Show your Bird Portraits

[SirIssacNewton]

From July, a few of the birds we have in residence out in the local mountains.

Male CA Quail posing.

A juvenile Lark Sparrow.

A juvenile CA Quail.

A juvenile CA Scrub-jay caught a moth but wasn't sure what to do next.

A CA Thrasher juvenile begging mom for food.

A juvenile Acorn Woodpecker being told it can't hang out with the cool kids.

And a Northern Flicker adult considering if junior really needs more food.

GREAT Action!!!! You are great at catching it!!

 

[SirIssacNewton]

I like in the first two how the light is coming on the spot you wish (well, at least I wish...)

Thank you, I wish i could take credit for the light, it all depends where they want to land! That angle worked out great with a cardinal a few mins later

 

[Click]

Lovely shots. Nicely done, SirIssacNewton.

 

[josephandrews222]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/strange-bird-spotted-in-a-texas-backyard-is-the-first-known-hybrid-between-a-blue-jay-and-a-green-jay-180987383/

...any CR readers/posters in the San Antonio TX area?

 

[josephandrews222]

Female Northern Cardinal (perhaps my favorite resident of our area of the midwest USA...the 'texture' and depth of her colors seem to change occasionally) in the late afternoon [R5II and 200-800 at about 700; 2500 ISO]:

 

[Click]

Nice shots, Josephandrews222.

 

[AlanF]

A small pond which I regularly cycle past had three unexpected visitors to join the resident Little Grebes: a Cormorant, Little Egret, and a Grey Heron.

 

[Click]

Very nice series. I especially like the first one with the bird's tail in the water.

 

[SirIssacNewton]

My favorite backyard buddies! Male Cardinal with a worm, and his better half Mrs Cardinal posing like the supermodel she is! Taken with my Canon R8 and RF 600mm f11

 

[Click]

Male and female. Nice couple.

 

[ISv]

A small pond which I regularly cycle past had three unexpected visitors to join the resident Little Grebes: a Cormorant, Little Egret, and a Grey Heron.

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Nice! And now I know why the Cormorants have that long tails ...

 

[ISv]

Today with the birds it was all about the Common Waxbills...



and one White-rumped Shama

 

[ISv]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/strange-bird-spotted-in-a-texas-backyard-is-the-first-known-hybrid-between-a-blue-jay-and-a-green-jay-180987383/

...any CR readers/posters in the San Antonio TX area?

How did you succeed to upload the link?! I tried that yesterday and it took forever without success! Links from two different sources... It's really very interesting article!

 

[SirIssacNewton]

Today with the birds it was all about the Common Waxbills...

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and one White-rumped Shama

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Beautiful birds!! Great photographs

 

[SirIssacNewton]

Male and Female Cardinals back in the spring with their mating plumage! Taken with my Canon R10 and RF 100-400

 

[Click]

Today with the birds it was all about the Common Waxbills...

Beautiful series, ISv. I really like the first one with the lovely couple....And the 3rd one also.

 

[candyman]

Canon EOS R5 Mark II
EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
Shot at 400mm with f/5.6, ISO 5000, 1/640
Manual
Distance: 13,6 meter

The Common Buzzard. I was sitting in a bird hide when suddenly this buzzard landed. Impressive. Did not come closer and flew away within a minute.
I have mixed feelings about using the R5 Mark II. Metering light is a challenge. Too often, high ISO values are locked in by metering in situations where, from experience, they should be between 800 and 1250. I use evaluative metering but have also tried partial metering. No difference. Shutter speeds slower than 1/320 resulted in blurred images. With the R6, I was able to remove the noise quite well. But with the R5, that comes at the expense of detail.

I am open to suggestions.

 

[AlanF]

Canon EOS R5 Mark II
EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
Shot at 400mm with f/5.6, ISO 5000, 1/640
Manual
Distance: 13,6 meter

The Common Buzzard. I was sitting in a bird hide when suddenly this buzzard landed. Impressive. Did not come closer and flew away within a minute.
I have mixed feelings about using the R5 Mark II. Metering light is a challenge. Too often, high ISO values are locked in by metering in situations where, from experience, they should be between 800 and 1250. I use evaluative metering but have also tried partial metering. No difference. Shutter speeds slower than 1/320 resulted in blurred images. With the R6, I was able to remove the noise quite well. But with the R5, that comes at the expense of detail.

I am open to suggestions.

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I have always gone for shutter speeds of faster than 1/400s for birds as they tend to quiver. I use spot metering and if necessary I use exposure compensation and adjust to what looks suitable exposure in the evf. Do you use DxO PL or PureRaw - they are great at removing noise and retaining detail? If you crop to the same number of pixels, the R6 should give better S/N. However, if it is to the same physical size, eg the whole frame from each, 25% of the frame etc, you should get the same S/N overall.

 

[candyman]

I use spot metering and if necessary I use exposure compensation and adjust to what looks suitable exposure in the evf.

Thanks Alan for this information. I'll try that. Spot metering might be a better choice if the environment has a lot of varying light and dark contrasts.

Do you use DxO PL or PureRaw - they are great at removing noise and retaining detail?

I sometimes use PureRAW. But I'm still figuring out the right combination in the settings.
So, which DeepPRIME (3, DX2s, XD3 x-Trans) with which 'luminance' value and 'Force details' value?
I tend to use noise reduction conservatively to avoid losing detail. But I definitely use it.

 

[P-visie]

I sometimes use PureRAW. But I'm still figuring out the right combination in the settings.
So, which DeepPRIME (3, DX2s, XD3 x-Trans) with which 'luminance' value and 'Force details' value?
I tend to use noise reduction conservatively to avoid losing detail. But I definitely use it.

I use PureRaw for 'difficult' images, i.e. where I'm not satisfied with the result from noise reduction in Lightroom, usually R5- R5 Mk II images with ISO 3200 in cloudy circumstances, where a birds head has a lot of shadow.
I frequently use negative values for 'Force details' because I do not like the oversharpend look of a bird (or other animal) that looks as if someone has combed it's feathers or hairs for the picture. The oversharpening also causes the subject to look as if it has been cut out of the picture and has been pasted on the background, caused by the 'sharp' edges of the subject in relation to the background.