Re: couple new bird shots
Jim, it seems to me that in the first shot 1/400 was too slow, and in the second...You should never have to use 1/4000 shutter speed for this kind of shot. (did you mean 1/400 for the 2nd?) The Composition is good in the 1st, but in the 2nd the bird is in the right of the frame looking out; try to get it looking in. Good head angle, though.
Cardinals sure are skittish, but chickadees shouldn't be. They can be hand-fed and will usually come to the feeder even when I am at the MFD of 5' of my lens away from it. I suggest you try some perch set-ups near your feeder so the birds will come near you, not the other way around. It gives you a lot of control, and with a lens like yours it shouldn't be too hard.
Seems to me like you are making progress, keep shooting!
brendan
Re: couple new bird shots
thanks brendan......i can recrop the cardinal so he's looking in. what you said makes sense......and yeah, it is 4000, i had camera set on Av for the f/5.6 and manually set the iso to 800 cause of the cloudy day, extender and c-pol filter on the lens, and thats the exposure the camera set......guess it wasnt as dark as i thought it would be. and around my place, the chickadee are skittish........must be my cats.........lol.......they usually take right off when i am around..........but the nuthatches usually let me get closer......i have a pair building a nest in a nest box i have on an ash tree right at 6'.......i dont want to spook them out of building a home yet, but when they get more use to me hanging around, i'll try my luck on them......i love watching them climbing up and down a tree
jim
Re: couple new bird shots
Jim, I suggest you use manual mode. Just like the E-trade baby "takes charge of his investments wolf-style", you can take charge of your images. Honestly, chickadees aren't skittish at all. But any bird except maybe albatrosses and boobies nesting on Pacific islands will fly away if you approach it. Because of this, I again suggest you use a feeder setup. It's very simple! Set up a natural perch or two (branches, dead trees etc) near (within 18'') your feeder and life will become a lot easier. Well, almost [:P]
brendan
Re: couple new bird shots
thanks again for the advice brendan.......i didnt set up any perches, decided to just hang around between my feeder and the closest ash tree, which is only 12 feet separation between the feeder and closest branches. after awhile, the chickadees and nuthatches are getting very use to me being there, and the finches are comeing closer, not quite close enough, but getting there. and i am getting a pair of surprising birds sticking around.....have a look at these pics and let me know what you think, the last pic will be the one bird i never expected to let me be there.
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2259/img1954j.jpg
XSi, 70-200f/4L, 1.4X extender, shot at 200mm, f/7.1, 1/400sec, iso200......no crop of this pic at all
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/2075/img1952p.jpg
same lens combo and settings as above, but cropped in CS4 and a little colour correction to bring out the blue in the sky and the black in the chickadee
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4883/img1972k.jpg
same lens but f/5.6, 1/500sec, iso200 and cropped and colour correctionin CS4
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/7597/img1994g.jpg
red bellied woodpecker, same lens etc, but f/9, 1/500sec, iso200 and cropped in CS4.
i am trying different settings to see what i like the best.
jim
Re: couple new bird shots
Jim those are superb! What an improvement...#2 is my favorite.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lynx0069
the last pic will be the one bird i never expected to let me be there
Agreed. I am quite jealous, I have these guys but they are too shy by far. I need a blind [:(]
Wow. This is by far your best set yet :)
brendan
Re: couple new bird shots
thanks brendan. i dont know if a blind is right though. i kinda like the fact that the birds are getting used to me hanging around, as long as they dont see me as a threat.
Re: couple new bird shots
Jim,
Your second set is really beautiful! Fantastic composition!
Denise
Re: couple new bird shots
thanks denise......i'm glad i am getting better, even though i dont have the gear you have, but i make do with what i have
jim
Re: couple new bird shots
Quote:
Originally Posted by lynx0069
thanks denise......i'm glad i am getting better, even though i dont have the gear you have, but i make do with what i have
There we go! I know people who blow $10k on gear and learn nothing...one of the things that too much gear does is make sure that you'll never learn how to take a good picture, just rely on your gear. And the 70-200 f/4 IS is a GREAT bird lens...