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How to take close up pictures from a distance (1 Viewer)

Sbiriguda

Well-known member
That's probably one of the dumbest questions you ever heard in this forum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQDv8COxM6Y
In the video above they get very sharp pictures because they get very close to the birds. Fine, as long as you can do that
But how do you get very sharp images of the birds far away?
I have Nikon D3100 + Sigma Contemporary 150-600
I can't get any good shot at a relatively long distance, only if birds are close.
Do you shoot in RAW format and then crop them after?
 
https://ufile.io/n79x8hyk

The only "good" pictures were shot from a very short distance, few meters. I uploaded some pictures of birds on buoys or a crow flying close to an antenna. None of them seems to be satisfying...
For sure the distance of eagles and hawks in flight you posted many times are shot at much longer distance
 
As mentioned, even if you manage a super-sharp long lens, in the 600mm to 1000mm range, and an excellent sensor, you're always going to be limited by the light and the atmosphere. If the light is very bright, clear skies, vivid sun, preferably slightly lower in the sky, and it's a cold or cool day, very low humidity, no haze, and you're in a pollution-free spot, then you could potentially take advantage of the really long lens to get clear details at high distances. Of course, if on that day you just have an average lens, or average sensor, or you don't use your lens' best aperture, or you're in any way unsteady or don't use a fast enough shutter speed, and so on...you could get poor results even in perfect atmospheric conditions...so you need the combination of very good lens, correct settings and technique, and a very cooperative atmosphere.

My best examples of decent sharpness and quality from farther distances - that I can verify through Google Maps - are the following:

From approx. 140 feet away, 600mm lens on APS-C sensor, and cropped about 60%:
https://pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/165515633/original

Not a bird, but a plane - flying at least 25,000 feet, shot from sea level, with a 400mm lens on APS-C sensor, cropped to 100% (1:1 pixel):
https://pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/166133734/original

Roughly 150 feet, 560mm lens on APS-C sensor (400mm + 1.4x TC), cropped about 40%:
https://pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/168333014/original

From 250 feet away, plus 150 feet up, with 400mm lens on APS-C sensor, cropped about 80%:
https://pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/168934824/original

Here's a rare case where I can show you an uncropped original, as it was framed in the camera at 400mm on APS-C sensor., from 400 feet away:
https://g4.img-dpreview.com/ABB6A3A2F19E4B17A333D2D186ED0D92.jpg

Then a 100% (1:1 pixel) crop from that original:
https://g1.img-dpreview.com/89524EF8FDCA44BBB3E1C501592183CA.jpg

All required not only a decent lens and sensor, and all the right settings, steady hold and stance, but also good atmospherics.
 
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