Show your Bird Portraits
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Magnificent!ERHP said:Eldar said:
Very cool!
We have a batch of four Peregrines on the La Jolla cliffs that fledged about a week ago. Unfortunately the mother was killed by a rogue female just before they fledged, but dad has stepped up and been delivering 6-10 birds a day for them, usually doves. I've spent most of my afternoons there for the last week or so. Tuesday evening I was packing my gear up just as the sun was setting when one of the female juvies perched on a root less than 20' away.
1DX MK II 600f/4L IS II 1/320 : f/4.5 : ISO 1250
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Thanks Eldar, lion rock, hbr, Click, Jack Douglas and serendipidy! I'm really surprised that dad has managed to keep enough food coming in for all four and they've started some aerial food transfers so it is tough to break away to capture anything else.
One duck we rarely get here in SoCal. Good luck on catching the little ones!
clbayley said:
One duck we rarely get here in SoCal. Good luck on catching the little ones!
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I'm probably speaking for everyone - when I see these recent shots it makes me just want to get out there and shoot! WOW.
Jack
Jack
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For the first time in history, I have used a fill flash on a bird. I was struggling too much with shadows, so I thought I´d give it a gry. A major problem is recycle time. Next time I´ll bring the Profoto B1s, which also give a more usable HSS. Or I´ll buy a power pack to speed things up a bit.
1DX-II, 600 f4L IS II + 1.4xIII
1/200s, F/10, ISO640
1DX-II, 600 f4L IS II + 1.4xIII
1/200s, F/10, ISO640
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Eldar, I'd be very interested in what options or solutions you come up with relative to speed. If a person could get burst capability to say, maybe 7 shots at 14 fps, it would be amazing. Getting only one shot when there is action, i.e. birds fighting over a nesting site, is the pits since generally the peak of the action is very difficult to judge and one might fire 20 or 30 in a burst if it's a very unique situation.
Seems like what we'd need is a strobe function that would sync with the HSS shutter and a good power source, and could it remain portable??
BTW many birds react to pre-flash, or flash after the fact, and are startled. Chickadee shots tended to have a wing partially elevated.
The lens for my Better Beamer somehow seems to have gotten thrown in the trash.
Jack
Seems like what we'd need is a strobe function that would sync with the HSS shutter and a good power source, and could it remain portable??
BTW many birds react to pre-flash, or flash after the fact, and are startled. Chickadee shots tended to have a wing partially elevated.
The lens for my Better Beamer somehow seems to have gotten thrown in the trash.
Jack
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There are much more powerful options than on camera style strobes. As Eldar says one of the first is the Profoto B1, and at 600Ws it is about 10 times more powerful than a 600 EX RT, and you can get focusing reflectors that can columate that power. Then there are comparable and more powerful options from Broncolor, and much cheaper and comparable models from Godox/Flashpoint, the AD600 can be doubled up to a single head to give you 1200Ws. If you don't mind taking an inverter style power pack people like Profoto make 1000Ws single heads that are HSS and ETTL capable.
As always it is a trade off between power, price and portability.
For instance the Profoto D2 and PCB Lithium Extreme are going to give you 20 flashes per second with full ETTL and HSS for around $2,500, expensive for one light but it has the capability of 14 600 EX RT's. Or the Godox/Flashpoint AD600 will give a more modest output and recycle for $600.
We get so wrapped up in camera advances we often completely miss the gigantic advances and options we have in lighting now my go to source for flash news is flashhavoc.
As always it is a trade off between power, price and portability.
For instance the Profoto D2 and PCB Lithium Extreme are going to give you 20 flashes per second with full ETTL and HSS for around $2,500, expensive for one light but it has the capability of 14 600 EX RT's. Or the Godox/Flashpoint AD600 will give a more modest output and recycle for $600.
We get so wrapped up in camera advances we often completely miss the gigantic advances and options we have in lighting now my go to source for flash news is flashhavoc.
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Scott, you beat me to itprivatebydesign said:
I normally don´t use flashes for birding or wildlife. The reason is somewhere between ethics and laziness. However, I have lost enough shots, due to lack of light or, as in this case, subject is in dark shadow with bright backlight, to be willing to carry a bit more stuff around. From an ethics point of view, I must admit that I have yet to see any bird/animal react to the light, unless it is straight into their face.
For shots like the ones I took of the woodpecker, I find the 600 EX-RT too limited. Even with an external power pack, you don´t get more than 1 fps. Without the powerpack, you´ll get a lot less.
The Profoto B1 is a great package (actually B1X now). However, besides being quite pricy, it does some strange things. One is slowing down the max fps. I can understand that it slows it down to secure correct lighting for all shots. But, for reasons I do not know, it is slower in AF Servo mode than in One Shot.
Added comment: If you shoot in manual mode and One Shot, it will give you the full fps, as long as it is capable of recharge. In a situation like the one I was in, with app. 20 meters to the subject, it may give you a little less. I will try it out and report back. I can also use both B1 units, to give me more power.
It would be nice to have full flash availability at 14 fps and HSS, but I don´t see, with my limited use, that I would add a D2 package to my outfit. (My character is low though, so you never know ... :
)I have read a lot of nice stuff about the Godox AD600, which appears to be great value for money. A friend of mine just ordered a pair. Will be interesting to see how they work in similar situations, even though, at up to 2.5s recharging cycle, it will not solve the high fps problem.
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Thanks Scott and Eldar - more to digest.
Eldar, I looked briefly but couldn't locate. You won't likely "see" a chickadee react to flash but if a pre-flash is emitted then sometimes you will have a photo of the reaction, usually the wings starting to be pulled up; clearly startled.
Jack
Eldar, I looked briefly but couldn't locate. You won't likely "see" a chickadee react to flash but if a pre-flash is emitted then sometimes you will have a photo of the reaction, usually the wings starting to be pulled up; clearly startled.
Jack
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For my garden-bird-photography shadows from my house is often a challenge. So I have started to add some flash fill-in allowing me to create a more balanced foreground / background lighting. Also I like that it brings additional life to the eyes of the bird. See first example.
Second bird, wagtail with catch of the day, is by natural light. Here I had to lift shadows in post.
Second bird, wagtail with catch of the day, is by natural light. Here I had to lift shadows in post.
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