American Goldfinch

Gallery: AvianPosted April 7, 201069 views5 comments

I photographed this Goldfinch from a blind in my yard. I find it tough to photograph yard birds using a 70mm-300mm lens but I had to choose between a new lens or a new camera- I chose the camera.
What is a good working distance for a 300mm lense and still get good detail without to heavy of a crop?
7D, Canon 70mm-300mm IS @300mm, AV Priority on tripod, 1/320sec, F/7.1,ISO 100, Aprox 50%crop.
Thanks for looking and all C&C welcomed.

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 7, 2010 at 5:46 PM

Very cool look he's giving you, John. Looks like he's getting close to breeding plumage too. For small birds like goldfinches, I try to get about as close to my minimum focal distance as possible. Nick Saunders can probably give you some good guidelines since he uses that 100-400 to such great advantage.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 7, 2010 at 7:42 PM

Looks like he suspected your presence even inside a blind. I like that curious look . Nice detail as well

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Day on April 7, 2010 at 10:26 PM

Hi John. Looks like he spotted you in your blind.Don't worry, your 7D can handle a big crop.

Registered on August 5, 2008, 25 Posts, 173 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on April 8, 2010 at 3:18 PM

John,
I really like the look of the bird. Nice colors and background too.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 8, 2010 at 9:32 PM

Neat pose you captured here John, I'm not sure if the oof tree adds anything here if you had moved to your left more you may have been able to keep it out of the bg. The closer to the minimum focusing distance the better with a 300mm lens.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments