Looking Toward the Heavens

I basically had to manhandle the Leica f5.6 800mm Modular Apo Telyt lens to take this photo. The photo was taken along the Anhinga trail in the Everglades, so the birds would give the photographers a wider birth and allow us to get closer than they would totally in the wild. The bird was down an embankment. I had the 13.5 pound lens mounted on an Arca type QR mounted on an Arca Swiss B1 which in turn was mounted on an aluminum Gitzo Studex 320. The bird was about 14 feet away (which is about the closest the lens would focus; no other telephoto lens in this focal length focuses to 14 feet). I used an aperture of f11, not because the lens was not sharp at this focal length, but because at this distance the depth of field was probably only a few millimeters.Rich

This is a stunning image as well Rich. These kind of images, make me wish I could some something even half as good.

Striking. A beutiful job on difficult subject matter.