Snow, overcast cloudy weather + birds of prey- suggestions

[lesmore49]

I live in Canada and this winter has been not one of my favourites for outdoor photography. Very little sun...mostly grey clouds and loads of snow on the ground.

I enjoy taking photos of birds of prey such as Owls and Bald Eagles...perched in trees....particularly when the sun is out and lighting them up like a Hollywood flood light.

No such luck this winter with a reliable sun and it's attendant light.

I usually shoot at F 8, on aperture control and the lens I use for wildlife is my Pentax 55-300mm...racked out to 300mm...camera, usually the K-5.

Another overcast day tomorrow...but I plan to head out anyways...getting cabin fever.

Any suggestions on how to best deal with this light, the subjects and my particular equipment.

Thank you.

[gjtoth]

Originally Posted by lesmore49

I live in Canada and this winter has been not one of my favourites for outdoor photography. Very little sun...mostly grey clouds and loads of snow on the ground.

I enjoy taking photos of birds of prey such as Owls and Bald Eagles...perched in trees....particularly when the sun is out and lighting them up like a Hollywood flood light.

No such luck this winter with a reliable sun and it's attendant light.

I usually shoot at F 8, on aperture control and the lens I use for wildlife is my Pentax 55-300mm...racked out to 300mm...camera, usually the K-5.

Another overcast day tomorrow...but I plan to head out anyways...getting cabin fever.

Any suggestions on how to best deal with this light, the subjects and my particular equipment.

Thank you.

I'm pretty new to the World of Pentax having just picked up a K-30 a couple of weeks ago. But, one of the things that astonish me about this camera is the ability to produce REALLY good images in the higher ISO ranges. I'm assuming the K-5 can do the same. I shoot with the Sigma 170-500mm and I get some great results at ISOs rangning from 800 to 6400 and sometimes higher. Have you tried using these ranges?

[mole]

Les - Since you live where there's MUCH more snow than here in sunny Tennessee, you probably already know this, but... Be sure to set the exposure compensation up a few notches (maybe +0.7 or even +1.0 or more). Otherwise all that pretty white snow becomes neutral gray.

[lesmore49]

Thanks for the tips. I did some tests with exposure compensation...and with high ISO...I usually set my K-5 at 800 -1600 , K10D at 400-800, K-m at 800-1600 , F stop at F 5.6 or F 8, focus at single and spot....for wildlife, birds with my 55-300.

Very overcast, cloudy, snowy in the Boreal Forest today.