The birds they mock me

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Pesty

Original Poster:

42,655 posts

255 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
quotequote all
Yes big improvement thanks.

I'm sure I have photoshop type disk somewhere. bought it years ago never used it will see if I can dig it out.

Furyous

23,504 posts

220 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
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Pesty, the exif shows that pic was at ISO1600, which is more than high enough I would have thought.

It also shows you have -0.33ev set up, which means you are slightly under exposing anyway.This would cause some darkness, along with the fact you also have spot metering set up instead of matrix,which may have exposed better.

Also, is F6 the best you can get at full length ?

I should also add that Im no expert.

Pesty

Original Poster:

42,655 posts

255 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
quotequote all
Furyous said:
Pesty, the exif shows that pic was at ISO1600, which is more than high enough I would have thought.

exif?

It also shows you have -0.33ev set up, which means you are slightly under exposing anyway.This would cause some darkness, along with the fact you also have spot metering set up instead of matrix,which may have exposed better.

does that mean if i trawl through my settings I can change to matrix metering and if I can change the -.33ev (whatever that is) what do I change it to.

Also, is F6 the best you can get at full length ?

errrm, sorry furious my first ever proper camera can't see F6 anywhere it says on it 70-300 1:4 5.6

I should also add that Im no expert.
Edited by Pesty on Monday 3rd May 17:00

Pesty

Original Poster:

42,655 posts

255 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
quotequote all
ican change ev from 1/3 to 1/2 can't find any options for meterimg. will have to read the manual about that


ok now set metering to matrix

Edited by Pesty on Monday 3rd May 17:06

jimmy156

3,681 posts

186 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
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Pesty said:
Furyous said:
Pesty, the exif shows that pic was at ISO1600, which is more than high enough I would have thought.

exif?

It also shows you have -0.33ev set up, which means you are slightly under exposing anyway.This would cause some darkness, along with the fact you also have spot metering set up instead of matrix,which may have exposed better.

does that mean if i trawl through my settings I can change to matrix metering and if I can change the -.33ev (whatever that is) what do I change it to.

Also, is F6 the best you can get at full length ?

errrm, sorry furious my first ever proper camera can't see F6 anywhere it says on it 70-300 1:4 5.6

I should also add that Im no expert.
Edited by Pesty on Monday 3rd May 17:00
Pesty, you want ev (or exposure compensation) set to 0, anything else and you will over or under expose. the last numbers you quote are your maximum (widest)apetures (the 1:4 5.6 bit) this means that at the longest end of your zoom lens the wisest aperture you can have is 5.6 (or f/5.6) this is what F values are.

Also (and i dont mean to contradict you furyous) but i always set my camera to spot metering when photographing birds. Often you will trying to photograph a bird against the sky or in a bush or something that can mean you will underexpose the bird, and make it too dark. You want the camera to expose the shot for the bird, not for the background or anything else

Pesty

Original Poster:

42,655 posts

255 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
quotequote all
Damn this thing has more buttons than a frigging fighter plane.

Exposure set to 0 (its not in the menu its one of the 100 buttons on the body)
EV step back to 1/3


GetCarter

29,358 posts

278 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
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Hey... it'd be rubbish if was easy!

Pesty

Original Poster:

42,655 posts

255 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
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good point smile


Furyous

23,504 posts

220 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
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Exif is the information on camera settings that most digital images have embedded.You need an exif reader, you can then right click an image to see the settings used.

Invaluable as a learning tool above anything else.

Your 70-300 should go to F5.6 at full length, this is marginaly faster than the F6 you shot.The 1:4-5.6 means F4 at 70mm going down to F5.6 at 300mm.

Actually, thinking about, Jimmy156 is right, spot metering birds against the sky would make more sense than matrix, but I do wonder if matrix maight have been a better choice in this scenario ?

As stated, they are plenty on here who know way more than me...

It can be hard to get your head round, because it seems like there are so many variables, but once you start to understand the basics, it all makes sense.

Im really enjoying learning the basic theory, just wish I had more time for practice.

Pesty

Original Poster:

42,655 posts

255 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
quotequote all
Right. Thats the camera sorted all I need now is an imagination, which I don't have.

You want some blue tits?

LongQ

13,864 posts

232 months

Monday 3rd May 2010
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Pesty said:
Right. Thats the camera sorted all I need now is an imagination, which I don't have.

You want some blue tits?
I thought that was the where the Portraits thread came in ....

Dogsey

4,300 posts

229 months

Tuesday 4th May 2010
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A couple from my weekend away.

Female Wheatear, a first spot for me.


Female Skylark, first time I've seen one on the ground.


Red Kite.


All shot with the Sigma 100-300mm f4 plus a Canon 1.4x extender.

central

16,744 posts

216 months

Tuesday 4th May 2010
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Dogsey said:
Excellent pics
All correctly identified. thumbup

Dogsey

4,300 posts

229 months

Tuesday 4th May 2010
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central said:
Dogsey said:
Excellent pics
All correctly identified. thumbup
Thanks, had a little trouble deciding on the Skylark as the Meadow Pipit is very similar and the one in my shot is lacking the crest that is normal on a Skylark, it was a toss up between females of either species.

central

16,744 posts

216 months

Tuesday 4th May 2010
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Dogsey said:
central said:
Dogsey said:
Excellent pics
All correctly identified. thumbup
Thanks, had a little trouble deciding on the Skylark as the Meadow Pipit is very similar and the one in my shot is lacking the crest that is normal on a Skylark, it was a toss up between females of either species.
The crest is often flattened, so sexing is not easy. Size and general shape should be diagnostic in separating this species from Meadow Pipit. (for an experienced observer) And of course song flight is very obvious!

smile

paul911

2,770 posts

232 months

Tuesday 4th May 2010
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Dogsey said:
All shot with the Sigma 100-300mm f4 plus a Canon 1.4x extender.
I was admiring these on Flickr earlier, lovely and sharp. Are you manual focusing then?

Dogsey

4,300 posts

229 months

Tuesday 4th May 2010
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paul911 said:
Dogsey said:
All shot with the Sigma 100-300mm f4 plus a Canon 1.4x extender.
I was admiring these on Flickr earlier, lovely and sharp. Are you manual focusing then?
Nope, I was surprised how well the auto focus worked to be honest, all 9 focus points on the 40D responded well. Image quality was better than I expected too. The only real downside was the setup looked a little odd with black body, white extender and then a black lens, but I guess that was minor enough that I could put up with it! hehe Oh, that and the fact that it was only on hire from lensesforhire.co.uk and it's now on it's way back to them. cry

I'd be interested to see how good the Sigma 1.4x is in comparison, anyone want to lend me one? biggrin

Colin RedGriff

2,526 posts

256 months

Wednesday 5th May 2010
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The title of this thread is so appropriate. The birds around my way seem to know immediately that I have gone to fetch my camera. I can sit and watch them with binoculars for minutes but as soon as I pick up a camera the b*****s fly away.

Anyway someone obviously hadn't let these guys in on the joke as they were quite happy for me to be outside in the garden with them standing a couple of meters away.






central

16,744 posts

216 months

Wednesday 5th May 2010
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Colin RedGriff said:
Goldcrest pics
Can be very confiding, as these photos prove. smile

jimmy156

3,681 posts

186 months

Wednesday 5th May 2010
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central said:
Colin RedGriff said:
Goldcrest pics
Can be very confiding, as these photos prove. smile
One flew into the shop i work in, and i had to scoop it up an let it go outside (i've done some bird ringing so know how to handle them) and they are truly gorgeous little birds, even more so when you can see them really close up.