Well, After considerable pressure (Thanks Conropl), I finally finished my first blog post. Please check it out and let me know what you think.
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/blog
Bob
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Well, After considerable pressure (Thanks Conropl), I finally finished my first blog post. Please check it out and let me know what you think.
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/blog
Bob
When I read the word blog I didn't anticipate for an entire book :p
I'm sorry that I haven't read the entire thing. I guess I have read it all in your hummingbird-thread already. From scrolling down I see a good and clear story. I guess the goal in your blog is to keep people updated when you've made some new shots or improved or changed your gear? That seems like a nice idea. Good luck! I will subscribe through the RSS feed so I can watch updates when I view my email:D
Looks like you're off to a promising start for the new season.
The inaugural blog post is very clear and well written with nice images to illustrate the points made in the text.
I am anticipating many amazing images from your new HB box:)
(PS I am now a 1D MKIV owner!)
Bob - Thank you for putting the blog together. I found it interesting and I have subscribed. I appreciate the time you take to share your knowledge with us.
Pat
Nice job Bob. I'm looking forward to following your posts and learning how to take hummingbird pictures.
Dave
At Joel, Great News, Can't wait to see so more of your work come out of it.Quote:
PS I am now a 1D MKIV owner!
@ All, Thanks for the blog comments. Now if the birds would hurry up and come so I can see if my green box is going to do it's job.
Bob,
I'm having some trouble figuring out the technical portion of the setup.
Where do you station yourself and how do you trigger the shutter? I assume you must have some type of blind and are using a wired shutter release?
Dave
Fantastic blog, Bob! I am very interested in the "green box" that you have put together and very intrigued in seeing how it works out for you! I am staying very tuned into your new and upcoming entries! Good Luck!
Dave, this is the beauty of H-Bird photography. The green box is set up at one end of my back porch, and my camera is set up about 12 feet from the box at the other end of the back porch (my patio table sits between them). I also use an inexpensive radio trigger for the shutter release (about 30 bucks). So once I get everything set up, I just sit at my patio table and wait for the birds to hit the feeder. I do tray and make sure the feeder is out of the frame or replace the feeder with on or two flowers charged with sugar water. My focus point is usually the center or stem of the flower. After a few shots, I make adjustments as necessary and shoot again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Throgmartin
The nice part is no blind, the h-birds are very tolerant of people and equipment, so no need to hide. In fact, my wife often sits on the porch with me and we engage in normal conversation while I shoot.
Thanks DD. Now, all I can do is wait for the little guys to fly in.Quote:
Originally Posted by ddt0725
Very professional setup and blog Bob. Congratulations and thank you for your efforts. I'll be following.
Bob, I took the time to read the entire post now and you've done quite some new preparations. Nice! Will see how all of that works out.
As for yesterday I couldn't reply to your blog unless I was a member of Zenfolio. I see you've tackled that as well. That's a good thing in my opinion. Keep on the good work.
Looks great Bob! I liked on facebook so hopefully it keeps me updated! I'll be waiting for the first shots. Inspired by you stuff, I bought a feeder and hope to try out some of the teachings. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
Bob,
What radio shutter trigger do you recommend? It looks like my 60D doesn't have quite the options the higher end Canon camera have. B&H has a Vello B&H # VERWC1 that would appear to work.
Do you know if radio shutter's would work from behind a glass deck door?
Dave
I use the Bower wireless shutter release, cheap but works well. Here is a link to the B&H page http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search...tialSearch=yes just pick the one that is right for your camera. They should work through glass as long as the range isn't too far.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Throgmartin
Thanks Jayson, I hope some of my teachings will work as well, much of this is theory not yet put to practice, but I am hopeful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayson
Thanks again to all for your comments. I have made a couple of changes to the Blog Page. The original sidebar layout was altering the layout of the text in the blog and leaving large amounts of blank space. I moved the sidebar data to the bottom and now the text is formatted as designed. I also moved the the blog article to it's own page rather than having the intro, sidebar and blog all on one page. Finally, I figuered out how to add "leave comments" and "register" links for those that were interested. Please feel free to take another look and leave comments or register if you so desire. I have been sitting at 999 hits on my website for 3 days now and desperately need one more looker to put me over that 1k mark, although I am really not sure why that is important. Really I am not begging;)
Thanks again for all your advice and assistance.
I like the changes.....hope to find time to possibly start a blog on my site as well someday.
Did that give you your 1000th? Just checking ;)
Is that supposed to be a "content protected" sign or a picture of something that is protected? When I clicked the "read more" button, everything worked and looked great. Just like with magic tricks, it's all in the prep. Too bad I'm lazy. I wonder how my neighbors would feel about me setting up my stuff by their feeders. Kinda just invite myself over for breakfast and not really leave.
The layout of the post itself looks great. Much better than it was. The separation of the intro and the post is a good thing as well I think.
On the Blog page there is indeed a content protected by owner sign, which probably is supposed to be a photo.
Thanks Shieky and Nowimbroke, That is embarrasing and completely unintentional. I always check the website not logged in so I can see issues like that. But this time that didn't work, I had to view the website from my sons computer. For those with Zenfolio and possibly others, here was the problem. Even though I had that photo open to the public, I was protecting it by limiting the downloadable size. When you select a photo for the blog page, Zenfolio tries to expand the image to meet the dynamic needs of the webpage. In this case, the size was limited so zenfolio saw it as a protected image. All I had to do was allow this image to be a little larger.
Thanks for pointing that out, I would have never seen it.
Bob
Well, If I was your Neighbor, I would say, come on over, but don't forget the frosty, coffee is almost gone.Quote:
I wonder how my neighbors would feel about me setting up my stuff by their feeders. Kinda just invite myself over for breakfast and not really leave.
Jason, I think Joel beat you to it---but thanks for the effort---You and the others get the consolation prize----Free hummingbird photography lessons from the wolrds greatest hummingbird photographer. When I find out who that is, I'll let you know.:)Quote:
I took a look at it earlier this morning but didn't have time to comment then. I think it looks great and the improvements were definitely positive improvements! I can only imagine the time and effort you have put into this and I think it is just awesome of you to share your expertise this way!!
Everyone on various sites is talking how birds are arriving well ahead of their normal schedule, have you seen any hb's yet? I am thinking I am going to start setting up for the and the orioles within a couple weeks if not sooner! If I don't have the oranges and jelly out for the orioles as soon as they arrive, they don't ever show up in my yard.
I picked up hummingbird supplies today. Supposedly, they've been spotted back in Northern Illinois, but I won't set up the nectar for another week or so probably. Since I only have the one flash I expect I'll need to play with its location to balance bird / background or have a frozen hummingbird with a black background. Or maybe I'll play with garage type lights. Either way if the pics come out anywhere near as good as Bob's I'll be thrilled!
Dave
WOW! I had better get my butt going on this! They must be around here also then!Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Throgmartin
Yep, even though I haven't seen bird one yet, my feeders are getting filled this weekend; its supposed to be a perfect 74-78 degrees, sunny and no wind this weekend.
Some suggestions for one light work:Quote:
Since I only have the one flash I expect I'll need to play with its location to balance bird / background
1. Place feeder in shady location
2. If your planned natural background isn't in the shade, use a nice colored posterboard or something flat with a pleasing color pattern (check the cloth stores)---Flat is much easier to light
3. Set your flash so that it hits bird and background (camera mount works fine), but the closer you can move the flash, the more flexibility you have with exposure settings
4. Start with these settings: Manual everything, including manual focus. Set flash at manual 1/8, F16, ISO 100, 1/250 ---pre-focus at the center of the feeder spout, take a shot of your feeder in front of the background and see how it looks and adjust from there---make sure you keep your shutter at or below sync speeds and don't drop below f11, otherwise it will be hard to get a bird in focus.
Exposure rules that I like, if you start at the above settings:
If pic is too dark, increase aperature, but not below f11
If pic is too light decrease flash duration to 1/16 or more
If available, use a cable release, that way you can relax until the birds start flying.
Remember, even with one light, a great Hummingbird shot with frozen or near frozen wings is possible if you shoot enough---The wings stop between thier up and down strokes---and this is where you are most likely to get a great shot. Since it is impossible to time these, you just have to shoot until you catch one. I usually shoot a thousand frames before I get one that I will post on TDP or put on my website.
Good luck Dave, I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
One more thing Dave, That 135L you have should make a great lens for this, just don't be afraid to ove the camera/lens to MFD and keep your background within 2 or 3 feet of where you think the bird will be.
Thanks Bob.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
So far the game plan is:
-- Hang the feeder from the gutter above my deck
-- Set the camera up on a tripod in the house and use a wireless shutter trigger to shoot (likely from near point blank range)
-- Set up the flash outside and run a 1/8" cable from my camera hot shoe adapter to the flash
-- Sit on the couch waiting for birds to land and use your recommended settings then see how it turns out!
I'll take some practice shots tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Thanks again for all of the suggestions. I really hope there is better than a 1 in 1000 hit rate :)
Dave
Well Dave, Maybe a thousand is a bit of an exageration, but I do have a heavy finger, but who cares, the "film" is cheap.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Throgmartin
PS, Sounds like a solid plan