Post your best bird shots!

[Richard Lane]

Hi Everyone.


I love this thread. Great pictures everyone.


I hada littletime in Florida a week ago, but here are a few that I think now qualify as "my" best bird photos. All shot with a Canon 7D and the 100-400L:


400 mm, ISO 400, 1/1000th, f/11....this picture represents my first real attempt at post processing. The original was underexposed on the Osprey but perfectly exposed for the clouds. I've adjusted brightness, contracts and "mid-tones"


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360 mm, ISO 400, 1/1000th, f/11


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250 mm, ISO 400, Exp Comp+2/3, 1/1000th, f/10...this may be my entry into Assignment 14....still debating.....


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400 mm, ISO 400, 1/1250th, f/13


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Thanks for viewing and C&C are welcome....

Kayaker, In general you probably don't need f/11 for birds, you can drop your f-stop a few stops and lower your ISO, remember the name of the game for BIF and action shots is fast shutter speed and low ISO. You can get away with it at the beach, because you have plenty of light, however f/11 is above the DLA for the 7D, so diffraction starts to creep in and remember at longer focal lengths your DOF is deeper.


Great capture on the Osprey, good head angle, nice wing span although it's slightly clipped (it happens). I don't like the cropping, as I feel it's too tight. The head is right in the center of the frame, both horizontally and vertically. Since this was a tight shot, if you can't crop it horizontally, then at least try to remove the birds head from then center of the frame by leaving air and space below the wings in the frame, not only will this remove the bird from being perfectly centered it will also give a sense of height and flight to the bird.


All of the shots, especially the 2nd shot over the water is definitely screaming for a Circular Polarizing filter. Keep in mind that you will lose 1 -1.5 stops with the Circ. Polarizer, which is another good reason to widen your aperture.


I love the 3rd shot, nice capture, great composition, very sharp. The last one is a little soft.


Keep shooting and posting,


Rich

[Kayaker72]

Rich,


Thanks for the tips and suggestions. Hopefully I'll get to practice again soon []


Brant

[Joel Eade]

From my backyard setup using the 1D MKIII and 300mm f/2.8L + 1.4TC + 580 EXII + Better Beamer





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