Snowfall Bohemian Waxwing

Winter has fully descended on Northwestern Ontario. After a few days of being couped up inside (except for super-happy-fun shoveling time...) I decided to get camo'd up and set-up in the backyard in the falling snow (hiding neck-deep in my hedges with my monopod mounted camera) and see if I could photograph some of the roving bandits that have been visiting my backyard flowering crab this week.

Canon 5DII -- 400mm F5.6L w/12mm extension tube -- f8 @ 1/400 -- ISO400 -- Manual Exposure

Attachment 83405

Hey Jeff, I really like this picture. If I had any comments it would be about the "glowing globes," they distract me from my visual feast. If this picture can be improved - it wouldn't be the same picture.

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

Nice comp and wintery setting, including the "glowing globes":cool: Too bad about the FG OOF branch running across the LRC, and I would get rid of the twig tip sticking out the bird's left side (our right).

I'm wondering about the extention tube...I've read before that it gives a tiny bit of magnification when slapped on. Is this why you used it, or because you were getting so close to the waxwings that you needed to reduce the MFD?

lovely setting for the waxwing. shame as already said about the OOF branches at the bottom, but they are just a small minus point on a very nice photo.

wow this is nice, think you have been rewarded for braving the cold :)

Hi Jeff,

Sometimes when reviewing an image I pretend it is mine and decide if I would be happy with it and want to send it to my friends. The answer here is a resounding "Yes" and "Yes." I love waxwings and you've captured the nuance of their unique colors perfectly. Everything else is just icing on the cake with all the berries and stuff. The snow is awesome as well and I never worry about any of the extraneous natural elements that are "out of order" so I wouldn't do anything to the image.

DB

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daniel Cadieux

I'm wondering about the extention tube...I've read before that it gives a tiny bit of magnification when slapped on. Is this why you used it, or because you were getting so close to the waxwings that you needed to reduce the MFD?

---

Daniel - I was quite close to the tree so I used the extension tube to reduce the MFD. The minimum focal distance on the 400mm f/5.6 is 3.5m - the 12mm extension reduces the MFD to ~2.9m. I guess it doesn't seem like a big difference unless you are 3.2m from the subject and you can't move backwards or get focus!

Sweet Shot!! The berry in the beak really makes it for me and the composition is very nice.