Post your best bird shots!

[conropl]

Brant and Joel:
Thank you. My wife and I saw a lot of Herons today, and it is nice that you can get a little closer without bothering them if you are in a kayak. But today was tough hand holding in choppy water. It took a lot of shots to get a good one.

Joel:
You are correct, the second one was in the early morning shade. So it was a more evenly lit. Unfortunatley, that meant the shutter speed was pretty slow. He kept grabbing one fish after another, but with a slow shutter I could not get a good shot (shot w/o motion blur) with a fish in his mouth. I got several, but he was moving to much.

[Joel Eade]

Brant and Joel:
Joel:
You are correct, the second one was in the early morning shade. So it was a more evenly lit. Unfortunatley, that meant the shutter speed was pretty slow. He kept grabbing one fish after another, but with a slow shutter I could not get a good shot (shot w/o motion blur) with a fish in his mouth. I got several, but he was moving to much.

I understand your dilemma....with a bird fishing right in front of me I would have had to try pushing the ISO way up to get enough shutter speed ... might not have worked in terms of getting too much noise but I am finding that for internet presentation and even small prints (4 X 6 ) I can get decent results even with ISO 0f 6400 as long as I am not underexposing. Some fill flash can help get you a little more shutter speed too but might be unweildy using a better beamer from a kayak

[Joel Eade]

With all of our recent rain and cloud cover it's been "high ISO city" in the backyard.

All the young'uns are fledging and parents are bringing them to the feeder.

These birds are all juvi's shot at 3200 ISO with fill flash and the better beamer.

[Joel Eade]

Not much happening in the backyard this morning so ..... thought about trying something out of the ordinary ....

This image was taken with the 500mm f/4L + 2.0X TCIII + 12mm tube + 1.4X TCII + 1DMKIV

Also it was ISO 6400 f/13 1/100 sec AND manual focus

580EXII flash at 1/64th power with better beamer

The IQ does suffer from such unusual combinations of technique and poor light but even with alot of glass and extreme ISO a small web sized image isn't half bad!

[conropl]

I went kayaking again, and managed to get a couple of half way decent shots.


Duck-4315 by westmichigan, on Flickr


Swans w/ Babies-4401 by westmichigan, on Flickr

The Blue Heron was on the same perch as yesterday, but I kind of the like the one legged shot.


Blue Heron- by westmichigan, on Flickr

Sorry for posting so many.

[nvitalephotography]

Pat- I love the mallard, the composition is excellent.

[conropl]

Pat- I love the mallard, the composition is excellent.

Thank you. That was my favorite.

Late yesterday I found this little guy at the base of a tree. I do not think he was ready to leave the nest yet. He finally got up off the ground to get in a pine tree to get a little protection from a storm that rolled in (just minutes before the eclipes started). I think it is a sparrow, but not sure. Shot with a 24-105 f/4L.


Baby Bird-4628 by westmichigan, on Flickr

[Joel Eade]

Thank you. That was my favorite.

Late yesterday I found this little guy at the base of a tree. I do not think he was ready to leave the nest yet. He finally got up off the ground to get in a pine tree to get a little protection from a storm that rolled in (just minutes before the eclipes started). I think it is a sparrow, but not sure. Shot with a 24-105 f/4L.
Baby Bird-4628 by westmichigan, on Flickr

Beautiful image, I like how the head and eye are sharply in focus and the shallow depth of field has everything in front and behind nicely blurred.

[Jayson]

Shot this Robin out the window of the car gathering items for it's nest.





He was so close, I couldn't get him all in the frame in the last shot.

[ddt0725]

It has been fun watching these little guys grow up and how dedicated their daddy is! No squirrels are allowed in my yard anymore that's for sure! He makes sure they leave immediately! He even went after a common grackle today until it flew away! Funny how he doesn't mind my dogs in the yard though! We do have to check the yard out though before letting the dogs out just in case one of the three babies may have fallen out of the nest!


Hungry little guy! by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr


Daddy Robin to the rescue by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr