Displaying dipper

[Mike Poole]

I'm doing a mini-project with these funny little birds at the moment, and this one decided to put on a little show. Made up for getting out of bed at silly o'clock!

Canon 7d, 400mm f5.6, ISO 400 1/80th f5.6, too big a crop for my liking

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot I got similar yesterday but in side view. Good exposure and detail and at 1/80th sec, is the bird just a tiny ad on the bright side - a minor point, good shot well captured, it is not always easy to get close to these little critters.

[Richard Flack]

Mike, that is an awesome shot. I have tried to find something to criticize but to be honest the only thing I could say is that it would have been nicer to have more light on the underside of the belly (left side) to bring out the colour there... but that was not your call. Great shot! Great IQ and brilliant pose.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Mike for me a even lower POV, so you are at eye level would be better, well certainly for me. I also find the HA a little awkward, if the head was aligned with the body so you had a full on shot I feel would have worked better, as that slight view of the left eye (as view) is not ideal. Also cracking up the ISO would be good, 1/80 is a little low, at this size it's OK, but to print or at a larger size, you may find issues. I would consider thinking about bolting on a 1.4x for a bit more reach too and perhaps an Angle Finder?

Made up for getting out of bed at silly o'clock!

Tell me about it, I'm been getting into the hide before the sun comes up over the past 8 days, oh what joy, but the dawn chorus makes up for it.

TFS
Steve

[John Robinson]

Hi Mike
Know nothing about Canon(what a shame!) but you could I am sure take the ISO up. Iuse 800 normally all the time on a selection of rubbishy old NIkons and seem to do OK,(Unless your a canon man !)
The pose head on is never good for any bird never mind dippers. The angle looks ok to me and the only thing I would suggest is a little less perch showing. I,ve lived over thirtyfive years next to three dipper sites within 600 metres and I aint got a good un yet !!! Two out of three nest sites I know have deserted whilst building due to " nature snappers". And theres nothing you can do. Contact the police - they say "dipper wot !Cheers
John

[keith mitchell]

Mike the negative bits have been covered ( do agree with Steve re shutter speed as I'm sure we would all like to get a better one), I do like the one legged stance and the raised wings, it's certainly a lot better than I have got, looks great to me.

Keith.

[Mike Poole]

Thanks for all the comments - much appreciated.

Regarding the slow shutter speed - it was all I had available unfortuntaely when the bird struck the pose. My 7d doesn't do high ISO well (there does seem to be a big sample variation in these bodies), so I took some earlier shots at ISO 800, then dropped to 400 and exposed to the right to try and squeeze the most out of the shots as I could. I could not physically get any closer to the perch without jumpling in the river (which is flowing far too fast at the moment, and would possibly compromise the nest site itself, so not going to happen).

I did get plenty of side on shots, but it was the raised wings which made me choose this one, so I was stuck with the head angle he gave me.

Thanks again for any suggestions

[Andrew Robinson]

Love the pose Mike, never managed o get that myself.

Andrew