Striated Thornbill

For the past two summers I have had a lot of fun taking pictures using a high speed flash set-up at one of our bird baths. This year my wife wanted in on the action so I set things up using her 7D and before handing over I took a few test shots. I rather like this one of a Striated Thornbill, taken on 10 March 2014. They are one of our smallest birds and spend most of their time foraging for insects in the canopy but they love to come down from the tree tops a couple of times a day for communal bathing. They are usually regarded as uninteresting little brown birds but close up I think they are rather charming and always seem to be happy. I used synchronized multiple flashes, pre-set manual focus, and a piece of sail cloth for the background.

The gear I used for this set-up was a Canon 7D + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 1.4x III extender on a Gitzo 3532LS tripod, Kirkphoto King Cobra gimbal, and RS80-N3 remote shutter release.
For lighting I used a 600 EX-RT flash with Better Beamer on the camera at a range of about 4.3 m. Two other 600EX-RT were used as slave flashes and mounted about 0.75 m on either side in front of the bird bath.
Camera settings: manual, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO 125, 1/8 flash output power all units (pulse width about 1/5000 sec).

Processed in DPP: crop, adjust brightness, shad/h'lights, sharpen, RAW-TIFF. PS Elements: downsize, sharpen, TIFF-JPEG.

Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome.

Wow. This is an impressive and skillfully captured image. May we assume that you pressed the shutter button and did not use any type of trigger. The pose and BKGR are great and that single sharp drop of water above the bird's head is a big plus for me. In addition I like the boxy crop here and the inclusion of some of the pool. EXP and flash work right on!

I second everything Arthur Morris had to say. Awesome image...beautiful colors and action...razor sharp. Really nice job not making it look overly flashed.

Technical preparation is far superior to anything I have/could done.
I like the BG color and the fact that the bird doesn't look too flashed. Feather details are perfect and perfect sharpness as well.
I do wish that the far wing was raised a bit more and not intersecting with the head.
I like this comp but can see a version as a landscape with more room in front,
Gail

Excellent pose, great details and flash work. A lovely setup you have; I too would've wanted in on the action :)

Excellent pose, and great details. Beautifully done.

:S3:A M A Z I N G:S3: Well done Ian

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

Wow. This is an impressive and skillfully captured image. May we assume that you pressed the shutter button and did not use any type of trigger. The pose and BKGR are great and that single sharp drop of water above the bird's head is a big plus for me. In addition I like the boxy crop here and the inclusion of some of the pool. EXP and flash work right on!

---

Thanks for your positive feedback Arthur. The shutter was actuated manually - when the action started I just fired a burst of three frames and hoped one would turn out OK. In many frames the bird was oof and lots of times the position of the bird in the frame was not ideal (sometimes not even in the frame) but about 5% were keepers, enough to keep me interested. Regards, Ian.

Cracker Ian, a super capture of a great little bird.

As soon as I saw this I thought mult-flash set-up.
Having read your burst of three shots, I was stoked for you. It is such a great stroke of luck to get this shot of such small Aussie speedster.
It is a very unusual image and excellent in all aspects. Congrats for your awesome result!

Awesome capture Ian - great skill and timing to achieve this...

Thanks everyone for your generous feedback on this image. Regards, Ian.