Post your best bird shots!

[erno james]

I've never dared to post on this topic as I don't own anything longer than a 70-200 f/4 IS L-lens. In fact, this photo was taken at a focal length of only 10mm (16mm FF equivalent on my Canon 7D). I was shooting sunset and these two geese happened to stop by to give my scene a subject.


EF-S 10-22mm at 10mm, f/22, 1/2 sec, ISO 100, EV 0


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[Joel Eade]

JJ ... looking at the before and after shots of this Ibis I believe you have a noise problem for two reasons :


1. The left side of the bird is in shadow and therefore underexposed ... when you pushed shadow / highlights you went a bit too far thus revealing the noise more. As you mentioned fill flash may have helped or if you could have moved to your right so the sun was behind you.


2. You made a pretty big crop which can also intensify any noise that may be present.


Probably with this particular image you would just have to leave the shadow alone pretty much and concentrate on the head / eye which look to be in focus, also the open beak adds interest to the shot.

[JJphoto]

erno, this is a nice sun set shot and also a nice bird shot!


I am always dreaming about getting this type of bird shots since the
place I often go to shoot birds is surrounded by hills and close pretty
early often before sun setting.

I've never dared to post on this topic as I
don't own anything longer than a 70-200 f/4 IS L-lens.

please
don't say that, this thread is not the club just for super tele lenses,
anybody can post their bird shot here no matter what lenses they use,
birds pictures taken with shorter lenses has different taste than the
shots taken with long lenses, and I really enjoy watching them.


thanks for sharing!








Joel, thanks for your comments


I think I agree with you that I should have just left the shadow as is or just lightened it up a little bit, but I liked the color and details of it's feather so much so I couldn't resist to lightened it up a lot more despite the noise[]. this bird is amazing! when looked at it with my own eyes, it's just a darker bird almost like a black bird, but the camera sees it differently and showed us so much color and details!


I guess it's the time to learn flash[:S], I'v bought the flash X-Tender, hopefully it won't give me too much headache like the photoshop did.

[Joel Eade]

JJphoto .... I would suggest starting with fill flash 2 possible ways :


1. set the flash to ETTL at -3 stops if you are in AV or TV mode


2. set the flash to manual 1/8 output and adjust exposure as needed in manual mode


these are basic starting points and you may need more or less flash for a specific shot, also remember to set the flash to high speed sync. and when using the better beamer set the zoom on the flash to 50 mm.


Joel

[JJphoto]

thank you so much for those tips, Joel, I

[Joel Eade]

Northern Cardinal in my backyard


1DMKIII


300mm 2.8L + 1.4TC II


Manual exposure


Fill flash with 580EXII at 1/8 output manual


1/500


f/4.5


iso 1000





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[Kayaker72]

Joel--Great photo. Honestly, that is ranking up there with my favorites.


If you don

[Joel Eade]

Thanks for the kind words Kayaker72,


I am sitting in a camoflage blind approximately 12 to 15 feet away from the perches that I set up. Sometimes I move them closer but .... the closer you get the more difficult it is to get an image without making the birds fly away. At 15 feet I have to crop a little most of the time but I get more images to chose from. With the 300 mm lens and the 1.4 extender if I get close enough to fill the frame with a bird it ends up being so close that you cannot move at all or the birds will flee. Most of the time they seem almost to ignore sound but any un-natural movement really makes them jump into the air. So if you are really close and you reach for the shutter or move the camera slightly .... they are gone. So about 15 feet works pretty well .... I can get by with a slight crop on medium size birds.


I would like to be farther back but will have wait until I can afford bigger glass. (I can hear the new version of the 600mm f4 calling my name)!


Joel

[Jonathan Huyer]

I like to follow this thread because the shots are always stunning and inspirational. Today I was lucky to get a photo of a Northern Pygmy Owl, a rare bird in Alberta.


Canon 5D2, 300 mm f/2.8 lens with 1.4 II TC, 1/800 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200


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[btaylor]

Beautiful shot Jon. I actually like the framing in this shot. I