Nikhil Patwardhan
01-31-2013, 08:19 PM
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8433339909_2862036bf4_b_d.jpg
A week ago, on a winter weekend at Losen Slote Creek Park in NJ, I came across a dozen chickadees feeding on and around the trail. I sat still for almost 30 minutes when this bird perched about 7 feet away and I was able to click it with a newly acquired 300mm f/2.8 lens. The birds were trying to pick seeds from some prickly coniferous cones (Google Image search shows "Beech" or "Prickly Bur" as the best matching ones). Once they had pried out the tiny seeds(?) out of the cones, this after some effort, they carried it off to a perch to eat it. This chickadee was doing just that. Temperature was in the 20s, my fingers were freezing despite the gloves...
The original picture was clicked in horizontal orientation and the bottom edge was about where the lowest branch ends. I cloned a strip of plain background just below the tip of the lowest branch to give more "head room" towards the bottom. Minor contrast / WB / saturation adjustments in addition.
Clicked with a Nikon D200 and Nikon 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF (non AF-S) lens at f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200. The bird was very close to the closest focus point of the lens, I am not sure if it would have been possible to get the entire bird in focus from this distance.... I'd appreciate any comments on how this image can be improved. Also any tips on how to shoot such subjects from close distance, e.g. what aperture to use would be appreciated too.
Thanks for watching.
A week ago, on a winter weekend at Losen Slote Creek Park in NJ, I came across a dozen chickadees feeding on and around the trail. I sat still for almost 30 minutes when this bird perched about 7 feet away and I was able to click it with a newly acquired 300mm f/2.8 lens. The birds were trying to pick seeds from some prickly coniferous cones (Google Image search shows "Beech" or "Prickly Bur" as the best matching ones). Once they had pried out the tiny seeds(?) out of the cones, this after some effort, they carried it off to a perch to eat it. This chickadee was doing just that. Temperature was in the 20s, my fingers were freezing despite the gloves...
The original picture was clicked in horizontal orientation and the bottom edge was about where the lowest branch ends. I cloned a strip of plain background just below the tip of the lowest branch to give more "head room" towards the bottom. Minor contrast / WB / saturation adjustments in addition.
Clicked with a Nikon D200 and Nikon 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF (non AF-S) lens at f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200. The bird was very close to the closest focus point of the lens, I am not sure if it would have been possible to get the entire bird in focus from this distance.... I'd appreciate any comments on how this image can be improved. Also any tips on how to shoot such subjects from close distance, e.g. what aperture to use would be appreciated too.
Thanks for watching.