Show your Bird Portraits
- Thread starter 1982chris911
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bjd said: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.serendipidy said: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.
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. ;D
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.
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rpt said: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?serendipidy said:
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 ;D
Edit: Rechecked and it was 30 shots, not 39. I was counting the 9 shots converted from raw to jpeg.
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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.serendipidy said:rpt said: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?serendipidy said:
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 ;D
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hammar said:Keel-billed Toucan, Belize:
WOW! That is one hell of a head shot! Hell, its just an eye shot! Love that vibrant detail.
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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.
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.
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That is an absolutely beautiful bird! He seems to be missing his feet though! Really gorgeous bird!serendipidy said:
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That's really cool Jon, another great image!jrista said:hammar said:Keel-billed Toucan, Belize:
WOW! That is one hell of a head shot! Hell, its just an eye shot! Love that vibrant detail.
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Hey Digital, glad to hear you're back up and running with your 7D! Great images! Looks like you caught him right after he ate with the blood on his face and on his talons! Nice details! 8)digital paradise said:Dropped my beloved 300L F4 IS a few weeks ago. No physical damage but the IS stopped working. Sent to Canon a fre weeks ago, picked it up from Purolator this morning and went on a road strait away.
Back in action. Taken with my 7D.
crop
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Thank you for your kind words...serendipidy said: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.
They're beautiful images Serendipity! If they were all overexposed, you pulled them back in pretty well in DPP. #2 still shows some overexposure, the others pulled back nicely. I think you may find that you could get substantially better results pulling exposure back in LR4 or LR5. There are a few more options to do so with. Not just exposure, but you can use the slider or the brush for highlights, whites or exposure... Just my opinion, I use both but use dpp very little the last 3 years.
If you decide to purchase LR, there are some excellent tutorials online either at the adobe website or scott kelby training vids... both great resources. You can learn LR quite fast... it's not nearly as much a learning curve as CS5 or CS6 which are also excellent in concert with LR...
Great job on these ones, those are the money shots!
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Must feel really strange having a fish flopping around in your belly... ???serendipidy said: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.
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Thanks Ken for your helpful critique and advice. I hopefully will get LR4 or 5 soon and learn how to do better PP. I guess I was too close to that cardinal with 400mm and should have zoomed out a little. My wife said exactly the same thing when I showed her the photo ("I want to see his feet"). ;D
That tilapia has very sharp dorsal spines. The heron was extremely slow and careful to swallow it head first. I was thinking there goes his stomach.
That tilapia has very sharp dorsal spines. The heron was extremely slow and careful to swallow it head first. I was thinking there goes his stomach.
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Click on image for full size
More on :
http://www.wildlife-photos.net
http://www.birdpix.nl/album_search.php?search_type=pic_username&search=Edward+van+Altena
More on :
http://www.wildlife-photos.net
http://www.birdpix.nl/album_search.php?search_type=pic_username&search=Edward+van+Altena
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