Bay-breasted Warbler

[Brian Zwiebel]

Hi All, Maybe I should have posted this topic as "hand holding 500mm" since the thread over in general photography discussion prompted me to post this one. In tight quarters on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh where the vegetation is thick and close to the boardwalk I often choose to hand hold. With the lens on tripod I have about zero chance of even getting on a bird in one area of the boardwalk where the vegetation is right up to the hand rails. I aim to keep the shutter speed at 1/200th or above for sharp images and below 1/500th for fast flash recycling. At 1/200th I am confident of my technique for sharp images most of the time. At these speeds, often subject movement, not camera shake is the culprit when an image is soft. One part of the body will show sharp detail while the head or wings will have a ghosted blur.

Canon EOS 1dmk2, 500mm f/4 IS, 25mm tube, 580exII with better beamer, cropped from horizontal
1/400 sec, f/5.6
Mode: Av
Metering: Evaluative
ISO: 500
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Drive: Continuous (high)
White balance: Auto
Flash: On
Flash exp comp: -1

Thanks for looking and good shooting!

BZ

[Harshad Barve]

beautiful species this is ,
Experts will comment on tech part , But I am loving pose of bird here
TFS

[Richard Sleeman]

Not too shabby, BZ. I may have been there the day you were trying this. I still don't know how you HH the 500mm......apparently a lot of photogs are able to do this,but----

Nice bird; seems a little large in the frame; maybe a little more space around the bird.

Nice job.

Richard

[Kiran Poonacha]

Loved the focus considering its HH, the crop looks good, congrats...

[Brian Zwiebel]

I should have mentioned: at subject distances of ~10-12 feet the depth of field is paper thin. When hand holding with such shallow depth of field it is crucial to use AI Servo (continuous) auto focus. The simple act of leaning forward or back, even if only a fraction of an inch, would render an image useless when using one shot AF.

Good Shooting!

BZ

[Aidan Briggs]

Nice soft light, pose, and exposure. I like the perch entering on a diagonal. I do wish for a bit more uniform BG, but it doesn't bug me that much.

Keep them coming!

[Stu Bowie]

I like the lazy pose, and soft light, thus exposing the chest area perfectly. I would run another round of USM as I find this a bit soft Brian. I always try and get my ss greater than my FL, especially if you are HH a longer lens. Cheers.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I think the sharpness is fine, but the critical focus point appears to be on the perch a little to the left of the right foot of the warbler, as it does look sharp there, whereas the bird does not except for the bill, which perhaps due to this head tilt fell within the plane of focus? I am commenting viewing this small jpeg, so perhaps the RAW has far better detail and sharpness. :)