Show your Bird Portraits

[dave]

A couple from around Australia's Northern Territory:

Lovely pictures dave. What did you shoot them with?

Thanks!

They are a year or so old, so I think a 550D/T2i

First one was a 70-200 f4 non is

The other two were with the 400mm 5.6 prime - great lens for the price, but large minimum focus distance and slow aperture combine to make it fairly challenging to use. Fortunately in the tropics here, there are plenty of birds for practice.

 

[rpt]

A couple from around Australia's Northern Territory:

Lovely pictures dave. What did you shoot them with?

Thanks!

They are a year or so old, so I think a 550D/T2i

First one was a 70-200 f4 non is

The other two were with the 400mm 5.6 prime - great lens for the price, but large minimum focus distance and slow aperture combine to make it fairly challenging to use. Fortunately in the tropics here, there are plenty of birds for practice.

Thanks. We have the bee eaters here in India too. The tails here seem to be longer...

 

[LSV]

Osprey showing off a striped mullet

 

[Sad_Dave]

Well i don't have all your lenses and stuff but made some shots too.
Anyway after looking at allthese beautyful brirds i know i have to spend mor time outdoors.
Thanks all.

 

[rpt]

LSV, Sad_Dave, lovely photographs. Could you share shooting details, camera, lens, settings etc?
Both the Osprey and the Eagle look magnificent.

 

[LSV]

rpt, thanks. I used a 60D and EF 100-400mm, Aperture priority f/8.0, 400mm, 1/500s, ISO auto 200. I still only shoot in Jpeg, a little embarassing, but I'm a beginner and too lazy to deal with RAW.

Here's another one, heavily cropped, same settings except ISO 320.

 

[Northstar]

All shots: 40D and 300mm f2.8 IS mk1.

During a falconry display there were 3 or 4 gulls mobbing the eagle which didn't seem to get too stressed. The shot kinda makes it look like a well-trained stunt team ;D

The shot of the cygnet was just dumb luck - hey look ma! I can wheelie!

Guy...fantastic shots. Really like the second and third..in the second, it looks like the eagle is about to catch the gull, did it?

Hi Northstar,

The strange thing about the eagle getting mobbed was I thought it would fight back in some way. You'd think the gulls would realise you should avoid anything with a hooked beak and talons the size of your head! The eagle just seemed to ignore them. I spoke to the handler about it and he said the eagle will get stressed if the mobbing goes on too long. I asked if it ever fought back but apparently not. The handler did mention that it can get quite exciting for spectators (especially children!) when one of his raptors decides to pluck a smaller bird out of the air and start feeding on it. Hey kids! Nature in action!

For the third shot I had to airbrush out the crummy perch it had just taken off from. The metal stand covered in fake grass looked dreadful. Things aren't helped by the bland background - Scottish skies in August are often fully clouded over.

Some more shots attached:

nice shots Guy....have you tried the 300 2.8 w/ 2x extender?

 

[Northstar]

Osprey showing off a striped mullet

very nice lsv!

 

[revup67]

After a two hour hunt, I fel very fortunate to get this male and female perched. Fell in a swamp and trapesed around for awhile until they were within reach...just wonderful


Two Bald Eagles (Male and Female Adults) - Manasquan Reservoir, NJ by Revup67, on Flickr

 

[serendipidy]

Nice...worth a dunking in the swamp ;D

 

[rpt]

rpt, thanks. I used a 60D and EF 100-400mm, Aperture priority f/8.0, 400mm, 1/500s, ISO auto 200. I still only shoot in Jpeg, a little embarassing, but I'm a beginner and too lazy to deal with RAW.

Here's another one, heavily cropped, same settings except ISO 320.

Thanks. While I was shooting with my 300D, I only shot JPEG. Since I got the 5D3, I switched to RAW. I can tell you it is a big difference in the edit. Try it. If you are skeptical, shoot RAW+JPEG. I am sure you will like the flexibility. Oh, and get Adobe LR 4.2 if you don't already have it. The second shot is great too. How far we're you from the bird?

 

[ooF Fighters]

Stop thief!

 

[LSV]

rpt, thanks. I used a 60D and EF 100-400mm, Aperture priority f/8.0, 400mm, 1/500s, ISO auto 200. I still only shoot in Jpeg, a little embarassing, but I'm a beginner and too lazy to deal with RAW.

Here's another one, heavily cropped, same settings except ISO 320.

Thanks. While I was shooting with my 300D, I only shot JPEG. Since I got the 5D3, I switched to RAW. I can tell you it is a big difference in the edit. Try it. If you are skeptical, shoot RAW+JPEG. I am sure you will like the flexibility. Oh, and get Adobe LR 4.2 if you don't already have it. The second shot is great too. How far we're you from the bird?

I'm guessing I was about 15 meters from the Osprey. Luckily, it was so windy that he decided to move to a lower branch, very smart bird. I will definitely try RAW in the near future. Thanks

 

[coreyhkh]

From the other Day, who days the 7d is bad lol

feel free to check out my Site http://pbase.com/coreyhayes

 

[revup67]

Corey - I think that 2nd pic is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker. You can go here to verify if it helps http://www.whatbird.com Click search and you can walk through the wizard - EZ

 

[rpt]

Man! I really miss my 100-400L! Its in the shop again! (complain complain complain)

Can't wait to get it back. You guys have some fantastic shots there.

 

[revup67]

Love that stolen Hot Dog shot above -outstanding capture !

Here's a solo shot of the Bald Eagle prior to the two Eagles catching up


Bald Eagle - Manasquan Reservoir by Revup67, on Flickr

 

[GuyF]

nice shots Guy....have you tried the 300 2.8 w/ 2x extender?

Northstar,

Last week I used the Kenko 1.4x Pro DG 300 with the 300mm and got the attached shots (heavily cropped). Also have the Kenko DG 300 2x but rarely use it as you do lose a bit of sharpness with it. I might try it tomorrow if the light is good. I mainly got the 2x TC just for shots of the moon but you really need more than 600mm to do it properly! Now that's where I need 46mp+ .
I'll need to get FoCal soon to calibrate all my gear as the shots I was getting with the 1.4x TC aren't quite as sharp as I'd like - most other lenses are acceptable without AFMA but FoCal should only improve things. Then again it may be down to the fairly extreme cropping in these shots so I'm losing a bit of definition that way. I was using a 5D3 set to quiet continuous shutter realease (a benefit over the 1DX ;D) 9-point AF expansion and AF servo mode 5 for these shots so I'm assuming AFMA is required.

 

[coreyhkh]

Very nice shots, I really like the coot.

 

[GuyF]

Very nice shots, I really like the coot.

Thanks Corey! I'm no expert in this type of stuff but I hate how nature likes to mess with us by having birds requiring greater dynamic range than the 5D3 can handle! The attached shot of the coot below would either have had correctly exposed head and no detail (or "lifted" noisy detail) in the body or detail in the body but blown whites. I now expect someone to suggest getting a 1DX or Nikon thingma'bob to cope. Meh.

There isn't a great variety of birds where I live - I actually think the coolest thing about the shots is the reflected autumn colours in the water!