started in January but lasted till end of March.

The weather was one thing - the lack of spare time the other one. This image was taken on 26th of December when we visited my wifes parents in Germany. My mother in law loves to photograph the birds in a wild garden near the house. From October till April she goes there almost twice a day every day to feed and photograph the birds. She used a D70 and now a D80 with low budget 100-300mm zooms. This time I took my AF-S 2.8/300ED with me so she can try a real telelens on her camera. I also took some shots before I handed her over my tripod and lens. A got a couple of nice images - mainly of nuthatches and decided for this one. The technical data clearly shows the advantage of such a fast lens. Being able to shoot at f2.8 means I got 1/500s at 100ASA. With the zoom you would have to raise ISO to 640ASA to get the same shutter speed. In good light! In early morning light I often have to use 400ASA to get 1/500s or just 1/250s which would translate into something between 1600ASA and 3200ASA if I would use a small zoom. To take images of small birds with high ISO settings isn´t a very good idea at all. Try to use a noise reduction programm and it will reduce not only the noise but also almost all details of the feathers.

The second advantage is the clear and uncluttered background that such a lens gives when used wide open. With the zoom at f6.3 ( wide open ) a couple of branches start to appear in the background. It is possible to get good images with a small zoom too but it´s hard and you have to be really careful. With a fast telelens it is a piece of cake.

I have taken more impressive shots in December but I realised that there is no picture of the month that shows a bird! I really love to take images of birds and in 2003 und 2004 that clearly showed in my POMs but 2005 and 2006 I hardly used any bird shot as my picture of the month at all. A whole year without a bird image to be a picture of the month - no way and that´s why it is there.

M-Mode: 1/500@f2.8, 100ASA, WB auto, slightly cropped, enhanced in RSE 2006, lens on Gitzo tripod