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Thread: Blue-throated bee-eaters, Hubei, China

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    Default Blue-throated bee-eaters, Hubei, China

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    A female blue-throated bee-eater prepares a sortie while a male, presumably her mate, looks on. After three days, the bee-eaters came to accept us; I forgot about blinds, approached their perch standing up, and got as close as I wanted. I narrowed down the aperture because I was so close; I kept the ISO at 640 to save myself the trouble of noise-reducing later; and I lived with a SS of 1/200, as the birds were usually fairly still on their perch. Here, though, the female, preparing to fly, is partly blurred, but I like the effect, all the more so because her head is still sharp. What do you think?

    Device: Nikon D3S
    Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
    Focal Length: 600mm
    Aperture: F/10
    Shutter Speed: 1/200
    Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
    Exposure Comp.: +1.33
    ISO Sensitivity: ISO 640
    Metering Mode: Center-Weight
    Subject Distance: 8.4 m
    Photoshoppery: Not much. Because the bee-eaters didn't mind us, I was able to compose this shot in the field, so there was no need to add canvas. The BG was clean; I cloned nothing out. I cropped the image only to give it a more square shape. Shooting at ISO 640, I had little need to run noise reduction. I sharpened the birds.

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    BPN Viewer Sachin Saraf's Avatar
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    What a beautiful bird...Nice capture..

    Not sure what halo I see around perch and tail of both birds..

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    WOw at 1/200, you did great.
    I was having trouble when I was shooting in Malaysia even with 1/800. These guys' movement was so fast.

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    Art Kornienko
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    I agree with Troy, 1/200 with a 600, handheld? I like the shot just like it is. Lovely birds.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Art Kornienko View Post
    I agree with Troy, 1/200 with a 600, handheld? I like the shot just like it is. Lovely birds.
    Not handheld. I said "standing up" in my intro. What I meant was that I had my tripod at full height and that I was walking slowly toward the perch, tripod in my hands. I wasn't in a blind, and I wasn't crouching so as to appear smaller.

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    wow..looks nice DOF and sharp image..can u pls tell me the story behind this..i mean how they allowed you to come close? what was the distance?

    TFS

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    Quote Originally Posted by yogesh_puranik View Post
    wow..looks nice DOF and sharp image..can u pls tell me the story behind this..i mean how they allowed you to come close? what was the distance?

    TFS
    Hi, Yogesh. For "subject distance," see the specs: 8.4 m. I approached to within 7.1 m and could have kept on going. The bee-eaters allowed me to get close because they came to see that I wasn't a threat and so got on with more important business. They were zipping right by me, 2 m from my arm, in pursuit of flying insects. I was a stone, as far as they were concerned. The key was to be consistent. For hours, I moved only slowly. Not once did I make a quick movement.

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    thank you craig for providing the tips those are very helpful especially for me as i have only lens with 250 mm and it is very important to go near to the birds..

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    DanWalters
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    Like the position of the birds and the complimentary background colors. Very sharp as well.

  10. #10
    Nico Steenberg
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    That a shot !!! Stunning colours and eye contact on both. Subjects is razor sharp and well exposed. A super IMG

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Craig, I missed this. Well done for capturing both looking the same way, and I like the pre take off pose from the female. I hope you got the take off shot. Just a question - the one on the left you say is a female, and the one on the right is male. If so, their colours are very similar.

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    Hi, Stu! In blue-throateds, sex is distinguished by size. The bird on the left is smaller, and the projection of the tail is shorter. She's therefore the female.

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