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Damsel in distress!

Discussion

21 replies
Posted by Nigel Blake on July 7, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Not been in here for a while apart from a quick glimpse, a combination of being very busy and a death in the family.
However the past couple of days have been spent shooting one of my favourite birds, a pair of Spotted Flycatchers have a nest in the porch roof of a local church and are busy feeding young. usually one goes in and out quickly; but this one likes to pose with its catch.
Several times it was too close to focus so after getting the shots of the whole bird I added tubes and went for some prey ID shots, this is one of them.

2009:07:07 12:18:28
Hide, tripod and Wimberley head.
Canon EOS1DsMkIII 600mmf4IS 1.4X and 36mm extension tube (840m)
1/200 sec, f/7.1
Mode: Av
Metering: Evaluative
ISO: 400
AF mode: One-shot AF
Drive: Continuous (high)
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
File size: 22.9MB
Image size: 3744 x 5616
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: 0
Contrast: 0
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn III-13: AF point

RAW conversion DPP and resize, sharpen and slight crop to lose vignette from extension tube Adobe CS3
Posted by Justin on July 7, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Superb.

:toast: :toast: :cool:
Posted by Brett Lewis on July 7, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Just awesome.. Superb detail throughout and it looks like there might be a hover fly in there as well..? Well taken and thanks for sharing..

Brett :toast: :toast:
Posted by David Sewell on July 7, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Fascinating to see that they can catch several prey items at one go. I hope you will show us some of the whole bird as well.

David

:toast:
Posted by Craig Jones on July 7, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Beautiful detailed photograph Nigel :wink: :wink: :wavey:
Posted by Ian Mason on July 7, 2009 at 12:54 PM
That is a stunning shot! The detail is incredible. Must get one of these tubes!
Posted by Colin Pickett on July 7, 2009 at 1:44 PM
Stunning shot Nigel fantastic detail, just out of interest how much does the 36mm tube reduce the minium focus? :toast:
Posted by Dennis Alden on July 7, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Awesome photograph

:toast: :toast: :toast:

dennis
Posted by Fran French on July 7, 2009 at 2:18 PM
Absolutely stunning Nigel, like this very much. You even managed eye contact with the damsel as well :biggrin:

Fran :toast:
Posted by Anthony House on July 7, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Yep.... Top stuff Nigel...
Posted by Paul King on July 7, 2009 at 2:39 PM
The tail being OOF takes this from fantastic to just plain old stunning. :toast:
Posted by Dave Bartlett on July 7, 2009 at 3:05 PM
Really superb :toast: Hope we can see more ..
Posted by Nigel Blake on July 7, 2009 at 3:21 PM
"just out of interest how much does the 36mm tube reduce the minium focus?!


Just to correct myself its 37mm (25mm and 12mm stacked)

The calculation sugests 3.36m, in practice I think its nearer 3.8m, max distance focus is about 20m but it depends whether you measure to the sensor/film plane or the lens nodal point.
Posted by keith mitchell on July 7, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Nigel the detail on this is perfect.
:toast: :toast:
Keith.
Posted by Andy Snape on July 7, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Hi Nigel,

Brilliant picture, how do you work the calculation? :confused:
Posted by Colin Pickett on July 7, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Cheers Nigel.
Posted by Ian Haskell on July 7, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Fantastic! :cool:

Ian
Posted by Major Gilbert on July 8, 2009 at 4:05 AM
Lots of lovely detail Nigel and as usual your perserverence pays off. :toast:


Major.
Posted by Chris O'Reilly on July 8, 2009 at 5:22 AM
A great natural history image.

Cheers,
Chris
Posted by Nigel Blake on July 8, 2009 at 2:08 PM
Many thanks for the comments; I've spent all day with these birds again today.
Posted by eric weight on July 8, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Superb shot. I love close-ups.
:toast: Eric
Posted by Maggie Campbell on July 8, 2009 at 7:04 PM
Superb detail in bird and damsel. Stunning. :toast: