I didn't know that's the faked background at first Bob, nice captures, colorful smooth background and I like the catch light the most. can't wait to see your set up.
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I didn't know that's the faked background at first Bob, nice captures, colorful smooth background and I like the catch light the most. can't wait to see your set up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Lane
Here ya go. Setup: Bird feeder taped on top of white PVC pole, supported by a Christmas tree stand. One 400 watt utility light is setup up on the tall ladder to light the back ground. Background plants sitting on a board that is bolted to the paint try on the small ladder. and of course, my 7D, 100-400 and 580exII flash on the tripod.
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s9/v14/p970342072-4.jpg
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s9/v13/p971493103-4.jpg
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s6/v6/p759540791-4.jpg
For some reason, The site is only letting me put one shot up at a time. When I try to put up asecond the "Insert Media" window is empty.
P.S. My wife says to tell you that the patio looks better than this when I am not using the decorations for props and backgrounds and the ladders are in the garage. [:^)]
Bob
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shea Design
Thanks Shea, This one is actually a mistake, my flash didn't fire so all I got was the backlight from the sun. but I liked it anyway. Wish I could say the shot was designed like that, but it was just a lucky shot.
Bob
oh, IT isn't a faked BG[:$] nice set up[Y]
Your newhb photos are really beautiful and very nice (& creative) setup! You are really determined to get this just right and your hard work is really paying off! [Y]
Denise
BTW - My dogs would LOVE to have a yard like this!
Hey Bob,
Thanks for taking the time to show us your set-up. I now have a much better understanding of whats going on. It looks like a great setup.
Do the birds stay around when you come out to take the shot, or do you have to fire away with a long remote trigger?
It almost looks like blue food coloring in the water dripping off of the birds beak (in the shot above).
Keep up the great work. I think you'll be able to right a book when your done!
Rich
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Lane
Actually both; The birds don't seem to have any problem with the people, dogs and even cats. Typically, my wife and I sit out on the patio with the dogs and cats and all of the associated activity. But the birds don't seem to mind. I also have a radio remote. Its a cheap one but works great. Once I have things set up, I can sit down with the remote in my hand and wait for the birds to come.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Lane
Nope, no food coloring in my bird food. I think the droplet just picked up the color from the background.
Thanks Denise. Your dogs are welcome anytime [;)].
Hi! Bob, here is a website about hummingbird you might interesting in, it's in Czech though, but I use google translate to translate it to English so you can see the shooting data.
Bob.....nice captures. But I'm onboard w/Tom and Richard....try to increase thedistance of your background for a creamier bokeh.
I really appreciate your setup....I'm on the retired budgetand understand the need for making use of what you have in the garage. I'm stealing some of your ideas....LOL
BTW....really nice lawn for NM....you must have an abundant water supply nearby. My cousins yard doesn't have a blade of grass.
I'll post some HBs later after I go thru my nearly 600 air show pix from this wkend.
Regards
Bill
I also loved this game with floating hummers and it was like capture
the flag. I don't remember the name of it but it came on a CD with the
OS.
Bactium
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I've finally gotten some hummers to show up at a feeder. For my
technique, I set up the feeder about 4 feet from a window pane (thoroughly
cleaned on both sides). I line the feeder perch parallel to the window
pane. Then, with a 7D and 100-400 L, I sit about 4 feet away from the
window (inside the house) and hand hold the camera/lens, and track it with the
AF (spot or a bit more, on occasion).
The perch has two landing spots. The left works best for morning
shots, and the right side, for later morning, or early afternoon. Enough
light lands on the bird, usually, in the morning. The sun is slowly
getting lower in the sky, so the afternoon shots are less and less, for the
proper lighting.
I set the 7D at 400 mm, and lock the lens ring tight. I put the camera
into Av mode, and set the exposure compensation to +2/3. At f/5.6, the
shutter speed varies from 1/250 to upwards of 1/1250, or more, depending on the
sunlight landing on the bird. ISO no higher than 200.
I sit in a position that is comfortable, then hold the lens and prop my arm
on my knee. It's heavy, but I'm able to hold the camera/lens
steady. I pre-focus on the feeder, then wait patiently with the lens
pointed near the perch. It's usually about 10 minutes between visits.
I've tried the tripod method, but invariably have had difficulty getting a bird
in focus, due to the narrow DOF. Hand holding it works much better for
me.
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]Here's an example:
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.34/RTHB.jpg[/img]
Quote:
Originally Posted by JJphoto
I actually have seen this guys website, he's an awesome photographer. He also has RAW images in his reveiws.
John.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Nice shot Alan. I personally dont have the patience or arms to hold the camera for that long. Sometimes it may take me two or three hours just to get a few shots. So great job taking these handheld.
I am curious about your background. Is it just open space, or did you use something?
Bob
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Glass
---
This is a great site---Although it really shows me that I have a long way to go to reach this level.
Here are a couple more sites that are really good and that I have learned alot from:
http://exposureroom.com/members/douggardner/320db47d104347a0a69d020d4544c8bb/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IxYyq89MLw&feature=player_embedded
Hope you like.
Bob
thanks Bob for sharing these videos, I think I'm going to shoot some hummingbirds by learning from these videos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
Thanks, Bob. My arms can also get tired. [:D]
That background is the side of my house, which is at least 20 feet away. It's far enough away that at f/5.6, it's blurred completely.
Finally got thru the first round (culling and PP a few) of my air show photos (really tired of looking at planes), so I went out this morning to shoot some HBs.
Boy, has the sun moved in just a week....fall is moving in quickly...to my benefit actually. I have much softer light on one of the feeders, but of course they didn't cooperate.
But I did catch my first juvie male RTHB of the season; 7D, 100-400 at 400mm, f6.3, ISO 400, 1/640
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/...4ac49aeb87.jpg
Just a thought for this thread; what would you think about IDing your HBs when you post them?
I know I have it pretty easy, living east of the Mississippi and having pretty much just the Ruby throated HB....thoughts?
Bob....headed your way next week and looking forward to some Calliopes and Anna's.
Great sites and links folks...thanks for sharing.
Bill
Finally had a chance to work with my new (2nd) flash unit and Pocket Wizards------Sure beats the shoplight I was using before.
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s10/...46759543-5.jpg
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s10/...80521772-4.jpg
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s10/...25094549-4.jpg
Still having some ghosting problems, But I think I know the solution and will work on it sometime this week.
These were shot with the background flash at 1/2 power, the bird flash at 1/64 or 1/32, ISO 400 and exposure around f11@250
Hope you like,
Bob
Testing
Bob,
You're making better and better images but I would like to see them not cropped quite so tightly.
I'm sure you already know but, to get rid of ghosting you have to allow less ambient light into the exposure so tighten the f stop or reduce the iso....either one will work. When you do that you may find you will need another flash unit to provide enough light.
Joel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel Eade
Joel, Once again, you are correct. I did find out that I really don't have enough light yet to accomplish what I am trying to do. I think I will try and just work on the bird next time and not worry about the background. I do have a concern: I will be shooting with a 580 EXII and a cheap vivitar flash. I would like to shoot the bird with both flashes at about about 1/64th-1/128 flash power which the Canon Flash can do, but the Vivitar is only capable of 1/16 power. I think this will create ghosting. The only solution I can think of is to move the vivitar farther away from the subject effectively reducing the amount of light on the subject. Anyway, I'll play with it to see I can figure out. Any suggestions are appreciated.
As far as the crop, It is usually only done for compositional purposes or to get rid of the feeder. But I will adjust so I won't have to crop as much.
Thanks for the coaching and tips, they have been valuable and appreciated.
Bob
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
Nice work Bob [Y] That feeder, doesn't it have a real flower the birds put their beak? in?
Anyway...you're improving very rapidly! [Y]
Bob,
Some of the vivitar flashes have an accessory that can mount on the front called Vari-power....it replaces the thyristor adjuster....it can let you dial the power down more. You might find one on ebay.
Moving the flash back probably won't work because the flash duration will be the same, what you need is more light at a shorter pulse duration (ie multiple flashes)
You could get one or two more Vivitar flashes with varipower and you'll be set. I have four total but often just set up 3 ( one on camera and 2 off camera on light stands).
I haven't done this yet but I would like to make some large printsof out of focus flowers or trees and mount them on cardboard to use as a background, that way you can easily move/adjust the background as needed.
There's always one more step in the process and more gear needed....oh well !!!
Keep going, your shots are improving quickly
Joel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheiky
Thanks Jan. The feeder doesn't have a flower, just a little hole. I have tried to stick flowers in the feeder, but have only been able to get the birds to hit it once. I have even seen the birds pull the flower out of the feeder, which was pretty funny but didn't help my composition efforts.
Bob
Ok, Here is one from the weekend. I started out trying to use flash only (No Ambient Light) and to focus on the bird only and not worry about the background.It didn't take me long to realize that two flashes, outside, just isn't enough light to do this, especially when one is mounted to the camera 6 or 7 feet away. doing this with my current equipment just simply let in too much ambient light. So I switched gears, Set my flashes on 1/16, Iso 200 or 400, Shutter set at250 @ F11 or F9---here are the results. Wish I had more, but the birds were scarce this weekend.
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s9/v14/p587263407-4.jpg
Now you're talkin!!!!!!
This is your best yet....very nicely done, you might brighten the whole image and tweak the contrast a tiny bit then resharpen the bird with Unsharp Mask set at 500% 0.2 pixels and 0 threshold
Great image,
Joel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel Eade
+1[Y]Perfectly stated[Y]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheiky
+2![Y] Bob, the improvements you have shown since you first started posted these is nothing but remarkable!! You have made it so I already have plans for my yard to be a hb paradise come next spring!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel Eade
OK Joel, Now your asking me to actually open photoshop, Dive into unsharp mask, convert to 8 bit, resize the image, then save as jpeg---Your tough, but I managed--I think---and here is the result: Early P.S. I love Lightroom and I really dislike photoshop.---But I think the image is much better--What do you guys think?
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.23.23/IMG_5F00_4437.jpg[/img]
Thanks Jan
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddt0725
Thanks Denise----This has now become a real challenge for me. Like you I plan to build an HB haven in my back yard this winter----and my wife has a LOWES CREDIT Card---Yippeee [6]
Bob
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
Keep me posted ...I just may have to steal some of your ideas! My plans right now consist of planting every flower I can find that says "attracts hummingbirds" on the tag and extremely increasing my number of feeders. I planted a vine late spring of this year that is suppose to work really well to attract them ...the vine took off like crazy but did not produce one flower![:(] So for this year, I found butterfly bushes really do attract butterflies galore and sedums really attract the bees!!
Bob, your HB shots are definitely improved to a very high level[Y]
about this shot, I do think the earlier one was a just a little darker, however the later one seems a little too bright(the belly of the bird)IMO and the background has a bit noisy.
just my 2 cents.
Just returned Sunday from our vacation in NM.
The little time we spent at my cousin's house, I was only able to capture a Broad-tailed HB....missed the Rufous and didn't see a Black-chinned.
Sorry folks, w/all the discussion of flashes, I'm still working w/natural lighting.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/...18dc9d9a18.jpg
Bob....as folks are saying; your shots have improved esponentially....nice work!
BTW...had a great time in your state and had the privelege of having it rain on us. LOL
Regards
Bill
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
I think the background is much better, although the noise is somewhat more visible. The bird is just a bit too bright for my liking. Somewhere in between would work best for me I think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
Photoshop is a place that I only visit if it's really necessary [A]
Another Broad-tail, only this time sipping at a Yucca.
7D, 100-400 at 400, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 640 from approximately 13 feet.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/...9b20c372e0.jpg
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill W
Bill,
Glad you had a good time in NM, Did I miss the rain???? Dang it. If you witnessed rain here----It certainly was a priveledge. Loved your bird shots, It really reminds me that I need to incorporate flowers in mine. I keep trying the tricks on the videos, but when I replace the feeder with the flower, the birds seem to ignore it or they pull the flowers out looking for the feeder. Maybe I will try different flowers next time.--Also, You did good with the broad billed, I haven't recognized one of those, and I only live 20 miles from Albuquerque. Keep shooting and keep posting.
Bob
Bill,
I like the flowers being in the image but the birds look soft, I wonder if your autofocus had locked on to the flowers instead of the bird, the background is nice as well.
Bob & Sheiky,
I'm shocked you guys are using Lightroom exclusively, I have never used Lightroom, I do all my processing in Photoshop. I know it can do all the basic processing but I love using layers and masks, being able to blend in adjustment layers etc etc... I guess I'm going to have to investigate Lightroom some more but it's hard to find time for everything.
Joel
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.32.28/_5F00_43V8174.jpg[/img]
Quote:
Originally Posted by JJphoto
JJ, Your tough. But again, I agree with you. I think the noise came from my efforts to sharpen in PS. I followed the instructions (I think), but I had a rough time figuring out how to convert and resize in PS. I did recognize this and tried to use the noise reduction filter but I was afraid it would soften the image too much, so I just gave it a little bump. I am not sure how to balance sharpness with noise reduction yet, something I need to study a little more.
One question for you: I am getting huge color differences between PS and Lightroom, Any suggestions???
Thanks,
Bob