Siskin at Pool+pic of hide

Siskin
very thin on the ground here this year.
very dark conditions - hence 800 ISO
80th sec @f 7
Levels/gamma and resize in PSP7
I dollop of white bird poo taken out on rock
Cheers
JohnR

Your pool is really fantastic,is in garden, forest,meadow?

Beautiful capture there John, super detail and that colour is really popping against that dark BG.

Brett

Thanks both.
Marek- the pool is on the edge of woodland, and on the edge of old meadows with a little scrub in them. It therefore gets a great variety of birds.The pool and a hide have been there over 30 years.
Its about two hundred yards from the house where I live in the middle of a nature reserve so I am lucky I suppose..
The pool is fed by a small stream or spring so it has water a lot of the time. It floods every now and then too.
Cheers
JohnR

Very nice John, I hadn't realised what a good looking bird the Siskin is, another well executed shot, lets see if the ISO police jump all over this one

Andy...

Thanks Andy They should buy Nikon !!
Heres a shot of the hide with the pool a little fuller than normal . The camera would be looking straight at you from this angle.
Cheers
John

Hi John

I echo Brett's comments on this one the bird really does 'pop' and I also like the 'silky' water!

David

Thanks for sharing this one John, it's nice to have an insight in to how you capture these pool shots, cheers.

Andy...

Heres one of the actual hide. Its let into the ground about 14 inches so you can imagine it gets wet when flooding is the norm. When people get on about a lower POV they should try sitting in there !
Cheeers
JohnR

Another cracking image John. You can see every feather & colour in great detail & the pool makes for a good background to complete the package.
Good to see the hide, how many hours do you spend in there a week?

Lee

Lee
No where near what I used to. Nowadays with the old rheumatics etc , etc, 3 hours is a long time. I,m walking around like Quasi afterwards ! In the old days I would go in at dawn and come home for lunch, but that was when I was using flash. It would take 20 minutes setting up the three flashes etc every time I went in. Now, I use manual and can only use it before the leaves get on the trees. That gives me roughly 80 th of a second at 5.6 which is not that good with fast moving bathing birds. There is a lot of waste believe me. These days 2 hours is a long time but I may nip home to see the wife , have a bite,and then go back in again !!
Cheers
JohnR

Thanks for the reply John.

Lee

Great shot John.
Nice to see how yo did get al your great shots.

good to see the hide John and another lovely shot. The bird's colours agains the dark background really show up well.

Matt

Stunning John! Thanks for all the additional info as well...

Hello John.

That is one stunning image for me. The bird alone is spot on, but its the whole setting that makes it for me. And that water is beautiful.

I do have one comment to make and thats the top right part of the picture. I think I would just darken the bright rock to bring it in balance with the other corners of the picture.

For me this is one of your best.

Hi Guy
Thanks
Do you remember the Nuthatch pic done at this pool with the waterfall at the back.?
Well this is the same waterfall !
I take your point though.
Cheers
JohnR

John, stunning and inspiring as usual, love the little perch he is on, thanks for the pics of your hide's again, it nice to see your set up.

btw ISO is hardly noticable on this shot.

Nice looking image John

I love this shot John, thanks for all the info too,
you are a lucky man with this wonderful place.
Bertl

excellent hide shots not sure about the bird though. only joking its a cracker love the way it stands out from the dark background, nice one.

lea

Hello John

This is a fantastic shot John one of your best in my opinion.

I am very saddened by a certain comment made in this post and I would like to say sorry for involving my responce to it in this thread, I know you had no choice in this matter to use a high ISO setting because of the conditions I would have done the same. My point is why use it when you don't need too.

It has been a pleasure looking at your images and I will keep looking in. Many thanks for your valued opinion and all the best to you.

Danny

I missed this one earlier John. It is another great shot. Thanks also for showing the setup - I really must try this sometime.

Thanks again all.
I think as someone has said let's not get carried away with techie bits. Just stick a tube on the front of that clickie thing and go out and take pics. You will bin a million but every now and then it all comes together.!!
There was a pic on earlier which had a comment about noise. I had to download it and blow it up 10 times to make the noise really obvious .
As several posters have said let's look at content a bit more and look at some pics(good and not so good ) and not get carried away with hypothetical photography and theory assumptions and advice . It must be so off putting to those starting out in this hobby which we all know and they think will make a lot of money !!!
Yes- joking !!
JohnR

John,
A cracking image, jumps out into your face!

You a hide makers dream John! a hide lasting 30 years that was built well.

I meet a friends of yours every October, Lonza Garbett + his Grandmother whom name escapes me!

Beautiful picture John and thanks for showing your hide.