> The good photographer needs to know his subject, as well as his tool, > and the former is the most important. That´s why I don´t like > indications that a good tool is all you need. A good photographer > may get better pictures with less equipment, because he knows how > to use the limitations for his purpose.
Knowledge of your subject will put you in the right place at the right time. Having the right tools and knowing how to use them will get you the rest of the way. You have to consider the context of this discussion. We were talking about shooting eagles in flight. I know from experience that it's hard enough to keep them in the viewfinder when they're zooming around. Manually focusing and tracking wild birds in flight is an extremely frustrating nearly impossible task. You never know where they're going next. They move too fast and their direction changes too often. You only have a moment to get the shot before they're gone. A photographer with less equipment will set up on a tree and wait. He'll get shots of eagles but he won't get the shots we're talking about. Tom Reese
