couple new bird shots

couple new shots i tried with a new toy i just got. a canon 1.4X extender to use with my 70-200f/4L. as always, i appreciate all comments and suggestions. unfortunatly, i just slashed my left palm open at work this week, got stiches and am a little usteady holding the lens right now, but am a die hard and keep on taking pics and trying to improve my technique. and these 2 guys are notorious for being shy and skittish birds.


http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/811/img1866a.jpg


chickadee in ash tree waiting for me to leave so he can go to my feeder. rebel XSi, 70-200f/4L, 1.4X extender, shot settings- f/8, 1/400sec, iso 200, cropped in CS4. i think the beak is a little blurry, could be me, or my monitor, what do you think?


http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/79/img1891a.jpg


cardinal in spruce tree, i know he is way high above me, he was lower, but when i tried sneaking up on him, he flew higher. rebel XSi, 70-200f/4L, 1.4X extender, hoya pro-1D c-pol,shot settings- f/5.6, 1/4000th sec, iso 800 (i know, seems high, was a cloudy/dark afternoon, using extender and c-pol filter, and am trying it out - experimenting ) and cropped in CS4

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

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

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

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

Jim those are superb! What an improvement...#2 is my favorite.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lynx0069

the last pic will be the one bird i never expected to let me be there

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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

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.

Jim,


Your second set is really beautiful! Fantastic composition!

Denise

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

Quote:

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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

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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...