Show your Bird Portraits
- Thread starter 1982chris911
- Start date
;D ;DTheJock said:LOL, there's always someone watching over your back when you acquire some goodies
Upvote
0
Finchfest
About a week back, I was driving through a new neighborhood built on what used to be a large open field behind my neighborhood. I used to go out there to photograph the moon, thunderstorms and sometimes sunsets, as it had a great view of the sky. I thought the entire field had been developed (original plans indicated that was going to be the case), however once I got into the new neighborhood, I learned it was a very small, single road with a cul-de-sac at the end. There were maybe a dozen homes in it. Just past the end of the cul-de-sac was the rest of the field...and it was PACKED with birds. They were all flying up and down between this large thicket of thistles and the outer eves of the roofs of the last two houses (the center two spot on the -sac was unused, with a large cinder block wall dropping strait down into the field).
Well, naturally, upon seeing so many birds, I headed home, grabbed my gear, and photographed the Finchfest. Almost all the birds out there were finches, three species namely: American Goldfinch, Lesser Goldfinch, and the ubiquitous House Finch. They put on quite a show, ripping and shredding the old dried and dead, and now thorny thistle blossoms to get at the Nyjer seed inside. These were probably the most cooporative group of birds I've encountered, as it usually takes a special bird setup and a lot of careful waiting in a hide to get perfectly posed photos like these.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 600mm f/4 L II
Gitzo GT3532LS + Jobu Pro II
(Have to say, ABSOLUTELY LOVE the creamy boke the larger frame of the 5D III allows! Exquisite!)
See more at my blog!
About a week back, I was driving through a new neighborhood built on what used to be a large open field behind my neighborhood. I used to go out there to photograph the moon, thunderstorms and sometimes sunsets, as it had a great view of the sky. I thought the entire field had been developed (original plans indicated that was going to be the case), however once I got into the new neighborhood, I learned it was a very small, single road with a cul-de-sac at the end. There were maybe a dozen homes in it. Just past the end of the cul-de-sac was the rest of the field...and it was PACKED with birds. They were all flying up and down between this large thicket of thistles and the outer eves of the roofs of the last two houses (the center two spot on the -sac was unused, with a large cinder block wall dropping strait down into the field).
Well, naturally, upon seeing so many birds, I headed home, grabbed my gear, and photographed the Finchfest. Almost all the birds out there were finches, three species namely: American Goldfinch, Lesser Goldfinch, and the ubiquitous House Finch. They put on quite a show, ripping and shredding the old dried and dead, and now thorny thistle blossoms to get at the Nyjer seed inside. These were probably the most cooporative group of birds I've encountered, as it usually takes a special bird setup and a lot of careful waiting in a hide to get perfectly posed photos like these.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 600mm f/4 L II
Gitzo GT3532LS + Jobu Pro II
(Have to say, ABSOLUTELY LOVE the creamy boke the larger frame of the 5D III allows! Exquisite!)
See more at my blog!
Upvote
0
Great series. Love the creamy bokeh too.jrista said:
Congrats on the 5d MKIII!
I saw it was on your new gear list for a while but moved to the current gear list.
It's a great camera.
Upvote
0
Congratulatioins with the new camera. Getting good images of birds of this size, without having a blind set up, is indeed difficult. Great images! Looking forward to your coming posts!§jrista said:
Upvote
0
LOL, guys...I've had the 5D III for about two months now. 
First time I shared photos taken with it was back on page 387 here:
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=1280.msg403611#msg403611
First time I shared photos taken with it was back on page 387 here:http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=1280.msg403611#msg403611
Upvote
0
jrista said:LOL, guys...I've had the 5D III for about two months now.
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=1280.msg403611#msg403611
LOL ;D
So, does it replace your 7D or is that one still good for other purposes?
Upvote
0
Dunlin, Holy Island, England's north east coast:
(Bigger here).
Dunlin, Holy Island:
(Bigger here. Almost too close to focus on, this is "full frame" at 600mm).
Wheatear, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
Sanderling, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
Goldfinch (juvenile), Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
House sparrow, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
All with the 7D and Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 OS and 2.x TC, handheld at 600mm - Exif is in all of them.
(Bigger here).
Dunlin, Holy Island:
(Bigger here. Almost too close to focus on, this is "full frame" at 600mm).
Wheatear, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
Sanderling, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
Goldfinch (juvenile), Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
House sparrow, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
All with the 7D and Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 OS and 2.x TC, handheld at 600mm - Exif is in all of them.
Upvote
0
candyman said:jrista said:LOL, guys...I've had the 5D III for about two months now.
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=1280.msg403611#msg403611
LOL ;D
So, does it replace your 7D or is that one still good for other purposes?
The 7D is still useful. No question the smaller 4.3µm pixels resolve more detail. You can tell with these finch photos that I've framed the birds smaller. I have my teleconverters, but I haven't used them with the 5D III and 600 yet (well, at least, not for bird photography...I've used them for astrophotography.) This summer has actually been pretty poor for birds...not much more than the staples, and it's been a LOT harder to find them, as the water table, wetlands and lakes in Colorado are very full, so it's actually pretty tough to get around to shores and wetlands and get close to birds like I did before. As such, most of the birds are hiding in hard to reach places, and I really haven't bothered to try and photograph them...too high a risk of damaging or drowning my equipment.
Ironically, Colorado is actually a pretty crappy place for bird photography...we don't have many native species of birds in the majority of the state, there are only a few widely dispersed pockets of birds in general, we don't have big, broad, wide open coastal shorelines where shorebirds and waders congregate out in the open for easy photography, and 90% of our species are only here during spring and fall migrations. We have the greatest variety of local birds in the mountains, but I rarely have time to get out there.
Hence all the astrophotography lately...I can just set up and do that in my backyard whenever the night sky is clear.
Upvote
0
Keith_Reeder said:Dunlin, Holy Island, England's north east coast:
(Bigger here).
Dunlin, Holy Island:
(Bigger here. Almost too close to focus on, this is "full frame" at 600mm).
Wheatear, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
Sanderling, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
All with the 7D and Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 OS and 2.x TC, handheld at 600mm - Exif is in all of them.
Beautiful shots, these! Well done!
Upvote
0
Keith_Reeder said:Dunlin, Holy Island, England's north east coast:
(Bigger here).
Dunlin, Holy Island:
(Bigger here. Almost too close to focus on, this is "full frame" at 600mm).
Wheatear, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
Sanderling, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
Goldfinch (juvenile), Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
House sparrow, Holy Island:
(Bigger here).
All with the 7D and Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 OS and 2.x TC, handheld at 600mm - Exif is in all of them.
Beautiful shots Keith. I really like the result fo the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8. That's the Sports version...right?
You are doing a great thing with that lens.
Upvote
0
Your astrophotography photos are just phenomenal.jrista said:candyman said:jrista said:LOL, guys...I've had the 5D III for about two months now.
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=1280.msg403611#msg403611
LOL ;D
So, does it replace your 7D or is that one still good for other purposes?
The 7D is still useful. No question the smaller 4.3µm pixels resolve more detail. You can tell with these finch photos that I've framed the birds smaller. I have my teleconverters, but I haven't used them with the 5D III and 600 yet (well, at least, not for bird photography...I've used them for astrophotography.) This summer has actually been pretty poor for birds...not much more than the staples, and it's been a LOT harder to find them, as the water table, wetlands and lakes in Colorado are very full, so it's actually pretty tough to get around to shores and wetlands and get close to birds like I did before. As such, most of the birds are hiding in hard to reach places, and I really haven't bothered to try and photograph them...too high a risk of damaging or drowning my equipment.
Ironically, Colorado is actually a pretty crappy place for bird photography...we don't have many native species of birds in the majority of the state, there are only a few widely dispersed pockets of birds in general, we don't have big, broad, wide open coastal shorelines where shorebirds and waders congregate out in the open for easy photography, and 90% of our species are only here during spring and fall migrations. We have the greatest variety of local birds in the mountains, but I rarely have time to get out there.
Hence all the astrophotography lately...I can just set up and do that in my backyard whenever the night sky is clear.
Upvote
0
candyman said:
Thanks all.
No, this is the older, pre "Sport" version of the lens. I've had it for about 2 1/2 years, and I'm as happy with it now as I was the day I bought it - it hardly ever misses a beat. I shoot handheld exclusively, and although the 120-300mm is pretty heavy, I can go for an entire day in the field without much trouble - the Op/Tech Sling Strap sees to that, and the OS makes sharp results from handheld shooting eminently achievable.
It's really good with a 1.4x attached, and can be really sharp with the 2x attached too: that said, I use the Siggy 2x, and a recent try with the Canon 2x II has made me think that it's probably a better option - although the Sigma TC is fine, the lens seems to AF a bit more reliably at 600mm with the Canon 2x.
I also use a Sigma 70-200mm f.2.8 OS, and - shoulder-to-shoulder with my photography buddy who uses the same bodies as me and a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM Mk II - it lacks for nothing in terms of sharpness and overall performance. The Canon's probably a tiny bit faster-focusing, but by a completely trivial amount.
Good lenses, the Siggys: and sharp as they are on the 7D, they're even sharper on my 70D.
Upvote
0
Striated heron (Butorides striata)
EF 200-400mm light rain great light
http://500px.com/photo/72042473/striated-heron-(butorides-striata)-by-(sam)oht-ekpil?from=user_library
EF 200-400mm light rain great light
http://500px.com/photo/72042473/striated-heron-(butorides-striata)-by-(sam)oht-ekpil?from=user_library
Upvote
0
-by-(sam)oht-ekpil?from=user_library)
Beautiful Ekpil!Ekpil said:
What time of the day did you take this photo? There seems to be a purple glow in it...as from changing light
Upvote
0
Keith_Reeder said:
I am impressed form the results of the original Sigma 120-300. For a long time I am thinking about purchasing the 300mm f/2.8 IS II but the flexibility and quality of the Sigma appeals to me. So, what is it that the new Sigma will given above the old one?
Upvote
0
