Great Birdie picture!
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Great Birdie picture!
btaylor, I like color and clarity of that image, very nice heron, what kind of heron is that?
I have no idea what type of heron it is sorry. I believe it's a black and white heron with a yellow beak. :-P
Great shot Ben, I love how the heron is framed between the two tall pieces of grass.
Fred~
Hi Ben,
That picture has scored back some quality points for 28-135. Great shot!
Cheers!
Dev
Here are a couple from this last weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/...d246890f_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3303/...2c9e40fc_o.jpg
Both were shot on a 400D with a 70-200 f/4 IS. 1/250s and 1/200s, respectively, f/4, ISO100. The first shot is cropped about 60%, the second is not.
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I used my 17/55mm f/2.8 IS USM for this shot so I was pretty close and they were very curious...
Ants building a nest? using leaves [:)]
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3297/...964ac2833d.jpg
American Avocet Courting Ritual, this is a few seconds before the "action" [:)]. Lying flat on my belly, 40D, 400 f/5.6L, f/7.1, 1/1000 ISO250, heavy crop and noon lighting. Taken at San Jaoquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, CAhttp://www.pscvn.org/members/308/4-1...2-53-31_PM.jpg
It's Blue Heron Time! Taken on Wednesday 5D MkII, 300mm F4L & 1.4X, ISO 400, around 1/1250s or 1/1600s, f/6.3 or f/7.1. All images cropped.
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EdN....nice pics.
Approximately how far from the subjects were you when you took the pics?
I have a rookery nearby and I can't get any closer than 150 yards to the nesting site.....the trees are surrounded by water.
I didn't get any I'd want to post after cropping and enlarging and other various CS3 tweakings.
My equipment; 40D, 100-400IS, monopod.
Regards
Bill
Bill:
If you can, borrow a Canon 1.4x extender and try it out or get one on eBay--or new ($290 at B&H). You'll have to focus manually, but you'll get a bit closer (560mm). The 1.4x extender is pretty good, but the 2x is a disappointment. With the 40D, like my 30D, if you use the 1.4x extender, it will turn off autofocus, as the maximum aperture will then be f/8. (There is a way to bypass that by taping over certain contacts on the extender, but I haven't tried that.)
The first and second below (they are the same image) were taken with a 100-400mm L IS plus 1.4x extender on a Canon 30D (f/9, 1/400 sec, ISO 100). I had the lens sitting on a bean bag (the Kirk Fat Bag) on the roof of my car. I had my left hand & arm on top of the lens (good super-tele technique). IS was off, but it probably should have been on. (The 100-400mm L IS should be turned off if it's on a tripod.)
This is a 100% crop (i.e., you're seeing the actual pixels, not scaled) to 800 x 600. It is difficult to focus, as you can see, but it got me closer to the nesting osprey. (I posted other shots of this bird and its mate earlier in the thread.) A less-than-perfect shot is better than no shot at all.
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Now, here's what the original image looked like, though this has been scaled to 800 wide.
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Last, here's a similar shot without the extender (not cropped, but scaled to 800 wide) so you can see the difference in size.
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Bill W
I think I was around 100 yards or so at closest to the Heron nest. The nests are in trees that are on a downward slope so the closer you get, the farther up you have to shoot. Also, have to shoot south into the sun most of the time.
I also used a monopod on the static nest shot. The 1.4X is actually pretty good but finicky to use. Handholding to shoot is not recommended even at high shutter speeds like 1/1250s. I couldn't get sharp pictures until I used a monopod, spent a lot of effort finetuning the manual focus, and bracing myself before shooting.
Airborne shots were hand held using AI Servo which did a reasonable job focusing on the bird.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_QRGWuXF8tks/Se...2-12Aedit2.jpg
I know this is "The Digital Picture.com" So Im tentative posting this shot taken with a Canon AV-1 50mm 1.8 lens lol. It doesn't compare with most of the bird pictures on here but this is my personal best.
Post processing includes: sharpening, colorcorrection, and removing part of a house from the lower left-hand corner. Any advice on making the spot where I took the house out look more natural is welcome. I used mostly the clone stamp with a large brush, hardness at 0% with a little bit of the healing brush to make it blend better.
Rodger, that shot is superb.
Thanks Colin! :D
Notice thesquirreldeath trap on the middle feeder. It's a piece of wood with nails sticking out of it (invention of my grandpa). The squirrels don't bother him anymore.. haha
EdN;
Thanks for the info on your shots...they're even more impressive at that distance and they increase my interest in a prime telephoto.
Here are 2 examples (I wouldn't post except to use as comparisons to yours) because though (IMHO) they're interesting action shots, they're too far away (about 150 yards), hence lacking detail. My equipment for pics; 40D, 100-400IS, monopod and cable release, pp in CS3, cropped and enlarged to about 80%....any larger and they really start to break down.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...herstick-1.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...tntobase-1.jpg
Thanks
Bill
Bill-
Those are great.
I'm not sure a 400mm prime would have helped your sharpness that much, at least not the f/5.6. (I'm not basing that on experience, but rather by comparisons of 1-1 crops of the 100-400 with the 400 f/5.6 on this website, so take it for what its worth).
More focal length would help. [:)]
Jon.
Bill W:
Those are excellent shots. I know how difficult it is to get good ones because the ones I posted were the result of 326 shots I took that morning. It's really difficult to get the focus bang on as the AF is easily distracted with peripheral objects around the subject and adjusting focus manually while squinting through a tiny viewfinder without a split prism requires patience. And when you do get the focus, you better be still or else the shot is blurred. That's where I discovered holding my breath and the monopod. Reach is also an issue that I could use more of any time. And the mood of the birds. I'm ready to go back once the weather gets better again.
Hope to see more of your shots posted.
Regards.
Want to pump this thread to 100 posts [:)]. Here's something I posted a while ago. I went out one early morning to photograph Osprey fishing for trout, instead I stumbled across this Great Blue Heronswallowing a trout. It took him a long time toget it down.
Canon 40D, 400 f/5.6L, f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 3200, Noise Ninja.
Larger version http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=8486619&size=lg
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EdN;
Thanks for the compliment on my pics....and I understand the difficulty; over 200 hundred shots at the rookery. I was hoping for a couple that had more feather details, e.g. yours and Sinh Nhut's pic. The GBHs put on a great display in spring.
Re manual focus; I tried 5x live view MF, but that's a tough trick w/the monopod. When do you think Canon will come out IS for live view? [:D]
Jon;
Glad you liked the pics...thank you. Actually, I'm actually trying to talk myself into the 500 plus 1.4x....if I can preserve my marital bliss, I'll start saving my money. [:)]
George S;
You're correct about the pics....take it when you can get it even if it's less than perfect. 1.4x on the 100-400IS....hmmm, hadn't thought of it.
Sinh Nhut Nguyen;
What was your approximate distance from your GBH?
Thanks again folks for your input...
Bill
Hi Bill, I was about 20 ft from the GBH. I bet I could come andcatch that bird, he was so into swallowing the fish that he ignored everything around him!
There are some amazing pictures here. This is a pelican flying over a bay still showing Hurricane Ike damage.[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.28.52/Pelican-in-Flight-Sunrise.jpg[/img]
Hmmm...maybe I'd better figure out how to upload pictures without having half the photo cropped out...
I did the same thing as you before I learned what works. Crop or resize your image so it is 800 pixels wide at the maximum. Fits perfectly and displays perfectly.
Regards
Here are some shots from last summer on a small lake near Traverse
City, Michigan. All were taken with a EOS 30D, with an EF 100-400
f/4.5-5.6 L IS lens (rented from Lens Rentals -- who have given me
great service by the way -- can't recommend them high enough).
Enjoy
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.63/IMG_5F00_4000_5F00_ed_2D00_1_2D00_levels_2D00_2.jp g[/img]
Loons adult and immatures -- 400mm, f/7.1, 1/400 sec This image has been photoshopped a bit to tone down the green reflection from the woods along the lake shore.
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Great Blue -- taken from a kayak (hope the folks from Lens Rentals aren't reading this!) 400 mm, f/7.1, 1/400 sec
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Immature Bald Eagle 275 mm, f/8, 1/500 sec
Let me know what you think. I've been a serious amateur for a while -- and having a blast.
Thanks for your help, EdN. Very much appreciated!
For Dave Metcalf:
I can't give a technical critique. I just wish that I had taken them!
Looks like you may have used the 100-400mm zoom.
Took this in my backyard yesterday, first nice, bright blue sky in a long while. Glad spring is coming. [H]
http://www.cubeupload.com/files/384e00img3082edit.png
Since we're talking eagles here's mine:
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Dave, I like the loon and low angle you shot it. Just a few suggestions on the GBH and the ealge, for the GBH the bird's going away and it's also out of focus, for the eagle I think a tighter crop would be nicer. Good luck next time [:)]
Piioo, nice eagle, I would like to see more wing details and the bird coming at you. [:)] Good luck next time.
Reddish Egrets are not indigenous to Southern California, they are home to the gulf coast states. Last summer we had 3 visiting Bolsa Chica, while the other 2 went to breed, this young bird stayed and has made BC its home for the past year.
Larger version here http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7972432&size=lg
40D, 400 f/5.6L, f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 250. http://www.pscvn.org/members/308/1-2...3-35-49_PM.jpg
piioo;
I agree w/Sinh's critique, but sometimes you just have to take what the subject gives you.....nice capture of an ABE.
Here's a juvie BE I captured returning to my car, after being out all morning looking for BEs....of course the nice light was gone!
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...ePrelaunch.jpg
BEs are making a come back in my area but are still relatively rare which is a perfect segue into this photo another rare visitor to my area; juvie Snowy Owl
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...itor/PISO1.jpg
A more recent photo and not so rare but a tough bird to capture unobstructed and relatively close; N. Flicker
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...rnFlicker2.jpg
Regards
Bill
Sinh, Bill,
thanks a lot for your comments. I am a newbe in bird photography, but I'm trying. It's not easy to get eye contact, frontal presentation, without dictracting bacground/foreground, and what I think ismost important - without harassing the birds. I just spotted an osprey platform, let's hope I'll get some nice shots.
Sinh -any advice onphotographing ospreys?
This birdie showed up outside my work. Thank god i carry my camera everywhere.
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125mm, f5.6, 1/320, iso 400
Lens was the kit lens 28-135 IS
Cheers!
Dev
Dev:
Very nice! It's also good that you had the presence of mind to get that quick shot.
I've been spending a lot of time in my garden since I bought bird feeders. How I love f/2.8 @ 200mm.
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First time posts [:)]any constructive criticism is welcome.
All these where taken with a Canon 450D and an EF70-200.
Seagull.
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.28.72/Bird-800x.JPG[/img]
Swan.
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.28.72/Swan-Drip-800x.JPG[/img]
Young swan.
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Regards,
Paul
I especially like the seagull. I'm assuming that one was heavily cropped... (only because it would be tough to get that close with a 200mm lens)
Yes it was cropped down by quite a bit, fortunately it was out the centre of the lens so it was pretty sharp.