Show your Bird Portraits

[serendipidy]

Krob78, Mr. Otter, Barrfly, digital paradise and all you other photogs....very beautiful and inspiring shots. Looking at your work keeps me interested in pursuing this hobby and trying to make photographs like you can

Some I took at dusk today in my yard. This young heron has been coming around for about a month when I feed the fish in the canal, but he was never able to catch a fish in several dozen tries....until now. This tilapia was large and it took him several minutes to finally swallow.

Taken with a 7D and 100-400mm L @ 400mm. Almost dusk and was very overcast (started to rain as I took the last shot), so I used a 580 on camera flash with a better beamer. I am a total noob when it comes to flash since I never use it and haven't yet learned. I think these were overexposed and so I had to try and fix it with DPP. Constructive advice welcome. Thanks.

[serendipidy]

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[serendipidy]

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[bjd]

Krob78, Mr. Otter, Barrfly, digital paradise and all you other photogs....very beautiful and inspiring shots. Looking at your work keeps me interested in pursuing this hobby and trying to make photographs like you can

Some I took at dusk today in my yard. This young heron has been coming around for about a month when I feed the fish in the canal, but he was never able to catch a fish in several dozen tries....until now. This tilapia was large and it took him several minutes to finally swallow.

Taken with a 7D and 100-400mm L @ 400mm. Almost dusk and was very overcast (started to rain as I took the last shot), so I used a 580 on camera flash with a better beamer. I am a total noob when it comes to flash since I never use it and haven't yet learned. I think these were overexposed and so I had to try and fix it with DPP. Constructive advice welcome. Thanks.

I'm jealous that you can get so close, our local Herons will fly off when I'm about 50 meters away. I think the last three are overexposed, how díd you meter? I just got a better beamer and have yet to use it outside, so I'm not sure how to advise yet, if at all. I would have thought spot metering on the white of the bird and the automatic should take care of the rest, I assume its just normal fill-in flash techniques.
Some other BB users are bound to know.
Cheers Brian

[rpt]

Last two

No marination, no rest, no heat - just catch and dunk! So you are another bird whisperer! Just how many takes did you need to do?

Lovely pics.

[hammar]

Keel-billed Toucan, Belize:

[rpt]

Keel-billed Toucan, Belize:

Lovely!

[Click]

Keel-billed Toucan, Belize:

Awesome!

[serendipidy]

Keel-billed Toucan, Belize:

Awesome!

+1 Beautiful

[serendipidy]

Krob78, Mr. Otter, Barrfly, digital paradise and all you other photogs....very beautiful and inspiring shots. Looking at your work keeps me interested in pursuing this hobby and trying to make photographs like you can

Some I took at dusk today in my yard. This young heron has been coming around for about a month when I feed the fish in the canal, but he was never able to catch a fish in several dozen tries....until now. This tilapia was large and it took him several minutes to finally swallow.

Taken with a 7D and 100-400mm L @ 400mm. Almost dusk and was very overcast (started to rain as I took the last shot), so I used a 580 on camera flash with a better beamer. I am a total noob when it comes to flash since I never use it and haven't yet learned. I think these were overexposed and so I had to try and fix it with DPP. Constructive advice welcome. Thanks.

I'm jealous that you can get so close, our local Herons will fly off when I'm about 50 meters away. I think the last three are overexposed, how díd you meter? I just got a better beamer and have yet to use it outside, so I'm not sure how to advise yet, if at all. I would have thought spot metering on the white of the bird and the automatic should take care of the rest, I assume its just normal fill-in flash techniques.
Some other BB users are bound to know.
Cheers Brian

Thanks for the kind words Brian.

There is a small drainage ditch bordering my yard with a chain link fence. It is full of small tilapia and some moorhens and occasionally some ducks come by. There are also some herons. This young heron observed me feeding bread to the moorhens and the fish. Several weeks ago, he warily flew to the waters edge and I threw bread next to him. The fish would go after the bread and he tried many times to catch some, but he failed every time. Over the past 2 weeks, whenever I stand next to the fence to see what's there, if he is nearby, he swoops down and lands just several feet from me. Twice he walked towards me and stood just 4 feet away (separated by the fence). Yesterday he finally caught a fish and he had to walk up the incline from the water to near the fence. I guess he was about 4 feet from me. He was so busy trying to swallow that big fish, he didn't move as I fired away.

I thought I was using Aperture priority (F8) and spot focus (on the eyes) and spot metering with AWB, standard picture, RAW, and ISO 400. I just looked at the exifs data and to my surprise, the photos were taken with shutter priority of 1/250 (I guess because I was using the flash). I wanted to try my Better Beamer since I've only used it once or twice. Last time the flash overexposed, so I put in -1EC on the Canon 580. I was so close, I guess I shouldn't have used the Better Beamer or should have tried more minus EC. I'm still experimenting and I should read some books. Thanks again for your comments.

[serendipidy]

Last two

No marination, no rest, no heat - just catch and dunk! So you are another bird whisperer! Just how many takes did you need to do?

Lovely pics.

Thanks rpt.

I was in single shot mode and took 30 photos. Some were very badly composed and some were out of focus or terribly overexposed. About 10 of the 30 were OK enough that I PP them in DPP. That's all I use since I don't know how to use any other program ( I want to learn LR and PS one day).

When I can get him to land on my hand (like I've seen several people on CR do), then I will be a true bird whisperer

Edit: Rechecked and it was 30 shots, not 39. I was counting the 9 shots converted from raw to jpeg.

[rpt]

Last two

No marination, no rest, no heat - just catch and dunk! So you are another bird whisperer! Just how many takes did you need to do?

Lovely pics.

Thanks rpt.

I was in single shot mode and took 39 photos. Some were very badly composed and some were out of focus or terribly overexposed. About 10 of the 39 were OK enough that I PP them in DPP. That's all I use since I don't know how to use any other program ( I want to learn LR and PS one day).

When I can get him to land on my hand (like I've seen several people on CR do), then I will be a true bird whisperer

You should try LR. After using it for some time I now find the DPP interface limiting. There is a beta of LR5 on. You can try that. Also there are a number of videos that can get you started.

[jrista]

Keel-billed Toucan, Belize:

WOW! That is one hell of a head shot! Hell, its just an eye shot! Love that vibrant detail.

[serendipidy]

Brazilian Cardinal from my yard this afternoon. 7D, 100-400L @ 400mm. Handheld, F8, 1/125, ISO 400, with Better Beamer 580 flash, EC -1 2/3.

Source:Wikipedia
The Red-crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata) is a bird species in the tanager family (Thraupidae). It was formerly placed in the Emberizidae, and notwithstanding its common name, it is not very closely related to the true cardinals (family Cardinalidae).

It is found in northern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and heavily degraded former forest. Among other regions, it is found in southern part of the Pantanal.

It has also been introduced to Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

[Krob78]

Brazilian Cardinal from my yard this afternoon. 7D, 100-400L @ 400mm. Handheld, F8, 1/125, ISO 400, with Better Beamer 580 flash, EC -1 2/3.

Source:Wikipedia
The Red-crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata) is a bird species in the tanager family (Thraupidae). It was formerly placed in the Emberizidae, and notwithstanding its common name, it is not very closely related to the true cardinals (family Cardinalidae).

It is found in northern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and heavily degraded former forest. Among other regions, it is found in southern part of the Pantanal.

It has also been introduced to Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

That is an absolutely beautiful bird!  He seems to be missing his feet though!  Really gorgeous bird!