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Found some ducklings the other day: Duckling by Tim Breeze, on Flickr
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Jun 16, 2012 21:38
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Bewick's Wren. Heavily cropped... BewicksWren 346 on Flickr  BewicksWren 347 on Flickr  BewicksWren 348 on Flickr
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Jun 17, 2012 18:42
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sharkytm fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Jun 18, 2012 |
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Jun 18, 2012 14:53
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I hope everyone likes way too many pictures of puffins!!! Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Common Guillemot by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Razorbill by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr
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Jun 20, 2012 05:22
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I definitely like way too many pictures of puffins! BetterLekNextTime, I'm really enjoying your framing of the Bewick's Wren. I constantly catch myself putting the bird smack dab in the middle of the frame because I'm worried I'll miss a shot. Need to work on that.
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Jun 20, 2012 20:45
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Ghost Cactus posted:I definitely like way too many pictures of puffins! Thanks- if you're curious this is the original of the first one.  Shooting @300mm, you are typically doing some cropping no matter what, which gives you some flexibility in where the bird ends up in the final image. Lately I've mostly been shooting with the center AF point (and back-button focus). If I need to focus then recompose when I'm shooting, I can, but with something as tiny as this wren, they are mostly center frame, and then cropped to try to get an interesting composition. Also, seconding the puffin love. Wish I'd had my current camera when I went to Alaska 12 years ago. Mediocre slides scanned on my lovely 2mp slide scanner... 
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Jun 20, 2012 21:30
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Thanks- if you're curious this is the original of the first one. Neat - thanks for the info. Now it's time for me to practice!
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Jun 21, 2012 02:06
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HookShot posted:I hope everyone likes way too many pictures of puffins!!!  Ghost Cactus posted:I definitely like way too many pictures of puffins! - Lighting - Camera settings (ISO, shutter speed, aperture) - Pre focus your lens since you don't want to waste time waiting for the AF to hunt. Pick an area where the bird is likely to be range-wise and meter it. Even with shooting something easy like ducks in a park I've lost a lot of shots when waiting for my 55-200 to pick something and focus on it. - Stick with single point focus or tracking focus and I've had the best luck with single server focus (focus on half click each shot). And obviously continuous shooting. Using area/multiple focus points is going to cost you either time or the camera is going to pick something strange to focus on like the wing tips, legs or debris they kick up. - A touch of luck and a lot of patience  untitled by jankyangles, on Flickr edit: just realized I need to rotate this. 
Maker Of Shoes fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Jun 21, 2012 |
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Jun 21, 2012 02:12
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^^^^^ I more or less agree with this, although I think there's something to be said for considering composition as you are going. For myself (and maybe other people too), I started out as a collector- trying to get sharp images of different species. At some point I started looking more critically at the aesthetics of my photos (partly by seeing so many excellent photos here in the Dorkroom). I still collect (I might use these in research/teaching presentations if nothing else), but I'm most proud of the shots where I made artistic decisions as well as getting good focus and lighting.
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Jun 21, 2012 02:42
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I can live with that assessment.  I'm probably saying that because I'm a huge beginner. Noticing bird behaviors helps a lot too. Oh and shooting with both eyes open, especially if you're trying to watch an entire area.
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Jun 21, 2012 03:45
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You should probably take everything I say with a grain of salt because I'm a beginner too. I still don't really know how to use all poo poo on my camera.
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Jun 21, 2012 04:01
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Here's my tips for shooting birds (most of this really just applies to birds in flight): - Always set your camera to center point focus. I agree with everything Make of Shoes posted about this, and will add that center point focus will give you the best image quality as well as being the easiest point to get used to pointing your camera at. With a little bit of practice, you will get a LOT better at focusing the camera on birds than the camera. Being set to center point will make you nail focus on flying birds way more than autofocus will. Sure, you'll be cropping poo poo out for your composition, but you're shooting birds so you'll be doing that anyways. - Use AIServo or whatever Nikon's equivalent is. One shot simply won't cut it past about one shot with birds. Plus servo is constantly trying to refocus. I will sometimes use one shot when I know I can get that accuracy, but servo is generally better. - Never take your camera off your eye. You will build so much arm muscle when you get a 70-200 and do this. With the puffins for example, where there were so many, I would often have both eyes open, so one could watch for more puffins flying past while I had the lens where I expected one to land. - Always shoot flying birds at 1/500 or higher. Slower than that and you're going to get wing blur, which you (usually) don't want. Of course hummingbirds are just not going to work at those speeds, but you should be good for most other species. Anyways, here's the second day's photos of puffins. Took these close to midnight, so the lighting was much better for a lot of them:  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffin & Razorbill by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr  Puffins by hookshot88, on Flickr
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Jun 21, 2012 05:10
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Never stop posting puffins. Ever.
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Jun 21, 2012 05:34
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A quick and very minor disagreement. I usually advocate center point as well, but on the 7D I have found that using all points in tracking mode can be handy when shooting birds that tend to be unpredictable (e.g. terns). With all 19 points being cross type it does extremely well. Anyway, back to birds. Gulls are going nuts around here.  Tag, you're it.  Death from above. 
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Jun 21, 2012 22:00
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Made a 7D "low iso" Lightroom preset, liking the results. These are with it applied and nothing else changed.   
Clayton Bigsby fucked around with this message at 15:18 on Jun 23, 2012 |
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Jun 23, 2012 15:11
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I really appreciate all the advice. It's very humbling to hear you guys call yourselves beginners! I've made things as difficult as possible for myself - my lens doesn't autofocus with my camera body. But, the camera knows when something is in focus, and that's helpful. I'm posting from my phone, but I should have something to contribute soon. HookShot, your puffin shots are beautiful!
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Jun 24, 2012 18:16
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Shooting birds with manual focus can be quite the challenge; looking forward to seeing some shots!
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Jun 25, 2012 19:24
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 untitled by jankyangles, on Flickr
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Jun 25, 2012 19:31
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Cross post from the GBS critter thread DSC_8066 by jankyangles, on Flickr  small-8050 by jankyangles, on Flickr  small-8027 by jankyangles, on Flickr Never thought I'd see anything like this in the middle of Phoenix. I knew there was one and I have been following it for a month trying to get a picture but when I finally had something of an opportunity I found two.
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Jul 1, 2012 05:24
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Jul 3, 2012 07:11
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Pelicans and cormorants and griebes. SD 101 57 by Execudork, on Flickr  SD 101 55 by Execudork, on Flickr  SD 101 52 by Execudork, on Flickr  SD 101 33 by Execudork, on Flickr
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Jul 8, 2012 05:49
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Tried to get some nightjars the other evening but ended up with blurry, dark pictures and frustration. Canyon wren (finally):  DSC_4602 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr A juvenile something or other:  DSC_4718 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr And either a cliff or a cave swallow juvenile that was hiding from me in its nest:  DSC_3926 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr  CSC_3978 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr
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Jul 11, 2012 18:27
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Raven DSC_0092.jpg by MrDespair, on Flickr  DSC_0085.jpg by MrDespair, on Flickr
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Jul 14, 2012 06:50
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They have a nest in the roof of my terrace
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Jul 14, 2012 17:38
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For the first time in my life I went and chased a rarity this weekend. We've only had two Painted Buntings recorded in Washington state and I couldn't resist such a beautiful (and hard to loving photograph) bird.  Painted Bunting by beastofexmoor, on Flickr This guy was a nice surprise. Not many people get to see a Painted Bunting and Snowy Owl within a 30 minute drive in July.  Summer Snowy Owl by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Snoqualmie Townsend's Warbler by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  American Kestrel by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Swainson's Hawk (Light Morph) by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Swainson's Hawk (Dark Morph) by beastofexmoor, on Flickr
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Jul 17, 2012 03:49
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BeastOfExmoor posted:For the first time in my life I went and chased a rarity this weekend. We've only had two Painted Buntings recorded in Washington state and I couldn't resist such a beautiful (and hard to loving photograph) bird. I'm jealous of the find - definitely worth making the trip, and that's a beautiful photo. I've never seen one. I only just saw a Varied Bunting for the first time this spring. Our Swainson's Hawks just have the dark head - they're light from the chest down. Today on a bike ride I saw a proud momma Swainson's Hawk and two juveniles hanging out on the telephone pole where their nest box is. I pestered some Cactus Wrens a lot the other day.  DSC_5131 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr  DSC_5153 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr This guy was shaking something out of old yucca fruits (don't know if it was the seeds - I thought those were black, not red), and flying down to pick them up.  DSC_5259 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr drat.  DSC_5252 by Ghost Cactus, on Flickr
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Jul 18, 2012 22:44
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Ghost Cactus posted:I'm jealous of the find - definitely worth making the trip, and that's a beautiful photo. I've never seen one. I only just saw a Varied Bunting for the first time this spring. Yea, my books all show the light morph of Swainson's Hawks being like you describe, so I'm not sure what was up with that guy. Varied Bunting would be very cool. I just found out I'm probably going to North Carolina at the end of the month and am hoping to find some Indigo Buntings while I'm there.  Male Evening Grosbeak by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Female Evening Grosbeak by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Say's Phoebe by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Virginia Rail by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  20120712-20120712-_MG_0845.jpg by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  White-Crowned Sparrow by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Brown-Headed Cowbird by beastofexmoor, on Flickr
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Jul 19, 2012 02:10
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That first Grosbeak is a real stunner. Went to my birding spot yesterday but it was pretty deserted (July being the low point of the year). Just got some geese. 
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Jul 28, 2012 08:41
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Rare that I only bring home a few decent shots, but last night was rather light on bird activity. 
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Jul 28, 2012 16:08
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Female common blackbird (I think): IMG_9588 by like okay cool dude, on Flickr
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Jul 29, 2012 14:53
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Would a Canon Rebel T3 with "EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens" work for bird shooting? There's a refurbished one on sale for $350, and it'd be nice to use something other than a mediocre point and shoot to photograph birds!
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Aug 7, 2012 19:25
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dopaMEAN posted:Would a Canon Rebel T3 with "EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens" work for bird shooting? Not really, no. You want a lens with a much longer focal range, 150-200mm is what I would recommend as being the bare minimum. I've shot birds at 55mm, but only the ones that were pretty much tamed by us after hand feeding them for a year. If you're shooting other things though (like landscapes), the wider angle kit lens can be good, and you can pick up a 55-250mm f/4-f/5.6 for around $200 (or less) to shoot birds that will work with the same camera.
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Aug 7, 2012 19:28
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HookShot posted:Not really, no. You want a lens with a much longer focal range, 150-200mm is what I would recommend as being the bare minimum. I've shot birds at 55mm, but only the ones that were pretty much tamed by us after hand feeding them for a year. Thanks! Maybe I'll pick it up and add a better lens when I have the cash.
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Aug 7, 2012 19:31
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dopaMEAN posted:Would a Canon Rebel T3 with "EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens" work for bird shooting? I agree that the lens would be pretty worthless for birds, and that the 55-250 seems to be the place to start out if you want to spend < $500 on a long lens. I don't know anything about the T3- it will certainly beat a point and shoot for photo quality. I'd recommend going to Best Buy or Target or wherever and trying to hold one and see how you like it. My uneducated guess is that if you are planning on doing much with manual controls and customization, that something like a refurb T1i might be better, or even one of the old XXD models if you don't care too much about video. It might just be what I've heard/seen: friends doing wildlife photography have generally been pretty happy with the T1/T2i's but the friends with T2/T3 are mostly into the gimmicky effects.
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Aug 7, 2012 19:51
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I think Tamron's 70-300 VC is a better choice in the <$500 range. It's a great lens to begin with, and the extra 100mm will help a ton.
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Aug 8, 2012 19:16
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Where should I start as far as taking better shots? I am the n00bs in the thread title. P8088500 by signalnois3, on Flickr  P8078501 by signalnois3, on Flickr In thinking first I need a higher ISO, although it's tricky because my bird lens has a fixed f/
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Aug 9, 2012 17:51
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signalnoise posted:In thinking first I need a higher ISO, although it's tricky because my bird lens has a fixed f/ Just based on the photos you posted...user a higher iso,
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Aug 9, 2012 17:57
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A good ole Great Blue Heron. Love stalking and shooting these guys. Happy Heron by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr
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Aug 9, 2012 17:58
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I couldn't find any eagles so I had to improvise. small-8293 by jankyangles, on Flickr
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Aug 13, 2012 00:02
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Faltion posted:
Hey!  Peacock by Ztyrp, on Flickr I, too, finally got around getting some birds uploaded.  Colibri & Mimosa by Ztyrp, on Flickr Heavily cropped colibri. drat they're fast.  Flamingo by Ztyrp, on Flickr  Bird evil eye by Ztyrp, on Flickr  Paddling in the Pond by Ztyrp, on Flickr  Grey Crowned Crane by Ztyrp, on Flickr
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Aug 14, 2012 21:29
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