Painted redstart at a hidden spring

[Stan Cunningham]

Beautiful bird, and the initial part of the bird looks great.
Canon 7D, 500 F4, F 4 1/200 sec with fill flash ISO 500
I would like some feedback on shooting technique if possible as moving from the desert to thick forests where light is a problem is new to me. I will gladly move this thread if this is not the proper forum.
My quandary is the lack of dof. If I increase ISO the 7D is very noisy in backgrounds and even the subject. If I decrease SS then these little guys that move so much are tough to get the IQ I want and I were prefer at least double 1/200.
At the distance I'm shooting (10 m max) I'd like at least F 8 or smaller, but don't know any way to get it with that camera. I will try my 5D II next time but hate to lose the focus speed. My partner had the ID IV and used auto ISO but I could not find it in the 7D manual or don't know if it would still have the nice IQ I like. I'm aware the dof with this lens at this distance is very limited, but would like to push it as much as possible.
Any suggestions from those of you used to closed forest conditions would be appreciated, it's a big change from the AZ Sonoran desert or open Alaskan areas.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Perhaps a bit of fill flash would solve some of your problems. Worth a try when you have such a beautiful species to photograph.

[Dave Leroy]

Pretty bird and a real nice photo. Good for you to get such a clean shot in a forested setting. I am sure it is just an oversight, but I would remove the little twig in upper left corner.

I have not used flash much and am not sure what happens if you just went to f/8 and left the ss at 1/200. Perhaps you get a little stronger flash and same exposure.
If you upped the ISO to 800, which is often done, then I think the other settings would be f/8 and 1/80. It is a slow ss and not what you want, but there have been sharp shots taken at 1/80.

A really nice job on the exposure.

[Doug Brown]

I got a number of looks at this beautiful bird on my recent trip to SE Arizona, but none as good as yours. This shot is sharp where it counts, and no realistic amount of DOF would have brought the tail feathers into focus. About all I might have done is bump the ISO to 800 and then stop down to f/5. That would have gotten the near foot in sharp focus.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Stan, this is such an excellent shot. great details in blacks, whites and and reds. very sharp for that SS. f/5 , as Doug says, might have been ideal...you might have had some increase in noise. But if this is close to full frame then, after resizing, the noise would not have been an issue. Terrific composition.

I understand your dilemma. photographing small birds that move a lot in shade isn't easy. That is one reason to start looking into getting them into the open with setups, calls and food. Daniel does a very impressive job with small birds by using calls.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice, the DOF is a bit shallow but there wasn't much you could do about it except for perhaps moving back a bit...still great TFS

I'd clone out the small grass on the upper left corner

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

sweet bird and I like the pose.I agree about removing the twig.

[Stan Cunningham]

Dave, I like your tact, it wasn't an oversite I'm just blind to some aspects some times. Get too focused on the subject.
Kautstubh, I use calls and have had success with this bird but not with getting them into the open.
I have found this year that sitting at small waterholes works better, which is an advantage in AZ since water is rare and at a premium. I tried to call from the waterhole to a more open site but all you are really going to get is birds with territories close by. If you sit at the waterhole you get more species from a greater distance. My goal this summer is to find as many of these areas (small point water sources) that birds come to as I can. Fortunately I remember many from my bear research days.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What should be in focus is, I wouldn't worry about the rest that falls off DOF. My 7D is pretty much set at ISO 800 by default it seems and I'm more than happy with the results (the noise cleans up nicely and easily). Have you tried place perches at the watering holes, or do they land right down to the water regardless?

[Stan Cunningham]

Daniel, I'll try boosting the ISO based on your rec as your photos look excellent. Just my experience with "splattered light" under a forest canopy it the dark areas are grainy. But I'm in love with the Nik package and have not tried define on anything greater than 500.
I had 2 perches, the hermit warbler above is on one at the same spring. Sometimes they come right down, and some times they are too quick for me to keep up with them. I'm finding my best success with finding small birds with that large of lens, 500, that focusing on the perches as soon as I see one above works best, but this is a learning experience for me.
Large brown bears and whales are pretty easy to find in a lens.