The birds they mock me
Discussion
My photos (and equipment) are not up to the standards of some of the contributors to this thread, but I snapped these whilst in on honeymoon last month. The first two in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, the last in Yosemite.
by Cherie, on Flickr
by Cherie, on Flickr
by Cherie, on Flickr
I'm surprised I managed to mostly salvage the last one; it was taken pretty much at the maximum zoom, and the original was pretty washed out. Luckily I remembered to save the photos as RAW files, and the rudimentary free software from Nikon can go some way to brightening and enhancing.
by Cherie, on Flickr
by Cherie, on Flickr
by Cherie, on Flickr
I'm surprised I managed to mostly salvage the last one; it was taken pretty much at the maximum zoom, and the original was pretty washed out. Luckily I remembered to save the photos as RAW files, and the rudimentary free software from Nikon can go some way to brightening and enhancing.
Ridiculously pleased with this (despite the big crop as I couldn't get any closer) 
Kingfisher by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Kingfisher by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Spent some of today in a hide at Hanningfield reservoir.
As they say, doesn't matter how many mm you have it's never enough for birds! I was at 400mm on DX so equivalent of 600mm. Still too short.
DSC_0806 by Scott Thomson, on Flickr
DSC_0577 by Scott Thomson, on Flickr
As they say, doesn't matter how many mm you have it's never enough for birds! I was at 400mm on DX so equivalent of 600mm. Still too short.
DSC_0806 by Scott Thomson, on Flickr DSC_0577 by Scott Thomson, on Flickr 
A few from the weekend...
NZ South Island Robin by Ben, on Flickr
NZ South Island Robin by Ben, on Flickr
NZ South Island Robin by Ben, on Flickr
NZ South Island Robin by Ben, on Flickr
NZ South Island Robin by Ben, on FlickrNZ South Island Robin by Ben, on FlickrNZ South Island Robin by Ben, on FlickrNZ South Island Robin by Ben, on FlickrEdited by GravelBen on Wednesday 1st November 10:42
Short-eared, not small, but that's a great shot!
JSS 911 said:
Love this robin too:GravelBen said:
I thought it was me, then me and the lens at issue, then a chance shot and I find it is all me that is wrong and fluke make me wonder what I am doing wrong.
Reed Bunting by Jeff, on Flickr
Reed Bunting by Jeff, on Flickr
jmorgan said:
I thought it was me, then me and the lens at issue, then a chance shot and I find it is all me that is wrong and fluke make me wonder what I am doing wrong.
You thought what was you? Or is you?Sharpness? Level of detail?
Small brown bird with very fine markings amongst brown branches without a super fast and very long focal length prime lens (and even then some) can be very hit and miss.
If you are relying on AF for spot on focus you may need a very narrow spot focus point and pick the spot accurately to avoid branches and maximize the potential for the focus system to work on the best defined markings with the greatest dynamic range between them.
Then there is speed. These things are never really still. Either they will be shaking slightly or win will be ruffling their feathers.
Finally, once you have that under control, you have camera shake and optimum lens aperture settings to consider followed by Post Processing techniques that many use very cleverly to make an image "pop".
But yep, always a challenge - sparrow and similar sizes can be extremely frustrating.
LongQ said:
jmorgan said:
I thought it was me, then me and the lens at issue, then a chance shot and I find it is all me that is wrong and fluke make me wonder what I am doing wrong.
You thought what was you? Or is you?Sharpness? Level of detail?
Small brown bird with very fine markings amongst brown branches without a super fast and very long focal length prime lens (and even then some) can be very hit and miss.
If you are relying on AF for spot on focus you may need a very narrow spot focus point and pick the spot accurately to avoid branches and maximize the potential for the focus system to work on the best defined markings with the greatest dynamic range between them.
Then there is speed. These things are never really still. Either they will be shaking slightly or win will be ruffling their feathers.
Finally, once you have that under control, you have camera shake and optimum lens aperture settings to consider followed by Post Processing techniques that many use very cleverly to make an image "pop".
But yep, always a challenge - sparrow and similar sizes can be extremely frustrating.
Spent some days recently going through the camera settings and youtube vids and certainly improved without needed to make much effort, just understanding more what I can do and what the kit does. That shot was on manual but I did start on auto and should have realised before trying. Simple stuff I guess.
I used to leave the ISO on 160 until I found out that this camera was a lot better than my previous when going higher. Now I mess around more with that.
At the moment, I would say that shot was a fluke and I am still learning though enjoyed my day out Sunday, the results that is after learning a bit more on what the camera can do for me. Only taken three years.....
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