Post your best bird shots!

[Kayaker72]

Great set Jonathan.....that must have been a lot of fun.

[conropl]

Jonathan:

I went through all the shots you posted on your web site... all I can say is wow, and I am a bite jealous. Really great trip.

Pat

[JJphoto]

Amazing birds with dreamy light....great great set of shots

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2

[Jonathan Huyer]

Thanks everyone -- that's very kind. I went there with quite a bit of firepower in terms of camera and lens, and discovered that there is still a huge amount of technique and skill required to get the shot. My keeper rate of less than 1% proves that there is still much to learn, and having a chance like this to practice is really invaluable.

The camera focused very easily on snowy owls in flight, thanks to the huge contrast between the bird and the background. For the short-eared owls, I had to choose the centre points only, and try to keep the bird in the middle of the frame. When the bird is the same colour as the background, full-spread focusing is impossible. It probably would have worked better if I had a 600 without an extender, and could shoot at f/4. But I'm hardly complaining... when the focus did latch on, it did a superb job.

I like the GPS attachment for the camera, since the location information gets displayed on my SmugMug site automatically. I set the location update frequency to every 2 minutes, to avoid battery drain over the course of the day.

Snowy owl population irruptions are infrequent, and can occur every 6-9 years. Here's hoping the next one happens sooner than later. When it does, you can bet I'll be right back there!

Thanks again.

[ahab1372]

Great series Jonathan, thanks for sharing!
I went to a nearby park/reserve which is more for beginners and the focal length limited, Here is a Snowy Egret with a 70-300 and I had to zoom out. Clearly not as challenging to shoot as Jonathan's owls :-)

101 _MG_9323 by ahab1372, on Flickr

Ready for take-off

101 _MG_9305 by ahab1372, on Flickr


tried a different style for a change, the image invited itself for a desaturated look:

101 _MG_9171 by ahab1372, on Flickr


and after all these white birds, a crow to balance it out:

101 _MG_9251 by ahab1372, on Flickr

Thanks for viewing

[Jonathan Huyer]

Arnt - Those are great --- and I have to respectfully disagree, it is definitely challenging photography. When you are shooting a white bird in broad daylight, it is quite a trick to get the exposure right. Using centre-weighted metering will often do the job, but you still have to pay close attention to the histogram. With the snowys, I had an easier job when it was overcast, but the sunny days gave the best shots when I occasionally managed to do it right.

[Joel Eade]

Red Tailed Hawk
1DX
700mm
ISO 1000
f/9
1/2500
Hand held

[conropl]

Joel:

Nice action shot... and at ISO 1000.

Now that you have had the 1DX for awhile, how do you think it compares to the 1D IV for your type of shooting? Would the Red Tailed Hawk been difficult to get with the 1D IV or would the 1.3 crop factor have helped by not needing the 1.4X converter?

You have been fairly quiet about your new camera... so I was wondering how it is working for you.

Pat

[Joel Eade]

Great Blue Heron
1DX
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/250

Shot from my truck window. Just received my 1DX late this afternoon and found the Red Tailed Hawk and this Heron in the last hour or so of good light

These were both shot as JPEG's in camera (because I didn't check what mode I was in)

[conropl]

Just received my 1DX late this afternoon and found the Red Tailed Hawk and this Heron in the last hour or so of good light

Sorry... for some reason I thought you had the 1DX for a little while already. Sorry for not giving you the chance to enjoy it a little and figure out the camera before I started badgering you about it.

Pat