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jarlywarly posted:If it makes you feel any better I got up at 5am to walk to the place to take that shot for dawn, there was a pair of them hunting together, but they were hunting into the rising sun so that's one of the only real good shots. A little. I have an own nesting area, but I'd have to hike thru snow to get there. Soon, soon, I'll have some dry ground.
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Apr 17, 2021 16:56
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Kayaking on Lake Union, I see
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Apr 17, 2021 16:56
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tk posted:Same. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen an owl outside of a zoo. They're tough birds to find usually, what with the whole being nocturnal and completely silent most of the time. jarlywarly posted:If it makes you feel any better I got up at 5am to walk to the place to take that shot for dawn, there was a pair of them hunting together, but they were hunting into the rising sun so that's one of the only real good shots. Well, it's definitely a good shot! I have yet to get a useable owl in flight picture, that's awesome.
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Apr 18, 2021 03:01
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800peepee51doodoo posted:They're tough birds to find usually, what with the whole being nocturnal and completely silent most of the time. That’s what I tell myself but then my mom sends me this cell phone shot of an owl just chilling at her work and I feel a little left out. 
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Apr 18, 2021 15:27
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Had a back-of-head kind of day. Weird light, too. Couldn't see anything because the snow was reflecting everything, but cloud cover so diffuse AND way, way too bright.  Not Gonna Look by B. B., on Flickr Back of the Head Kind of Day by B. B., on FlickrAt least got one profile.  Profile at Least by B. B., on Flickr
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Apr 18, 2021 15:45
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Haven't been shooting in what feels like forever. These were mostly bad mid afternoon light and heavy crops but it was still nice to get out. Hello owl friend.  Wildcat 2021 owl-2546 on Flickr Wildcat Mourning Dove-2560 on Flickr Wildcat 2021 vulture-2533 on Flickr Wildcat 2021 white-crowned-2475 on Flickr Wildcat 2021 goldfinch pulling fibers-2438 on Flickr Wildcat 2021 red wing in grass-2404 on Flickr Wildcat 2021 Cal Towhee-2288 on Flickr Wildcat 2021 Wilsons Warbler-2207 on Flickrtorgeaux posted:Had a back-of-head kind of day. Weird light, too. Couldn't see anything because the snow was reflecting everything, but cloud cover so diffuse AND way, way too bright. I can hear this picture jarlywarly posted:
Nice!!
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Apr 18, 2021 20:32
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DorianGravy posted:Cool stuff. I like these two in particular. Majestic! Thank you! Yeah I would like them to be brighter, but two things are preventing me. The adult eagles, get the head blown out so I gotta keep it down. On the very first one (this one), I went through the trouble of masking the head off so I could keep it the way it is while brightening the rest up, but that's too much effort to do as a matter of course. I really like the ones that don't have this factor and I can have nice and bright, like the juvenile above, or the osprey below. And the other factor is that even a small or moderate amount of bumping the exposure up, brings up a ton of noise in the shadows. And mids. There's also a funny effect where I spend enough time with a set of pictures in Darktable looking "objectively" at which dynamic details I can see, where the histogram is, etc., and my brain adapts to it as looking normal. Then when I get away from that and my brain resets and later I quickly show someone a picture on Flickr on my phone, it's dark as hell and how did it get like that?! As far as the composition, I'm aware of that tip, and I used to do it a lot more, but... it just feels conrtived, and I get self conscious like I'm trying to show off a talent I don't actually have, if that makes any sense? Like "ooh, look, you left space in front of the bird  ." So most of the time I just shy away from that and just fill up the frame with it like a document. But, for example, the pair of geese above, that is the full frame. First I'd decided to crop it down to them because the background was too busy, but then decided that despite the busy-ness, it felt nice to have them in their woodsy setting, and have the space in front of them where they're flying. And here is one I'm very proud of, that I may have posted last year. Anyway, I feel like if I keep posting so many of those, I might threadjack this into my personal eagle photo journey blog. So maybe at the end of the year I'll just pick out the very best. But in the meanwhile, another raptor  Continuing the contemplative turkey series with a robin  This little cute... Whatbird yields the following: Bay-breasted Warbler Clay-colored Sparrow Lark Sparrow Smith's Longspur ... none of which seem to be it  Okay okay, maybe just one more. Fetch!  quote:I went out to a local spot today. Spring is in the air, so it's time to sing! vessbot fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Apr 18, 2021 |
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Apr 18, 2021 22:58
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I'm not 100% familiar with US birds but is that not a Black Capped Chickadee or similar?
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Apr 18, 2021 23:29
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jarlywarly posted:I'm not 100% familiar with US birds but is that not a Black Capped Chickadee or similar? Was just about to edit in Blackpoll warbler, but yours seems to nail it way better.
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Apr 18, 2021 23:36
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jarlywarly posted:I'm not 100% familiar with US birds but is that not a Black Capped Chickadee or similar? yes
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Apr 18, 2021 23:36
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vessbot posted:Anyway, I feel like if I keep posting so many of those, I might threadjack this into my personal eagle photo journey blog. So maybe at the end of the year I'll just pick out the very best. I, for one, am excited for the Dorkroom version of J. A. Baker's The Peregrine.
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Apr 18, 2021 23:41
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vessbot posted:As far as the composition, I'm aware of that tip, and I used to do it a lot more, but... it just feels conrtived, and I get self conscious like I'm trying to show off a talent I don't actually have, if that makes any sense? Like "ooh, look, you left space in front of the bird I wouldn't worry about that stuff. If people actually express those opinions, then consider them, but don't get ahead of yourself. Just take pictures that you're happy with and let the chips fall where they may. From looking at your photos, I think you have plenty of talent. Just keep working on your craft (like all of us). vessbot posted:What's the shutter speed on the flying mallard and red winged blackbird? They're both 1/800s at f/6.3, but I'm not sure that's optimal. The Red-winged Blackbird is one of those *almost* photos. Nothing in the photo is in focus. I happened to take a picture when it launched off the cattail, but I kept it because its got a nice sense of motion and I like the red feather borders on the bird's back. I would love to do more "birds in motion" photography, but I have trouble with the focus. Does anyone here have tips for photographing birds in flight?
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Apr 19, 2021 16:44
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DorianGravy posted:Does anyone here have tips for photographing birds in flight? Use expansion point or zone focus modes, stop down a bit, bump up shutter speeds and keep an eye out for birds coming toward you from far enough away that you can find them in the viewfinder and start tracking them. This may sound obvious but practice really helps. Do you have a place where there's a lot of gulls hanging around? Go there and practice finding your subjects and tracking them. Also, from a compositional standpoint, try to get something in the background besides blue sky. Blue sky is fine but photos are usually more interesting with OOF landscape features adding color and the bird will likely be closer to eye level. e: oh, you might need to increase your exposure if its a dark bird and bright sky. You'll usually underexpose if you're using an averaged/center weighted meter and no exposure compensation 800peepee51doodoo fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Apr 19, 2021 |
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Apr 19, 2021 17:40
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White birds exposure compensation to the left, dark birds exposure compensation to the right. Barn Owls in good light need almost a stop underexposed on your exp compensation. Your lens if it has IS might have a different mode for tracking shots, you will almost always forget to change this. Also that flying duck is a Shoveler I think.
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Apr 19, 2021 22:06
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I'm also still learning to get birds in flight, and spent this weekend trying to get shots of tree swallows in motion, who are now back north in full force. The net result was a lot of blurry photos of tree swallows! I can only really get larger birds in flight, anything quick I can neither track or focus on yet. In time...   (this one is actually my wife's shot) Also found a killdeer:  And the double-crested cormorants are back on the river. The herring run is in about a month and should be a sight to behold... these guys and the herons will suck down so much fish they can't fly. 
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Apr 21, 2021 05:22
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DorianGravy posted:I wouldn't worry about that stuff. If people actually express those opinions, then consider them, but don't get ahead of yourself. To be clear, nobody has said any of this to me, it's purely internal monologue. But thanks for the encouragement. quote:Does anyone here have tips for photographing birds in flight? Exposure: After some initial trepidation before deigning to access the dark powers, I settled on Manual because even up-close birds don't fill the spot metering circle and the semi auto modes went wild. I'd also tried evaluative, and compensating for the difference between bird and background, but that would only work with one background. As a bird could be against white sky then against dark brush one form one frame to the next in the same pass, this didn't work either. Shutter: 1/1250 for big slow birds and faster for little ones, or quick action. (I see pictures online at 1/800 of eagles, by seasoned guys. I imagine staying at 1/1250 for a while) Aperture: as close to wide open while still staying sharp, which for my lens is one stop down, turning it into f/9. Which leaves the ISO as the one leftover thing to control the exposure with. When the sky is blue, I set it so aiming at bare sky just above the horizon the meter shows one stop to the right (at the same setting, 45 degrees up it's centered, and straight up it's one stop to the left). Also on the histogram, the sky spike is around the left edge of the 4th (of 5) zones. This gets the head right on bald eagles, with the rest being a bit too dark. The settings on the osprey are 1 stop higher than that, but also I've only shot that (only counting since seriously thinking about this stuff) once. And there were some clouds in the sky, I don't remember if any were blocking the sun. If there's a thin overcast, the light meter is 2-3 stops to the right, and the sky spike is in the center of the 5th zone, ie almost full white. I haven't had yet to deal with individual clouds blocking and unblocking the sun.  A redwing blackbird at 1/1600 from last year. jarlywarly posted:Your lens if it has IS might have a different mode for tracking shots, you will almost always forget to change this. One time I was below an osprey nest, and directly down-sun of me, 3 of them spent 5 minutes circling directly in front of me just above the ground, in the sunlight. Just their bodies were filling the frame, it felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity and I took hundreds of shots. My mouth was agape. Every single one was ruined, because I'd left the IS on non-panning mode  Perfectly wrong sun angle on this crow, but the shoe fits. 
vessbot fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Apr 25, 2021 |
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Apr 25, 2021 02:45
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I got outside yesterday and got a couple of passable captures: Here's a crow:  Crow by Jack R, on FlickrAnd here's an Oystercatcher  Oystercatcher by Jack R, on FlickrEssex Wildlife Trust have built a new hide on the reserve that I typically walk around; until this point there were just a pair of old sheds that had almost rotted away - lovely to see.
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Apr 25, 2021 16:53
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 Bufflehead by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr
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Apr 27, 2021 18:15
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That subtle iridescence!
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Apr 27, 2021 18:21
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That's a sexy duck!
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Apr 27, 2021 21:52
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Album of the whole set   
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Apr 30, 2021 04:21
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jarlywarly posted:I'm not 100% familiar with US birds but is that not a Black Capped Chickadee or similar? the maine state bird! i snapped this one last week (not the best shot from the bunch but i like this expression):  also on the same trail that day some glossy ibises came down out of the sky looking like dinosaurs and made me regret cheaping out on my gear   and here's a grackle about to poo poo outside my window: 
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Apr 30, 2021 06:35
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Finally getting out with my new R6. It's going to take some getting used to but I like it so far. The weird: Miss the top LCD screen a bit. I used it more than I thought I did to check stuff like what the exposure comp is set at. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Also weird- having the viewfinder black when you first put it up to your eye, until you wake it up with a button press. Coolness: having two back-button focus buttons, one for the AF point and one for the eye detect. I'm still getting used to the camera. The eye detect is pretty neat but for the casual shooting I was able to do this week, it wasn't that revolutionary. But watching it follow a woodpecker up a tree is pretty fun. I'm already liking the control layout. 20fps electronic shutter is way more than I need in most cases. I'm already hate wading through and deleting, and this just amplifies it. Will probably stick with the mechanical shutter unless I need the quiet or I'm dealing with really fast motion. First pics. Most of these are heavily cropped. Tamron 150-600.  Gyuto camtest ScrubJay-0187 on Flickr Gyuto camtest DeJu-0218 on Flickr Gyuto camtest DeJu-0223on FlickrDifferent day, Canon 400/5.6. I'll probably rent some TCs to try with this soon.  Wildcat camtest HaWo-0477 on Flickr Wildcat camtest WeBl-0332 on Flickr Wildcat camtest MoDo-0263 on Flickr Wildcat camtest Scrub Jays -0552 on Flickr
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May 2, 2021 00:54
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Happy duck Action duck  Guys, I'm sorry but I suck too much at using Whatbird  
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May 2, 2021 05:57
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Nice Swallow birds are Mallard male Mallard female Tree Swallow  Blackcap feeding by Aves Lux, on Flickr
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May 2, 2021 09:37
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Regarding birds in flight:800peepee51doodoo posted:Use expansion point or zone focus modes, stop down a bit, bump up shutter speeds and keep an eye out for birds coming toward you from far enough away that you can find them in the viewfinder and start tracking them. This may sound obvious but practice really helps. Do you have a place where there's a lot of gulls hanging around? Go there and practice finding your subjects and tracking them. jarlywarly posted:Your lens if it has IS might have a different mode for tracking shots, you will almost always forget to change this. Hmm, I'm using a Nikon d5600 with a Nikkon 200-500mm lens. My focus modes are "Auto-servo AF," "Single-servo AF," "Continuous-servo AF," and manual focus. I use auto-servo for most things, and have been trying continuous-servo for birds in flight. Is that right? When I'm taking pictures of fast birds flying in front of water, the camera often focuses on the water, so I'll have to read up on how to deal with that. I'm not familiar with expansion point or zone focus. It seems like "zone focus" is just keeping the camera on manual and photographing things in a certain range? This is great! Cormorants are cool. vessbot posted:
This is a fantastic shot! I love how in-focus the individual feathers are. And there's a ton of other fantastic stuff on this page, too! I went birding at my normal spot this morning. In addition to Red-winged Blackbirds and Great Blue Herons, I got a great view of a Bald Eagle. I'm trying to do more bird-in-flight photos, but the focus is tricky.        
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May 2, 2021 22:27
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quote:Hmm, I'm using a Nikon d5600 with a Nikkon 200-500mm lens. My focus modes are "Auto-servo AF," "Single-servo AF," "Continuous-servo AF," and manual focus. I use auto-servo for most things, and have been trying continuous-servo for birds in flight. Is that right? When I'm taking pictures of fast birds flying in front of water, the camera often focuses on the water, so I'll have to read up on how to deal with that. I'm not familiar with expansion point or zone focus. It seems like "zone focus" is just keeping the camera on manual and photographing things in a certain range? That's the focus modes on your camera sounds like you are using them correctly, however on some lenses with IS there's modes for the IS for still/panning. On my Canon 100-400 L IS II there are 3 modes changeable by a switch on the lens Mode 1 is for still subjects (perched birds.) Mode 2 is for tracking moving subject (flying birds.) Mode 3 is IS only on when taking a shot. https://www.canoncamerageek.com/canon-100-400-stabilizer-modes.html http://billferrisphoto.com/2016/01/...20or%20quickly. jarlywarly fucked around with this message at 23:08 on May 2, 2021 |
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May 2, 2021 23:04
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Spring bird photos. I love these little guys, I swear more than the bald eagles. Posed For Me by B. B., on Flickr Indignant by B. B., on FlickrCrop question on this one. I could not shoot around the obstacle, but loved the shape of the bird with the snow. Which works better?  In Spite of the Obstacle by B. B., on Flickr Curves by B. B., on Flickr
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May 3, 2021 17:36
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the warblers are here!    
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May 3, 2021 18:08
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BRAKE FOR MOOSE posted:the warblers are here! Yay! Those are gorgeous.
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May 3, 2021 19:39
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I am jealous of those pictures.
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May 3, 2021 20:05
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torgeaux posted:
Yeah, juncos are pretty cool. The ordinary, extraordinary junco (some junco researchers put together a film about them with this name). Regarding the crops, I might go even tighter on the close one. If your intent is to emphasize the shapes of the bird profile and snow, you could crop in from the left a little more so that the pointy corner of the brown patch just hits the edge. This would make the shapes a little larger in frame and abstract the color patches a little more so that the brown patch kind of matches the bill shape. Just my thought while covering parts of the photo with a piece of paper. BRAKE FOR MOOSE, I'm jealous over here on the west coast. I did get a very distant hermit warbler the other day but our wimpy spring migration seems especially anemic this year maybe because of all the fires last year.
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May 3, 2021 21:42
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My partner and I rented a cute little cottage this past weekend not too far from Nisqually NWR and went birding both mornings. Saw some fun things! Warblers:   Other little birds:      
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May 3, 2021 21:55
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jarlywarly posted:That's the focus modes on your camera sounds like you are using them correctly, however on some lenses with IS there's modes for the IS for still/panning. Thanks. I don't think I have those, but I'm having fun. torgeaux posted:Crop question on this one. I could not shoot around the obstacle, but loved the shape of the bird with the snow. Which works better? I like the closer crop. On the wider crop, the right edge is fine, but the out-of-focus left edge is distracting If you wanted a medium crop, you could try just cropping off the left part. And yeah, Juncos are great. They're the only birds that come to my feeder. Fantastic Warbers, Moose and Kenshin. Yellow birds are my favorites. When I went out yesterday, there were lots of swallows darting around over the water. I assume they were hunting for little bugs flying over the water. Here are four different species flying around the same pond: Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Barn Swallow  Violet-green Swallow  Cliff Swallow  It would be neat to see all of the U.S. species of swallows (or another type). I've seen these four and Purple Martins.
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May 4, 2021 03:04
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Your 200-500 does have IS modes as per the second link (unless I got the lens wrong) Chaffinch with scaly foot by Aves Lux, on Flickr
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May 4, 2021 20:22
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Met a kingfisher the other day. It looks like it belongs in the tropics, not on these cursed latitudes where it's still below 0°C at night in early May. Photos didn't exactly turn out super sharp though, mostly because I was too far away on the other side of the river, but I'm happy with what I got. I sat on the riverbank for like an hour and saw the birds pass by up and down like 4-5 times before I got even this much - they're just really hard to catch in flight with how fast they fly so close to the river. Kingfisher on Flickr  Kingfisher on Flickr Also met this kestrel:  Common kestrel on Flickr I got this stationary shot from far away, with the camera set to 1/250th. Then I was going to head closer, but then the kestrel took off and got into an argument with a crow, and while I got some cool shots of that it was still at 1/250th so it's all blurry. Didn't have time to stick around and wait for it to come back either. 
TheFluff fucked around with this message at 22:05 on May 4, 2021 |
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May 4, 2021 22:00
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Some shots from this weekend. Haven't managed to get any of warblers that I'm happy with. Great Blue Heron  Great Blue Heron  Baltimore Oriole  Baltimore Oriole  Eastern Screech-Owl  Eastern Screech-Owl
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May 5, 2021 03:03
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The warblers have really taught me a difference between what's good for birding and what's good for photography. The unquestionable best place for spring migration in the area is a garden cemetery with very tall trees and a lot of space, so they'll flit about in and out of view constantly and I mostly get shots of their undersides. All of my good shots have been from a hotspot on the bank of a river, where I'll see far fewer birds on a given day and won't see some of the rarer species, but they'll regularly dip to eye level and they move around in one area for a while.
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May 5, 2021 15:42
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BRAKE FOR MOOSE posted:The warblers have really taught me a difference between what's good for birding and what's good for photography. The unquestionable best place for spring migration in the area is a garden cemetery with very tall trees and a lot of space, so they'll flit about in and out of view constantly and I mostly get shots of their undersides. All of my good shots have been from a hotspot on the bank of a river, where I'll see far fewer birds on a given day and won't see some of the rarer species, but they'll regularly dip to eye level and they move around in one area for a while. Yeah, all of those photos were at Mount Auburn, and all of the warblers were too high in trees, and the ones that were close had poo poo lighting. Where are you getting your shots?
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May 5, 2021 17:42
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EPICAC posted:Yeah, all of those photos were at Mount Auburn, and all of the warblers were too high in trees, and the ones that were close had poo poo lighting. Where are you getting your shots? North side of the Charles in Watertown, mostly around the dam. Yellow-rumped are common there at the moment but the rest are pretty sporadic. Good spot for cormorants and there's a group of black-crowned night herons
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May 5, 2021 17:50
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