March is hawfinch month here in the Forest of Dean. The hawfinch are seriously timid birds to get down in front of a camera, and snapping at the first sight of them often scares them off. Even in a hide they know you're there. I've been doing them for 4 years now, and believe it or not, I get to a stage when a straight portrait gets ignored in hope they stay and do something different! I've been hoping to get hawfinch fighting or bathing or something different for ages and it just won't happen. In fact, just getting them perched out of the leaf litter is the best you can hope for, and even this takes a lot of patience and luck. Hope you like it.
Canon 5d2, 600mm + 1.4x. F6.3. 1/100th sec. 500ASA. Full frame. Only slight saturation added otherwise as per RAW file.
I've never seen one, but shots like this make me envious. I would love to see him bigger in the frame so I can better appreciate the detail in the feathers. Perhaps a crop from the left would help. Since it's full frame, you wouldn't lose much if any detail.
Nice shot, The pose is great. The composition works for me as is - I think cropping from the left would remove too much of the leaf litter, which for me is another layer of interest.
Lovely image, the metallic sheen on wing is the icing on the cake
I would gladly sell a kidney to get photo opportunities with Hawfinch. I've only seen these birds at distance before now, or high up in the canopy in winter roosts. Berkshire is now devoid of breeding birds since the Windsor Park birds died out
I would also crop some of the left to reduce the central positioning
Posted by jack chapman on March 18, 2009 at 2:29 PM
great pose and a beautiful setting, not quite sure whats going on with some of the leaf litter blur though, almost looks its from motion, was it windy???
Posted by Adam Seward on March 18, 2009 at 2:46 PM
Fabulous! Would love to see one of these, let alone photograph them.
Posted by Lewis Thomson on March 18, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Fantastic Dave!
I don't think the comp is a problem, I like the space around the bird and the leaf litter. The sunflower seed below the bird is a little annoying, but no big deal (there's always one that gets in frame isn't there ). Love the pose, great to see the detail in those wing feathers!
Got my first one this year and I am pleased with it, but its not as nice as this.
I find the composition ok, but for me I might take a bit of the left and top just to try and give the bird abit more impact by being bigger in the picture.
Posted by Jeroen Stel on March 19, 2009 at 7:46 AM
That's one i'd love to have in my files!
Well done getting this beautiful bird!
Thanks everyone. One reason I posted this was to see if people thought the strangely oof leaves on the left and rhs of twig was a problem. Well done to Jack. This vignetting (?) in the corners is caused by using a small extension tube on a full frame camera. Don't know why it happens? If anyone knows how to stop it please tell me. I personally don't mind it, and it can be cropped out anyway.
I hadn't noticed this first time round, but now you have pointed it out the vignetting effect is similar to the "Lensbaby" effect caused by shift in squareness of the projected image on the sensor.
Unfortunately you cannot see the upper image sharpness (try a brick wall test to see exactly whats going on), but is it possible that you are getting a small amount of lens/camera droop when using the extension tube - ie is it mechanially loose allowing it moving between front and rear mounts? - it looks to me that the projected image is possibly no longer square on to the sensor
Also when I used to use extension tubes with a Pentax 500 F4.5 to reduce minimum focus distance with tcs there was definite difference between images depending on the order they are mounted are you using
Cheers Mike, that could be it, as I've had a lot of problems with connectivity recently. I think I've a dodgy converter. I've had this effect for a few years now and thought it was a downside of using full frame. FWIW I do L:tc:ext:body. I'll check it out, cheers again. Dave
Discussion
14 repliesCanon 5d2, 600mm + 1.4x. F6.3. 1/100th sec. 500ASA. Full frame. Only slight saturation added otherwise as per RAW file.
I would gladly sell a kidney to get photo opportunities with Hawfinch. I've only seen these birds at distance before now, or high up in the canopy in winter roosts. Berkshire is now devoid of breeding birds since the Windsor Park birds died out
I would also crop some of the left to reduce the central positioning
I don't think the comp is a problem, I like the space around the bird and the leaf litter. The sunflower seed below the bird is a little annoying, but no big deal (there's always one that gets in frame isn't there
Lewis.
Got my first one this year and I am pleased with it, but its not as nice as this.
I find the composition ok, but for me I might take a bit of the left and top just to try and give the bird abit more impact by being bigger in the picture.
Well done getting this beautiful bird!
Greetings,
Jeroen Stel
Cheers all. Dave
Unfortunately you cannot see the upper image sharpness (try a brick wall test to see exactly whats going on), but is it possible that you are getting a small amount of lens/camera droop when using the extension tube - ie is it mechanially loose allowing it moving between front and rear mounts? - it looks to me that the projected image is possibly no longer square on to the sensor
Also when I used to use extension tubes with a Pentax 500 F4.5 to reduce minimum focus distance with tcs there was definite difference between images depending on the order they are mounted are you using
L:tc:ext:body, or
L:ext:tc:body?
Mike