Post your best bird shots!

[YellowJacket]

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I'm sorry Nate... I cannot offer any criticism. Terrific detail &amp; color... I only hope that the final resolution isn't compromised by the tight crop.<o></o>


<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I suspect this is from a few months ago as it wasn't taken with your 7D + 500F4. I am holding out as long as I can before picking up the 400 5.6... I truly want something created in this millennium, a 90's lens just feels... old to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] I&rsquo;m hopeful for an upgrade to that lens or the 100-400.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] Do you ever use the 400F5.6 now that you have the 500F4?<o></o>

[powers_brent]

Canon Rebel XS with Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM and Canon EF 1.4x II Extender
@ 420mm, 1/400, f/5.6, ISO 100
Shot in Av Mode with an Exposure Bias of -1 EV


California Quail (state bird) at Pinnacles National Monument between the Hwy-101 and Hwy-25 outside Soledad in Central California.


Earlier the same morning a family of quail were trying to cross my campsite as I was tearing it down. The mother or father would scout ahead and determine it safe for the other parent to bring the kids through, but most times I would inadvertently scare the quail so it would go running back across the road into the bushes to join the rest of the waiting family. I was trying to pack up as fast as I could so that I could get my camera out and lie in wait for them, but as I was putting my last thing away and grabbing my camera the entire family of about seven or eight ran across and up the hill next to camp. Another shot missed! Darn. Also, they make the loudest flap of their wings when they fly. I scared one the day before and it flew by so fast another camper that she nearly crapped her pants.

[StapledPhoto]

5DII, 100-400L @ 400mm, f/8, 1/400, ISO 100.


I'm a little uncertain about posting into this thread, but here goes. This was shot from the back of a small boat as the eagle flew past us yesterday. I cropped quite a bit out of the original capture. All comments and critiques are very welcomed.


Yesterday was my first day out trying BIF after having just switched from a 40D to my new 5DII last week. I've already found with the full frame body that I'm needing to let go of my personal rule against cropping my photos, plus there's a lot more detail there to play with.


-Yoni

[neuroanatomist]

Nice shot, Yoni. Perhaps a faster shutter speed would have helped - the motion blur on the wings is a bit distracting to me (not sharp, but not quite blurry enough to be intentional in conveying movement).

[iluvsavvy]

Outstanding m8....!

[StapledPhoto]

Thanks for the comments guys, and for taking a look.

Nice shot, Yoni. Perhaps a faster shutter speed would have helped - the motion blur on the wings is a bit distracting to me (not sharp, but not quite blurry enough to be intentional in conveying movement).
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I like the blur but I have to agree that it's a bit distracting given that there's such a small amount of motion captured. I want to try to get more, but I was already a little worried bringing the shutter speed too low at that focal length, while panning and standing on a rocking boat. I'll try something like 1/160 on solid ground and see if I can still keep the head of the bird sharp. Is it worth bumping down to ISO 50 or would it be better just to stop down to f/11 or so? Anyone know what shutter speed would be best? I'm thinking I should be in shutter speed priority for this scenario in the future, in manual I'd risk missing the shot altogether.


If that doesn't work I'll just give up on the blur and shoot at ISO 400 or 800 to stop the motion completely.

[neuroanatomist]

Is it worth bumping down to ISO 50 or would it be better just to stop down to f/11 or so?

Don't bump your ISO down to 50 - ISO 50 is a non-native setting for the sensor, meaning it's really just ISO 100 'pulled' down a stop as the RAW file is written, and costs you some dynamic range. Using f/11 would be just fine for a shot like the one above - with just a bird and blue sky in the (distant) background, you can't have too much DoF (and you want motion to blur the wings, anyway).

I'm thinking I should be in shutter speed priority for this scenario in the future,in manual I'd risk missing the shot altogether.

BIF, action sports, things like that are often shot in Tv mode. If you don't have time for manual adjustments, with fast moving subjects you often want to make on-the-spot decisions about how much motion blur you want to impart. In fact, if you're panning a bird across the sky, you can often manage the slow shutter for wing blur, then spin the dial and get a stop-action shot as well.


As a side note, this is one area where the 7D adds a nice feature - auto ISO works in manual mode, instead of being fixed at 400 (i.e. on a 7D in M-mode with ISO set to Auto, if you increase shutter speed by 2 stops, ISO also increases by 2 stops). Now, if the 7D only had the user-selectable max for Auto ISO that they added to the T2i... [:@]

[Jayson]

Ok, this isn't a best, but pretty cool. These guys were walking across the parking lot yesterday morning heading to a little water hole on the other side of the building I work at. The mother would look both ways as she passed every row of cars to make sure no one was coming. Also, could someone tell me if the colors are off on these (toward the blue side)..I got a new monitor and thecalibrationon this monitor is much different than the last one.

[Richard Lane]

<span style="font-size: 10px;"]



Hey Jayson, Really Cute Photo!


Nate, Perfect as Usual!





I was shooting some Surfing and this little guy just showed up in the Surf.


<span style="font-size: 11.6667px;"]EOS-7D, EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM +1.4x @420mm and f/4.5, 1/1250sec., ISO 125, Handheld, Not cropped


<span style="font-size: 11.6667px;"]"American Oystercatcher"


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<span style="font-size: 11.6667px;"]C &amp; C Always Welcome.


Rich


edit: I increased exposure and contrast and re-uploaded the photo.



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[Brendan7]

Hey Rich,


you need to eliminate the shadows on the black of the bird. And it's also slightly underexposed. Fix that, and it's a winner, though [H]