Tufted Titmouse

[Lana Hays]

I haven't done much photography lately due to school, lack of birds and the weather. This weekend we had blizzard warnings and 10 inches of snow. Hopefully I can photograph this afternoon. For now this Titmouse was photographed 2 weeks ago when we had another storm. This is a setup of a limb placed off my back porch railing and I add some crushed peanuts.......thus I am posting the image here. I cut up a couple of black garbage bags and taped them together to hang down from my office window........with only a portion open for the camera/flash. Then I shut my door, turn on a kerosene heater and photography with the window up. The birds become quite acclimated to the camera and I can really concentrate on some nice images. I prefer to photograph out and about but for winters with the lack of birds this works well and is a nice diversion to grading APBiology essays, tests and lab reports.

Canon 5D, 500mmL IS, 1.4XTC, 580EX speedlite, tripod
ISO 400, ss 1/160, f/14 (Manual exposure and manual flash)
Canon DPP raw conversion, cropped some all around, USM

[Rob Miner]

Hey Lana,

A great species pic. I love the calmness of the grey background. The turn of the birds head is almost a "curtsy" in appreciation for your efforts.

I have diffculty taking picture at feeders (not that yours doesn't) that fufil the constraints of composition. I would suggest that you take advantage of one of you students in Wood Shop and have them mount different perches on your landing piece. I think that would facilitate a variety of compositional poses that you are not given at this time.

Rob..............

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Excellent in all respects,nice work Lana

[Bill Foxworthy]

Stunningly beautiful bird. Thanks for posting your setup specs. I have got to get a feeder or something set-up to get some of the (Darter) quick landing/flying little birds here in FL.
Do you use DPP a lot for editing your birds?
Love this bird, background and snow streaks!
bf
.

[James Salywoda]

Stunning shot Lana!!!!!! I love the detail,pose and falling snow.

[Lana Hays]

Hey Lana,

A great species pic. I love the calmness of the grey background. The turn of the birds head is almost a "curtsy" in appreciation for your efforts.

I have diffculty taking picture at feeders (not that yours doesn't) that fufil the constraints of composition. I would suggest that you take advantage of one of you students in Wood Shop and have them mount different perches on your landing piece. I think that would facilitate a variety of compositional poses that you are not given at this time.

Rob..............

I know.....the perch is certainly not a good one. Truly good setups take time to develop. I had very few downed limbs in the backyard to use but I'm always on the lookout for good perches. Unfortunately we don't have a wood shop at our school.....and most schools no longer have them which is a shame. I know what I need......it's just not always easy to find.

[Rob Miner]

Maybe, I overstepped the bounds in my critique. Apologies offered. Great shot.

Rob.............

[Lana Hays]

Maybe, I overstepped the bounds in my critique. Apologies offered. Great shot.

Rob.............

You certainly didn't overstep your bounds.....you merely pointed out a flaw which is what a critique is all about. No apology needed.

[Glenda Simmons]

Sweet image of one of my favorite little yard birds. Thanks for the extra info about your set up.