We have a nest box on our house and each year we get Great Tits nesting in it.
I love to try and take pictures of these little birds as they make up to 1000 trips per day (apparently) back and forth to the nest box to feed their young.
I'm interested in any comments/tips anyone might have.
BTW, these birds are fast. These shots were taken using my camera's maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 and they're still slightly blurred. Lighting was with my new Metz flash (I'll post a separate thread and samples on how well that works with the 'F707).
I can't get those pictures to load - they're *huge*. And I have massive bandwidth here, so there might be an issue on your server's end. It just tries to load and load and load and nothing happens.
The pictures aren't huge - I think there's a problem with pbase. Sometimes they load for me (very quickly), sometimes not. I guess pbase is just busy (sigh).
true........slow at pbase.
Your page with the thumbs I can get to from 'all galleries'=RESENT.......the thumbs are beautiful......as is your pond. I can't load the full shot.
I'll go back later......Great job on the pond it is wonderful. Big job.
true........slow at pbase.
Your page with the thumbs I can get to from 'all galleries'=RESENT.......the thumbs are beautiful......as is your pond. I can't load the full shot.
I'll go back later......Great job on the pond it is wonderful. Big job.
Thanks Justine - it was quite a big job (dug it all out myself :-) - that was last summer. Now it's starting to get established and plants are growing up around it, it's looking pretty good. And you woldn't believe the amount of life in it - I want to catch some of the little critters (Dragonfly larvae, Waterboatmen, Podnskaters) and take some macros.
Some nice shots on there. The background hurts a few of them with the sun directly on the trees making it overbright.
I'm shocked at the shutter speeds you're having to use, though yours look pin sharp compared to the few 'roughly bird shaped blurs' I've managed to get in our garden!
Some nice shots on there. The background hurts a few of them with the sun directly on the trees making it overbright.
I'm shocked at the shutter speeds you're having to use, though yours look pin sharp compared to the few 'roughly bird shaped blurs' I've managed to get in our garden!
Thanks. I have to take pot luck with the backgrounds. If I shot from the other side, I'd get the back of the house which is much less attractive :-)
You'd think 1/1000 would be fast enough, wouldn't you? Makes you realise just how quick they are. I've thought of positioning the camera more in line with the birds' line of flight so that the amount they move across the from is minimised. I need to extend my remote control cable first, though.
Are the birds crossing the camera's field or are you panning with them? My shot Feathered Rat came out surprisingly well with an exposure of only 1/250 sec. On that page there's a link to another pigeon photo; both of them were shot with (an attempt at) motion panning. Although I guess in these shots the birds are stopping...
1/1000 fast? I regularly get up into the multiple thousandth's with my 602 - one of the reasons I bought it was tat it goes to 1/10000 in manual mode. Not just useful for action, either - but a lot of my sunset/sunrise shots get upto that kind of shutter speed too.
Are the birds crossing the camera's field or are you panning with them? My shot Feathered Rat came out surprisingly well with an exposure of only 1/250 sec. On that page there's a link to another pigeon photo; both of them were shot with (an attempt at) motion panning. Although I guess in these shots the birds are stopping...
Catching them catching food is amazing!
They're crossing the camera's field. Camera is fixed on a tripod and I'm triggering the shutter when I anticipate the bird will be in the right position. If I waited till I registered that the bird was in the right place, I'd miss the shot. These birds are fast - there's no way I could pan with them.
And I wish I was good enough to catch them cathing food, but the bird already had the food in its mouth :-)
1/1000 fast? I regularly get up into the multiple thousandth's with my 602 - one of the reasons I bought it was tat it goes to 1/10000 in manual mode. Not just useful for action, either - but a lot of my sunset/sunrise shots get upto that kind of shutter speed too.
Ed
Thanks. 1/10000 is pretty damn fast - most DSLRs only go up to 1/4000 or so (Canon's flagship EOS-1Ds will do 1/8000). I think 1/2000 or 1/4000 would do it, though. Trying to convince my wife that this is a good reason to upgrade to an EOS-10D but not having much luck so far :-)
Are the birds crossing the camera's field or are you panning with them? My shot Feathered Rat came out surprisingly well with an exposure of only 1/250 sec. On that page there's a link to another pigeon photo; both of them were shot with (an attempt at) motion panning. Although I guess in these shots the birds are stopping...
I guess smaller birds have to flap a heck of a lot faster than 'feathered rats'. I've had some success with ducks around the 1/250 to 1/350 mark. I do prefer to see some blur on the wingtips anyway, to give that sense of motion.
We have a pair of huge black birds (crows I guess) nesting in the warehouses at work that pretty much just open their wings and jump to get airborne. No flapping required!
Andrew -- Take a look at my Challenge photos of a hummingbird, and a bat (Titled "Dinner Time").
I use a tripod and remote control, which I pre-focus in anticipation of the subjects arrival.
Yes, it takes lots of shots, and I would like a faster shutter.
We have a nest box on our house and each year we get Great Tits nesting in it.
I love to try and take pictures of these little birds as they make up to 1000 trips per day (apparently) back and forth to the nest box to feed their young.
Here are a couple of shots from this year:
Braking I especially like the braking photothanks for sharing.crafty Sue
I'm interested in any comments/tips anyone might have.
BTW, these birds are fast. These shots were taken using my camera's maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 and they're still slightly blurred. Lighting was with my new Metz flash (I'll post a separate thread and samples on how well that works with the 'F707).
Here is an outtake on one of the pictures I was taking for the "Pencil" Challenge last summer. Its a female ruby throated hummingbird. I'll be taking alot more pictures this summer with my new Olympus e-20.
Andrew -- Take a look at my Challenge photos of a hummingbird, and a bat (Titled "Dinner Time").
I use a tripod and remote control, which I pre-focus in anticipation of the subjects arrival.
Yes, it takes lots of shots, and I would like a faster shutter.
I like the hummingbord shot, but the bat is really cool. We have bats round here occasionally and I was wondering if it would be possible to catch them with the IR. That shot is great, though - well done.
Speaking of birds, about 20 minutes ago I had a visitor, or two.
PS. Absolutely no processing other than cropping in these shots.
Ed
edited to correct link
Nice shots. Particularly like the first shot, lit by the setting sun and with its orange eye.
What I'd really like to do is take a good Robin shot - I think they're the most attractive little birds. We have one or two round the garden, but so far haven't sat still long enough.
Here is an outtake on one of the pictures I was taking for the "Pencil" Challenge last summer. Its a female ruby throated hummingbird. I'll be taking alot more pictures this summer with my new Olympus e-20.
We don't get hummingbirds over here. Those wings are really moving aren't they? Nice shot. I'd like to see a bigger version of it, though.
I don't know how to get a larger image on the forum, but you can see it larger on my new portfolio additions page in my portfolio. The male ruby throated hummingbird has a bright red throat that is beautiful when the sun reflects off of it. There are approximately 340 known species of hummingbirds in the world. over 170 are near the equator especially Costa Rica. North America has about 17 species. The mid atlantic and northeast has only one, the ruby throated hummingbird. Their wings beat at up to 70 times per second. They are the only birds that are able to hover and they can change direction 180 degrees instantly. They are always fascinating to watch. I will post more pictures as they have started to visit my feeders again. I am expecting about 18 of them based on previous years observations.
