Another Crossbill

Gallery: AvianPosted July 8, 201093 views12 comments

Another Red Crossbill, this time an immature bird which appears to be molting into a female plumage.

This is another from under a camo cloth at the same setup perch I found a couple weeks ago. It has been my first experience with "set-up" photography and it has been interesting. I have enjoyed getting lots of nice looking shots, and have gotten keepers of lots of new species. However, I have also found it somewhat boring aesthetically to have all these nice shots on the same perch. I think that if I continue with this type of photography I will at least have to switch out a new perch pretty frequently to maintain my interest.

Canon 7D, 500mm + 1.4x TC, monopod.

1/800, f/6.3, ISO 400

Crop to 86% (15.4 of 18MP)

All comments and critiques are appreciated. Please view larger version if possible.

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on July 8, 2010 at 3:54 PM

Yet another beautiful crossbill capture!

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 8, 2010 at 4:45 PM

Very nice, Brian. I love it when the light is right to get that smooth sheen on the beak. I agree about the perches. It's interesting that the birds seem to pick certain ones over others. One trick I've seen, and try to emulate at our home pond is to have enough plantings around that the birds use them for perches. However, they still seem to like the nice bare stumps

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

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on July 8, 2010 at 5:12 PM

Wonderful shot Brian, I have never seen one of these. Good feather detail with nice background all add up, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on July 8, 2010 at 9:34 PM

Sorry you are bored with the perch, but it certainly is working well. The beak and eyes are exceptionally sharp. Impressive photo.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on July 8, 2010 at 10:05 PM

Excellent detail.

You summed up set-up photography quite well IMO.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on July 8, 2010 at 11:13 PM

Great detail Brian - ditto Richard's comments

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on July 9, 2010 at 1:15 AM

Wonderful detail and image quality. I rather lost interest in my backyard feeder setup, for the reasons you mentioned. I'm sure I will be back there again from time to time for some variety when I don't want to venture far from home.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on July 9, 2010 at 11:08 AM

Great image. Excellent detail.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 9, 2010 at 11:23 AM

Sweet! I really like the bit of orange on the crown that shows nicely here Brian

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

Comment posted by Peter Conway on July 9, 2010 at 11:35 AM

Brian, This is very nice! Excellent detail and beautiful light.

I sometimes shoot off my deck to get photos of the "yardbirds" that come to my wifes feeder. I prefer the natural perches they find themselves but even then it's a bit boring. It can be a fun way to while away some time when nothing else is happening though.

Peter

Registered on June 25, 2007, 347 Posts, 3913 Comments

Comment posted by Ronnie Gaubert on July 9, 2010 at 5:09 PM

Hi Brian,
Excellent everything, no nits on this one. I do agree you probably need to change out the perch occasionally.
Thanks for posting,
Ronnie G.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 810 Posts, 3495 Comments

Comment posted by David Chauvin on July 10, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Excellent image, Brian.

Color, sharpness, setting all look fine.

Registered on August 5, 2004, 1007 Posts, 5595 Comments