Post your best bird shots!

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I'm sorry Nate... I cannot offer any criticism. Terrific detail &amp; color... I only hope that the final resolution isn't compromised by the tight crop.<o:p></o:p>


<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I suspect this is from a few months ago as it wasn't taken with your 7D + 500F4. I am holding out as long as I can before picking up the 400 5.6... I truly want something created in this millennium, a 90's lens just feels... old to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] I&rsquo;m hopeful for an upgrade to that lens or the 100-400.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] Do you ever use the 400F5.6 now that you have the 500F4?<o:p></o:p>

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/...4794033a_z.jpg


Canon Rebel XS with Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM and Canon EF 1.4x II Extender
@ 420mm, 1/400, f/5.6, ISO 100
Shot in Av Mode with an Exposure Bias of -1 EV


California Quail (state bird) at Pinnacles National Monument between the Hwy-101 and Hwy-25 outside Soledad in Central California.


Earlier the same morning a family of quail were trying to cross my campsite as I was tearing it down. The mother or father would scout ahead and determine it safe for the other parent to bring the kids through, but most times I would inadvertently scare the quail so it would go running back across the road into the bushes to join the rest of the waiting family. I was trying to pack up as fast as I could so that I could get my camera out and lie in wait for them, but as I was putting my last thing away and grabbing my camera the entire family of about seven or eight ran across and up the hill next to camp. Another shot missed! Darn. Also, they make the loudest flap of their wings when they fly. I scared one the day before and it flew by so fast another camper that she nearly crapped her pants.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/...4f33d83c_z.jpg


5DII, 100-400L @ 400mm, f/8, 1/400, ISO 100.


I'm a little uncertain about posting into this thread, but here goes. This was shot from the back of a small boat as the eagle flew past us yesterday. I cropped quite a bit out of the original capture. All comments and critiques are very welcomed.


Yesterday was my first day out trying BIF after having just switched from a 40D to my new 5DII last week. I've already found with the full frame body that I'm needing to let go of my personal rule against cropping my photos, plus there's a lot more detail there to play with.


-Yoni

Nice shot, Yoni. Perhaps a faster shutter speed would have helped - the motion blur on the wings is a bit distracting to me (not sharp, but not quite blurry enough to be intentional in conveying movement).

Outstanding m8....!

Thanks for the comments guys, and for taking a look.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neuroanatomist

Nice shot, Yoni. Perhaps a faster shutter speed would have helped - the motion blur on the wings is a bit distracting to me (not sharp, but not quite blurry enough to be intentional in conveying movement).
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I like the blur but I have to agree that it's a bit distracting given that there's such a small amount of motion captured. I want to try to get more, but I was already a little worried bringing the shutter speed too low at that focal length, while panning and standing on a rocking boat. I'll try something like 1/160 on solid ground and see if I can still keep the head of the bird sharp. Is it worth bumping down to ISO 50 or would it be better just to stop down to f/11 or so? Anyone know what shutter speed would be best? I'm thinking I should be in shutter speed priority for this scenario in the future, in manual I'd risk missing the shot altogether.


If that doesn't work I'll just give up on the blur and shoot at ISO 400 or 800 to stop the motion completely.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by StapledPhoto

Is it worth bumping down to ISO 50 or would it be better just to stop down to f/11 or so?

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Don't bump your ISO down to 50 - ISO 50 is a non-native setting for the sensor, meaning it's really just ISO 100 'pulled' down a stop as the RAW file is written, and costs you some dynamic range. Using f/11 would be just fine for a shot like the one above - with just a bird and blue sky in the (distant) background, you can't have too much DoF (and you want motion to blur the wings, anyway).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by StapledPhoto

I'm thinking I should be in shutter speed priority for this scenario in the future,in manual I'd risk missing the shot altogether.

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BIF, action sports, things like that are often shot in Tv mode. If you don't have time for manual adjustments, with fast moving subjects you often want to make on-the-spot decisions about how much motion blur you want to impart. In fact, if you're panning a bird across the sky, you can often manage the slow shutter for wing blur, then spin the dial and get a stop-action shot as well.


As a side note, this is one area where the 7D adds a nice feature - auto ISO works in manual mode, instead of being fixed at 400 (i.e. on a 7D in M-mode with ISO set to Auto, if you increase shutter speed by 2 stops, ISO also increases by 2 stops). Now, if the 7D only had the user-selectable max for Auto ISO that they added to the T2i... [:@]

Ok, this isn't a best, but pretty cool. These guys were walking across the parking lot yesterday morning heading to a little water hole on the other side of the building I work at. The mother would look both ways as she passed every row of cars to make sure no one was coming. Also, could someone tell me if the colors are off on these (toward the blue side)..I got a new monitor and thecalibrationon this monitor is much different than the last one.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ab_NE46pN8...7_10_05183.jpg


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Ab_NE46pN8...7_10_05193.jpg

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Hey Jayson, Really Cute Photo!


Nate, Perfect as Usual!





I was shooting some Surfing and this little guy just showed up in the Surf.


<span style="font-size: 11.6667px;"]EOS-7D, EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x @420mm and f/4.5, 1/1250sec., ISO 125, Handheld, Not cropped


<span style="font-size: 11.6667px;"]"American Oystercatcher"


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<span style="font-size: 11.6667px;"]C &amp; C Always Welcome.


Rich


edit: I increased exposure and contrast and re-uploaded the photo.



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Hey Rich,


you need to eliminate the shadows on the black of the bird. And it's also slightly underexposed. Fix that, and it's a winner, though [H]

Hello, here is a photo of Great Tit. I've taken it in Lithuaniasome days ago. I've posted it in one lithuanian website and people voted for it worse than for my other photos (although personally I like this one), so I would be very grateful if you could criticize this photo. :) Just tell what is good and what's not. Thanks a lot! :)





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Hey Brendan,


Thanks for the comments!


I upped the exposure a little, and then upped the contrast which made the black darker. Let me know what you think.


"American Oystercatcher"


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I have a question.., perhaps someone can help?


I noticed that when I delete a photo from the "My Files Section" under my "username" to make room to upload other photos, then that same photo also gets deleted from the original post and thread. Is this suppose to happen or am I uploading the photos to the thread incorrectly?


In other words, how can I delete a photo from "My Files" without deleting them from the thread?


Thanks,


Rich

Tadas,N


I think this is a very nice picture!, I just can't see any big problem of this shot. maybe you should post some "other shots" so we can see the difference. again, it's a great shot, I like it.


Rich, I have the same question you have, hope some one can help.





here is my recent shot, I like it though i'm not sure if it works this way. thanks for viewing.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Richard Lane

I noticed that when I delete a photo from the "My Files Section" under my "username" to make room to upload other photos, then that same photo also gets deleted from the original post and thread. Is this suppose to happen or am I uploading the photos to the thread incorrectly?


In other words, how can I delete a photo from "My Files" without deleting them from the thread?

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You can't - that's the way it works. When you upload a photo to the TDP website, the image is being hosted by TDP. When you post it in a thread, that's a link to the original hosted image. If you delete the hosted image, the links to it fail. You're limited to 5 MB of images hosted on TDP, which is a pretty low limit, and why you need to delete some to make room for others.


Instead, consider hosting your images elsewhere - Flickr, ImageShack, etc. They have much higher storage limits, and you can easily post your images in the threads here (by pasting the image URL from the host site into the Insert Media dialog when you write a post).

Chris,


I actually like your photo a lot. I like the golden glow and sparkle of the water due to the slow shutter speed and the setting Sun. I also like the composition and head angle of the bird. The focal point of the shot is the water, but I like the technique of the blurred bird in the foreground. I wouldn't change anything. The only suggestion that I have, which you may have already done, would be to take a second photo that would have the bird in focus with the water blurred and see which one looks better, or they may both be great.





John, Thanks for the explanation about the photo hosting. I'll sign up for one of them.


Rich

Thanks John for the explanation!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Richard Lane

which you may have already done, would be to take a second photo that would have the bird in focus with the water blurred and see which one looks bette

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Rich, thank you very much for your compliment. I don't have any photo like
this(bird in focus with blurred water) but I guess it will be less interesting without sparkle of the water cause of the blurred water. but I'll still give it a try next time. BTW, my name is not Chris, you can just call me JJ, or my name is Steve Zhao.

Sorry about that JJ. I do agree with you that the water is what makes this photo special and the bird is just a big bonus.


I know it's not the same thing, but sometimes when I amshooting surfing, I take a picture of the Surfer walking back into the surf with his board and I try to take twophotos; one with the surfer blurred and the waves in focus and the other with the Surfer in focus and the waves blurred. Onehighlights the physical athletic presence of the surfer and the othercapturesthe hugesurf that they are entering. I have found that the guys like themselves in focus and their girlfriends are more impressed with thedangerous surf in focus. My preference varies depending on the height of the waves, the DOF and the lighting.


Rich

a loon... cooling off.





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Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird, 1D MK III + 70-200 2.8 + 580exII + 2 remote 430exII triggered with pocket wizards





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GBH in flight


first photo processed in PS CS5


7D, 4005.6, f5.6, 1/1000,-2/3 exposure, ISO800 with B+W CP filter. 40' before sunset.


I accidentally put the CP filter on instead of a UV filter. so the color looks very warm. I didn't try to adjust color tone in PS, just tried to reduce noise, adjust exposure, and sharpen main subject.


C&amp;C are welcome and greatly appreciated.


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http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/...c9dac8de_z.jpg


5DII + 100-400L @ 400mm, f/8, 1/400, ISO 800

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JJphoto

GBH in flight

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Very Nice Shot, JJ---Love the warm sunset colors.





Bob

JJphoto.....the GBH looks good, the exposure seems right and the detail is good, I would wish for a better head angle and maybe try to desat. or tone down the background a little by reducing contrast.


StapledPhoto....cool pose on the Eagle coming out of the tree....it looks a tad underxposed perhaps because there is no details in the wings. Otherwise it's cool, I haven't seen a shot like it before.


Joel

Great capture Joel....really like the different body/wing positioning from what I'm capturing. It looks like you caught the wing thrust at the bottom of her beat. Maybe I should delve into flash captures of my HBs a little more.


StapledPhoto....nice head on pic of BE.

JJphoto, nice picture of heron in flight, just maybe I'd prefer a bit different head angle and it might would look better if you slightly edited the colors. However, my monitor isn't calibrated, so probably I can't say anything about colors. :)



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<span>StapledPhoto, nice pose of the eagle! The only thing I can criticize, as it was already mentioned, is that image seems to be underexposed a little.

Thanks for the comments, guys. Here are a couple of other options from ACR.


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exposure +.40








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exposure +.30 and fill light set to 20





Either of these look better than the one on flickr to your eyes? The wings of an eagle like this are very dark and need direct light or a very overexposed background to get much detail in them. The second edit was an attempt at bringing out the detail without overexposing the rest of the image but it makes the image look too washed out to me. My focus originally was on the face of the eagle and keeping the wings dark and contrasted, but I can see that the bump in exposure of the first picture helps a bit. What do you guys think?

Great picture! I think the first one looks better. You lose to much shadow in the second one.

I think I like the original picture out of the 3. I think it makes it slightly more dramatic with the darkness.

Out of the two above, I like the top one better.


edit: However, when compared to the Original on the previous page, I like the original better, because I like the darker green pine tree and I think the white portion of the top of the birds head has better contrast and pops more.

I think the last one is getting better in terms of feather detail.....you can always create a duplicate layer and a layer mask so you can keep the background the way you like and treat the bird differently.....I think if you adjust shadows/highlights then levels and follwed by some sharpening of just the bird it will really pop. Then adjust the background so it looks like the original.


Joel

This is a juvenile red bellied woodpecker from my backyard setup


40D + 300mm 2.8L + 1.4 TC + Tripod





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Joel, that's a very nice photo! Very sharp with a good background!


P.S. could you tell me what food you are using? It should be very delicious, because at least in Lithuania (Europe) I thought it's almost impossible to make a woodpecker to come to a backyard in summer :)

Thanks Tadas!


I use suet cakesand place them in in a small cage on hanging from a pole. There are many varieties,most birds don't show much preference but the woodpeckers really like the ones with peanut in them. All sorts of birds will eat suet cakes but it's a challenge to keep the squirrels away from them.


I purchase them from local stores such as Lowes, Tractor Supply or WalMart, I would assume you could find them or order them on the net. I have even seen recipes to make your own.


Joel

thank you guys very much for the comments. I have to say I really need photoshop for Post processing of bird shots, but it's very hard to get start with.it was very very frustrating, I only wish I had more time so I can take a class.....[:(]





again, Joel, this is another nice bird shot, I think your backyard set up and bird shots could be a standard of photography of bird portrait ---


a creamy background


a simple perch


a tack sharp bird


if I can't go out shoot anymore some day, I hope I can still at least do something like this in my backyard in stead of lying on the bed in hospital[:P]

Joel....another good shot.


But if I may pass on some info I discovered by mistake....earlier in the spring I came across orange flavored suet cakes, I normally by the peanut cakes, so I tried one to bring in the Orioles.


Lo and behold all the WPs (red bellied, hairy, downy and even the n. flickers) preferred the orange over the peanut butter. I have2 suet holders next to each other and I have to fill the orange one every 24 hours while the peanut butter cake will last 2 days. Yes the Orioles enjoy it also.


Re squirrels; I purchased a stand alone 10 pole w/4 hangers and a metalbaffle (2 feet in length x 6 inch diameter w/a scalloped base). I placed baffle about 4 feetup the pole frome the ground, I placedthe pole out of reach of the trees....in 4 yearsnot one squirrel has defeated this setup, but they keep trying.LOL

Thanks for the nice comments everyone.....I appreciate it.


Bill thanks for the tip on orange flavored suet....I haven't seen that anywhere....where did you get it if I may ask?


I have been using a squirrel baffle but it's smaller than the one you describe....I'll have to search for a slightly bigger one.

Joel....I get it at a grain store that has supplies forwild and pet bird, cat, dog and hosses, oh excuse me, horses.


They really love when I come in....I load the cart w/dog food, cat food and litter, w/seed and suet for the birds. Now you understand why I have a hard time saving money for new photography equipment. LOL


Name on packaging is Birdwatcher's Best, Orange Essence; www.pinetreefarmsinc.com

Thanks again Bill.....I agree with you....it can dig into your pockets to keep the bird feeders full year round!! It's great fun though and you don't even have to leave the house. Here's another RTH with the multiple flashes....I need to setup some better backgrounds eventually.





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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joel Eade

I use suet cakesand place them in in a small cage on hanging from a pole. There are many varieties,most birds don't show much preference but the woodpeckers really like the ones with peanut in them. All sorts of birds will eat suet cakes but it's a challenge to keep the squirrels away from them.

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I must have some finicky birds in my yard because I have tried all varieties and none of the birds touch them! I can't figure out why, I have it hanging right by the other bird feeders and none of them go near it.

Denise

Thanks for much useful info! :)


And this is my photo with two young Swallows.


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Canon 50D, Canon 100-400mm, Lithuania.


Anycomments, critics and questions are welcome.





P.S. visit my new Facebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tadas-Naujokaitis-photography/104571286264426?ref=sgm:)



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