Sunbird

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Equipment used: Canon EOS 1D Mark II, Canon EF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM, Canon EF 2x II converter. Settings: 45 point AF, 1/500, f5.6, ISO 800. Place: Fraser's Hill, Malaysia.

[Glenn Bartley]

A neat feeding image. I like the setting. In this case though with the pose it would be really nice to have more DOF. Or try for a shot where the bird is more parallel with the camera.

[Sid Garige]

Sabyasachi,

head is sharp and blur indicates motion. like the story. But here are few issues with this image IMO

1. This image requires more DOF. At 800mm 5.6 you are pretty much in inches. If your requirement is just to show birds head I guess it was met. But showing more of the bird will add more to the image.

2. I dont have much experience with humming birds and sun birds. 1/500 looks kind of iffy for me.

3. Empty space on right is another issue i noticed. may be crop a little bit tighter to fix this?

Nice effort. keep them coming.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Thanks Sid for your comments.
I also don't have much experience in birds, that too small birds like sun birds. I am passionate about tigers and 90% of my shots are tigers. I tried my hand at photographing sunbirds, during my recent Malaysia trip. I agree with your observation that 1/500 is too less to freeze the sunbird. Unfortunately, the light levels were low and I was already at ISO 800. I do have shots of sunbird perched on a flower with eyes and body in focus, but this appeared better to me. As I had said, bird photography is not my forte. I have come to this forum to get feedback and improve....Miles to go...