Show your Bird Portraits

[Click]

Pied-billed Grebe with fish.

Nice shot, Jeff.

 

[Click]

Nice shots Islander and Alan. Here is one of mine from this morning guaranteed to warm your heart. Backlit so I used some fill flash. 400 DO X1.4. I'm really pleased with the used RF flash transmitter that I picked up since it allows me to position my two 600 EX RT's where I need them.

Jack

Lovely picture, Jack. Well done.

 

[Click]

Time to add a few birds here.
Jack, I like your winterly robin-shots with added flashlight.

I have been around the same approach.
I feed small birds in my backyard and can in many cases photograph them from my windows.
In wintertime the birds are in shadow, while the background is generally ligter. There is light enough to photograph.

However I find that the pictures come much more alive, when I add a bit of flash. The details of the plumage show more clearly and a bit of catchlight in the eyes is another advantage.

Great tit and bullfinch are both shot in February 2017.
Both with Canon 6D, Tamron 150-600mm (Mk I) @600 mm, 1/160 s, f/6.3, ISO 800.

The flash is placed 1 m to my right and balanced (manually) to blend to my liking based on a bit of experimentation.

Beautiful pictures. I especially like the first one. Nicely done.

 

[Vern]

Thanks mike. If I start shooting mid morning then the sun is behind to the left and the flashes have been positioned about 8 feet to the right of where I'm shooting from, one high one lower. I shoot manual and adjust the ISO so that without flash I'm slightly underexposed and then if needed fiddle with the flash exposure compensation. One problem, my flashes don't have quite enough range and coverage depending on where the little birdies choose to roost.

Another pose.

Since I'm new to this, any hints, anyone?

Jack

Very nice shots, Jack. I haven't tried off camera flash, but usually use a 630EX and a better beamer mounted near the front of the lens using a Wimberley set-up. I tend to use -2/3 to -1 flash compensation so the fill doesn't look unnatural. The pic attached was with this rig and the 5D MKIV + 600 II and 1.4X III. The off camera flashes look great, but I wonder if you have to worry about shadows interfering more? (And snow all over your flash?)

 

[Click]

I really like your picture, Vern.

 

[Sharpening Iron]

A few backyard birds...

 

[Click]

Beautiful series, Rich. 8)

 

[Jack Douglas]

Wow, what a sudden flurry of activity - great shots. Thanks everyone for the complements and the advice.

I also am shooting from a window. Actually three that are separated and open up. One is on a lower level the other two about 9' up and this allows me different perspectives ... provided the birds cooperate. The tree of course is critical in all this as without it and especially ample berries my fun ends.

Now, why do I get maybe 50 to one female grosbeaks over male? Seems also that males don't like the company of females.

Jack

 

[Sharpening Iron]

Thanks, Click. Do you know why the photos came out so big? I thought I used an appropriate resolution.

 

[jprusa]

A few backyard birds...

Nice Pictures but love the ones of the White-throated Sparrow.

 

[dpc]

Really nice shots, Rich!

 

[IslanderMV]

Pied-billed Grebe with fish.

Very nice Jeff! Is this one of the smaller grebes where you are living? It looks a bit like the little grebe I spotted a couple of weeks ago from a hide (unfortunately it kept its distance so I don't have decent pictures of "mine").
The little grebe is called "Dodaars" in my country, indicating the fluffy backside - which your pied-billed grebe also shows a bit

Wiebe.

Yes, the Pied-billed Grebe ( Podilymbus podiceps ) is the smallest. The bird pictured has taken up residence in a small local pond. In winter we also see the slightly larger Horned Grebe. We get the Red-necked Grebe every few years. All are in adult non-breeding plumage.

I will dig through my Lightroom catalog and post some picts.

Jeff

 

[Click]

Nice pictures, Jeff.

 

[Nat_WA]

Pied-billed Grebe with fish.

Very nice Jeff! Is this one of the smaller grebes where you are living? It looks a bit like the little grebe I spotted a couple of weeks ago from a hide (unfortunately it kept its distance so I don't have decent pictures of "mine").
The little grebe is called "Dodaars" in my country, indicating the fluffy backside - which your pied-billed grebe also shows a bit

Wiebe.

Yes, the Pied-billed Grebe ( Podilymbus podiceps ) is the smallest. The bird pictured has taken up residence in a small local pond. In winter we also see the slightly larger Horned Grebe. We get the Red-necked Grebe every few years. All are in adult non-breeding plumage.

I will dig through my Lightroom catalog and post some picts.

Jeff

Very nice pictures again Jeff! I like the (low) light, showing the colour of their eyes so brightly.
You really need a bit of low sunlight for the eyes to show so nicely...

Wiebe.

 

[Click]

Very nice picture, Wiebe.

 

[KeithBreazeal]

Goshawk- this is why we stopped having chickens. It was like a KFC drive-up-window for the Goshawks that were nesting nearby.

Goshawk kills versus our chickens by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

 

[AlanF]

Have a meeting in Washington DC tomorrow. Came a day early to get a cheap fare, and brought the old 5DSR + 100-400mm II to fill in time. All I could get here was an American Robin. Made a terrible mistake - had the camera to jpeg not RAW, but the sky did not fall in.

 

[scottkinfw]

here are three of mine.

 

[Click]

Very nice series, Scott. I especially like the second picture.

 

[Click]

Have a meeting in Washington DC tomorrow. Came a day early to get a cheap fare, and brought the old 5DSR + 100-400mm II to fill in time. All I could get here was an American Robin. Made a terrible mistake - had the camera to jpeg not RAW, but the sky did not fall in.

Lovely shot, Alan.