Show your Bird Portraits

A few random images of wild birds taken in the last few months on various trips.
 

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Enjoying my new 100-400mm Mk II and Mk II 1.4x (on my 7D Mk II, handheld):

dunnock_3.jpg

Dunnock

pheasant_4.jpg

Pheasant

pheasant_6.jpg

Pheasant

goldcrest_3.jpg

Goldcrest

mallard_1.jpg

Mallard

PN_IMG_4362_1.jpg

Stonechat

PN_IMG_4366_1.jpg

Stonechat

PN_IMG_4392_1b.jpg

Stonechat

(Grrr... Isn't it time this forum allowed for the fact that we're not on 14 inch monitors any more? These all look better opened in their own window).
 
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Thanks, Click.

I think I need to revisit the highlights on the Stonechat - I'm pretty good at dealing with hot highlights, but these could be better - but the level of detail I'm getting as a matter of course at 560mm is very pleasing.

The Mallard was a test of the IS - I deliberately went to a slow shutter speed (1/80 here) to get the rain streaks, and got fiftteen shots in a row all of which were pin-sharp. This one has the best rain streaks.
 
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A lovely set there, Keith. I have exactly the same set-up as yourself - so I thought I would ask how heavily cropped are they and what sort of ISO are you using. Most of the top reviews show birds in places like Florida where they have good light and the murky conditions of northern UK offer a completely different set of challenges.
 
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None of these are heavy crops - just compositional adjustments, really.

The Exif is in the images, and I'm between 250 (the first Stonechat) and 2500 ISO (the Mallard) here, with the Dunnock at 2000 ISO.

These aren't "high" ISOs for the 7D Mk II though, using Photo Ninja as my Raw converter: I'm routinely north of 4000 ISO, and never have to apply PP noise reduction.

This is a typical 3200 ISO image. Still plenty of detail, and a smooth clean background. Again, no additional NR after conversion.

I shoot Manual/Auto ISO on the 7D Mk II, and I really appreciate that with Photo Ninja the camera can go from 100 to (say) 6400 ISO and I simply don't have to worry about it, because the higher ISOs present no additional processing "overhead" - I treat every file that comes off the camera in exactly the same way, thanks to Photo Ninja.

My Topaz Denoise PS plugin is essentially redundant..!

;D
 
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Keith_Reeder said:
Enjoying my new 100-400mm Mk II and Mk II 1.4x (on my 7D Mk II, handheld):

dunnock_3.jpg

Dunnock

pheasant_4.jpg

Pheasant

pheasant_6.jpg

Pheasant

goldcrest_3.jpg

Goldcrest

mallard_1.jpg

Mallard

PN_IMG_4362_1.jpg

Stonechat

PN_IMG_4366_1.jpg

Stonechat

PN_IMG_4392_1b.jpg

Stonechat

(Grrr... Isn't it time this forum allowed for the fact that we're not on 14 inch monitors any more? These all look better opened in their own window).

Really nice photos! Great job. :)
 
Upvote 0
Keith_Reeder said:
None of these are heavy crops - just compositional adjustments, really.

The Exif is in the images, and I'm between 250 (the first Stonechat) and 2500 ISO (the Mallard) here, with the Dunnock at 2000 ISO.

These aren't "high" ISOs for the 7D Mk II though, using Photo Ninja as my Raw converter: I'm routinely north of 4000 ISO, and never have to apply PP noise reduction.

This is a typical 3200 ISO image. Still plenty of detail, and a smooth clean background. Again, no additional NR after conversion.

I shoot Manual/Auto ISO on the 7D Mk II, and I really appreciate that with Photo Ninja the camera can go from 100 to (say) 6400 ISO and I simply don't have to worry about it, because the higher ISOs present no additional processing "overhead" - I treat every file that comes off the camera in exactly the same way, thanks to Photo Ninja.

My Topaz Denoise PS plugin is essentially redundant..!

;D

Thank you for your time, Keith. I am still trying to work out the limits of the 7D2 and I often hit the perfect storm of cropping plus underexposure (to get the shutter speed) so it is good to see that if you do get it right, good results are possible at 3200.
I have sometimes wondered if I have hit the limits of Lightroom (v5 is my current raw converter of choice) so I will give Ninja a go - as well as the latest version of Canon's own DPP.
 
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dpc said:
Keith_Reeder said:
Enjoying my new 100-400mm Mk II and Mk II 1.4x (on my 7D Mk II, handheld):

dunnock_3.jpg

Dunnock

pheasant_4.jpg

Pheasant

pheasant_6.jpg

Pheasant

goldcrest_3.jpg

Goldcrest

mallard_1.jpg

Mallard

PN_IMG_4362_1.jpg

Stonechat

PN_IMG_4366_1.jpg

Stonechat

PN_IMG_4392_1b.jpg

Stonechat

(Grrr... Isn't it time this forum allowed for the fact that we're not on 14 inch monitors any more? These all look better opened in their own window).

Really nice photos! Great job. :)
Very nice! Great detail! ;)
 
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