Yellow-bellied Tit

[Craig Brelsford]

Introducing the yellow-bellied tit (Periparus venustulus), a Chinese endemic. Flocks of these cute parids come to Shanghai every fall and spend the winter in the parks. I heard a group calling in the trees above, put my iPhone on a branch, and played a recording of their call. Within seconds, 10 to 15 adult males had flown down to investigate. I found that if I stepped back too far the tiny bird was too small in the frame, but if I moved in too close my reflexes were too slow to capture the fast-moving bird in flight. My solution was to get close and begin firing before the bird alighted. This involved closely observing the birds and trying to determine when the tit was a second or two away from taking off. Self-criticism: I'd prefer an open-winged posture, and I'd like eye contact from the tit.

Device: Nikon D3S
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal length: 600mm
VR: OFF
Aperture: F/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/5000
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering: Center-Weighted
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 3200
Subject Distance: 7.1 m
Photoshoppery: See original below. The tit alighted from the tall branch, far right. The branch over which the tit is flying in the original could be mistaken for the jump-off point; I therefore content-awared it out in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended. Noise reduction on BG but not on tree or bird. Cropped.

[Craig Brelsford]

The original.

[Colin Driscoll]

Not to take anything away from the degree of difficulty in getting the shot, I have mixed feelings about this one Craig. I think it has to do with the overall drab lighting and not sure there's much to be done about it. I tried a little dodging around the head and eye which helped a bit. Certainly interesting to see it airborne without wings.

[Craig Brelsford]

Hi, Colin! There's only one thing to be done, and that's get out and take more shots. I too am not satisfied. The most important thing though was discovering a technique, i.e., the combination of recorded calls and pre-emptive shooting. Yesterday, I focused on high-risk, high-reward action photography for several hours, until I grew so tired that I went back to more typical portrait shots. It's not easy to shoot little birds in flight, no siree. P.S. Not sure what you mean by drab lighting--the sunshine seemed brilliant to me yesterday.

[Stu Bowie]

Craig, well timed to capture him in flight, and just love the tucked in feet. Good contrasting colours, and once again, great photoshoppery, as you say.:w3

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Craig, excellent timing but I'd have liked the bird not in front of the tree trunk.

[Craig Brelsford]

Thanks, Stu and Kaus. Kaus, I too would rather have the bird off the trunk. Let's just say it's hard to get this type of photography right. I'll be out there again in the coming days. I need to build on what I got Sunday.

[Chris Kotze]

Well exposed and great timing. Super looking bird