Birding with the 100 macro

[Steve Foss]

There are situations where focal length is not vital for a bird portrait. While I, like many other avian photographers, really enjoy tight portraits of our favorite subjects shot with supertele lenses, here is a case in which I decided to experiment by setting up the 100 macro and Canon body on a tripod about 3 feet from a perch near my feeder, manual focusing on a point about a foot behind the perch and using a remote release to trigger bursts at approaching birds. The spray-and-pray method has its uses.

This was more an experiment to see what's possible than an attempt at art. The lighting is fair, but I'd make the obvious critique of my own image by disliking the hot spot from the sky in the upper right. I do like the fairly dramatic pose of the bird, and of course for those who don't like blurry wings, a bump in iso and shutter speed would have taken care of that factor.

Crop off top and bottom.

Canon 1Dmk2n, Canon 100 macro, iso200, 1/640 at f3.2

[George DeCamp]

Hey Steve,

Interesting idea and I am sure it does work. Agree with your own assessment of your image, perhaps a higher f-stop would help a bit as well to get a little more DOF. Fun to experiment and I hope to see you do more and share it with us.

[Alfred Forns]

Love the idea Steve !!!! Excellent wing position straight in look and those prominent eyes !!!!

Last week I was trying the same but using a fish eye Got some things to work out but planning to try again Might go with a little longer focal length !!!

[Jody Melanson]

I like how he is looking at us, the bright upper right light draws my eye away from your subject though. Maybe try with flash and more DOF and a higher shutter speed?

[Steve Foss]

Thanks everybody. I thought about more DOF, but when I chimped on the back of the camera DOF looked OK, and I notice a decent amount of focus from the bill all the way to the tail, which leads me to believe the OOF wings are a shutter speed issue, not a DOF issue.

At that short focal length, I also struggled with the background. It's just barely OOF enough to suit me (40 feet behind the perch and with the help of noise ninja and gaussian blur to help it along), and more DOF would have made it too sharp to suit me.

I'm interested in your thoughts on all that.

[dsacer]

Since you're at a feeder, there is nothing to keep you from lighting the birds, or from providing a custom backdrop. That'll easily solve any shutter speed issues, and let you produce a smooth (or not-so-smooth) background, as you see fit.

[Maxis Gamez]

Hello Steve,

A very interesting image. The high spot in the BG really takes away from your subject but a very fun experiment for sure.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, dsacer. I appreciate your thoughts. There is one thing keeping me from lighting them and providing a studio-type background: Myself. I try in almost all avian circumstances to limit myself to natural backgrounds and ambient light. Just my preference. That may change over time.

Thanks again for looking and commenting.