photoartflightExtreme Distant Subjects @ Blackwater NWR
One of my favorite places to photograph is Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, Maryland. Blackwater NWR is a 20,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge with a Wildlife Drive for cars and paths for walking. This is my favorite location for photographing Bald Eagles. The only downside is many of the sightings are of far distant subjects! So to get around this is to use long lenses or extreme cropping or both to get the images I want. The Featured Image in this Post is a good example of my solution for photographing distant far off Eagles. I was using a Canon camera with a 300-800mm Lens @800mm with a 2X teleconverter. Also I was using a Canon camera with a 1.6x crop factor for a final focal length of 2560mm. In a future Post I will show ways to also up-rez raw files to go even larger when needed.
photoartflight 
Great captures, Reed!
Thanks so much Eliza! They are fun photo subjects!
With that total focal length I imagine you use a very fast shutter speed and a tri-pod to get sharp shots?
I use a tripod because of the weight of the camera & lens but if the subject is not moving much I do not have to use a fast shutter speed. Sometimes though I do not use a tripod if the conditions are good!
With such an extreme tele, it must be more than difficult to catch and follow an eagle that flies across…. but you mananged quite well Reed. My compliments.
Thanks so much! After you photograph a lot of moving subjects your success rate goes up!
Great shots, each one, Reed! 🤗
Thanks so much Donna! It is fun to find different ways to get closer photographically to distant photo subjects!
Superb.
Thanks! Comes in handy when there are no photo subjects close by!