Encounter with a Brown Hare

[Olybirder]

We were walking at Carlton Marshes the other day when we suddenly spotted a Brown Hare sitting on the path in front of us. I took a few quick shots, expecting it to run away, but was taken by surprise when it started 'haring' towards us. I didn't have time to alter the settings to 'HIF' so this is the best I could do.

E-M1 II, 300mm f4 and MC-14.

Ron

[Beagletorque]

Very nice and to see one too.

[OM USer]

Originally Posted by Olybirder

... I didn't have time to alter the settings to 'HIF' so this is the best I could do....

Seems to have done the trick whatever the settings. Nice shots. I did pass a field of hares whilst driving along the M40 last week but no chance of taking a picture or two even though I had my E-PM2 in my bag on the passenger seat.

[Zuiko]

You did well to get these. It's not an easy animal to photograph, particularly on the move.

[pdk42]

Very nice indeed. I love hares!

[Phill D]

Yes very nice hare shots you did very well on the spur of the moment. The only issue for me is the background bokeh. To my eye that ugly bokeh is definitely putting me off ever buying a 300mm f4.0.

[Internaut]

These are simply great. I never see issues with BIF shots, but for this type of wildlife shot, the Bokeh is definitely a little nervy. Edit: was it a fairly warm day?

[Olybirder]

Many thanks for the kind comments and 'likes'.

With regard to the bokeh of the 300mm f4, it definitely tends to be a problem if there is grass close behind the subject. I suppose the angular, contrasty stone chippings in the background are also problematic. I don't know if the teleconverter makes things worse but I suspect it might do. A lot of it is probably down to my lack of processing skills. I will have to get to grips with layer masks in Affinity Photo so that I can sharpen the subject and soften the background when required. I find post processing rather tedious though.

Ron

[wornish]

Originally Posted by Olybirder

Many thanks for the kind comments and 'likes'.

With regard to the bokeh of the 300mm f4, it definitely tends to be a problem if there is grass close behind the subject. I suppose the angular, contrasty stone chippings in the background are also problematic. I don't know if the teleconverter makes things worse but I suspect it might do. A lot of it is probably down to my lack of processing skills. I will have to get to grips with layer masks in Affinity Photo so that I can sharpen the subject and soften the background when required. I find post processing rather tedious though.

Ron

Unfortunately yes, the teleconverter makes it even worse. I have both and I am never happy with shots where there is grass in the immediate background. BIF are great though.

[Tordan58]

The "poor bokeh" should not be blamed on the lens as such. It is an unlucky result of the OOF being just about perfect to make the grass in the immediate background appear like viewing it through a non-aligned binocular (if you see what I mean). You will get the same result with any lens of same focal length, stopped down to same F-stop. To mitigate this either shoot closer if possible, shoot wide open or separate the background by shooting from as low perspective as possible. As example of this see the Rook in this thread: http://e-group.uk.net/forum/showthre...39444&page=135 Same lens used, also with the 1.4 TC.

Ron, at what distance and F-stop did you take the photos?

[Olybirder]

Thank you for your contribution Tord. All the shots were taken at f5.6, which is the maximum aperture with the MC-14 attached. The Hare was about 15 metres away in the first three shots but probably between 5 and 10 metres in the last two.

Ron