I was out walking the perimeter of a nearby lake when this little guy started singing in the tree right next to where I was standing. This is one of the first times I've caught a wild bird out in the open (meaning not my backyard) so my DOF isn't great - but what else should I have done differently? (I was a little excited to be standing so close to him and I got flusthered!) :o
Canon 40D, 70-200mm f/4L USM
f5 @ 1/250
Handheld, AWB, Eval meter
Huge crop in PP, selectively lightened face/lower body of bird
Hey, Julie, not so bad under conditions of unexpectedness and excitement!! I know the feeling! He looks a bit flustered himself! Probably the best thing you could have done would have been to position yourself so the tree branches didn't obstruct the bird - however, the bird might have left while you tried to do that....Looks like you got his eye pretty sharp, I'm guessing you must have manually focussed. What were your exposure compensation & ISO settings? A higher ISO might have allowed a faster shutter speed and stopped more of the movement. Exposure was tough here because of the range of very bright and dark colors.
Hi Julie the compensation info is a big deal, Anita is so right about this one !!! Looks like the bird is a little underexposed in camera? If it was back lit would have needed some plus comp. Can go in PS and selectively do the head/tail to lighten some.
One thing that will help you and give flexibility is using a converter with your lens. That lens works very well with a 1.4X The normal camera magnification is 1.5X with the convert you add another 1.4X Will be close to a 400!!!!!
Composition wise is best to get out in the open but this seem interesting. Crop some form the top and bottom for proportion and add a little canvas to the front. If you lighten the tree also I think will end up with an interesting image. Would re work but heading out the door now. Not sure how you manage to get the bird sharp !!!!!!
Hi Jullie - I know what you are talking about as well, was at a new spot yesterday - Eagles circling everywhere, sitting in trees everywhere - MIDDLE of the day.
Didn't get a shot - but exciting took a lot of control to keep my finger off that button - LOL.
I can't belive I forgot to post the ISO - it was 100. It was a really bright afternoon sun that was cutting through the trees so I had the camera set to the lowest ISO. I know it doesn't look like it from this crop but the birds (there were two, actually!) were really in a thicket of branches and yet the sun was so glaring - I managed to shoot off about ten frames but almost all of them are masked by limbs - this was the best of the bunch.)
I know technically its not a great photo but it was my first attempt to really capture a bird without hand-of-man elements and I was so busy looking for a decent head angle :D that I think I missed out on doing a great job of exposure. Still, almost every image came out with no blown highlights and the bird was barely underexposed so I must be getting better at this!
Al, that teleconverter? It was going to be my tax rebate present to myself until I lost four limbs in a bad storm two weeks ago. I got to pay to have someone clean up my yard instead... :(
Brown Thrasher
