Nature Photographers Network
This is the preserved archive of the original Nature Photographers Network. The community continues at naturephotographers.network.

Coal tit

Discussion

9 replies
Posted by Paul Whippey on August 27, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Coal tit
Thanks for the comments on my last post. Much appreciated! :wavey:

Here is a coal tit (periparus ater) captured yesterday in challenging lighting conditions. I managed to get out with the camera and did some more work at my new setup. I've still got improvements to make, the perches are a bit industrial at the moment :biggrin: and my feeder positions are not quite right for the best use of BG's. But I'm pleased with the results on this one. This was the first small bird photo taken with my 300mm f/2.8 mk2 and 2x extender mk3.

Techs: Canon 7D, EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM II lens, 2x extender mk3, tripod and hide. ISO800, f/11, 1/100th sec, manual exposure. 80% of full frame. Imported with ACR, processed in CS5.

New firmware in the 7D seems to be behaving so far too.

Thanks for looking :wavey: C's & c's welcome as always.
Posted by keith mitchell on August 27, 2012 at 3:30 PM
Paul that 2x extender works very well,see what you mean about the bg but i suppose that's part of the fun trying to get everything right,you have finished up with a very nice image.

Keith. :smile:
Posted by Tom Smit on August 28, 2012 at 3:09 AM
Nice shot of this little bird.
:toast: :toast:
Posted by Matt Cole on August 28, 2012 at 6:44 AM
a good start Paul, lots of detail. Maybe you could use a wider aperture than f11 to improve the background a bit? And some more delicate perches will obviously improve things further.

Matt :toast:
Posted by John Robinson on August 28, 2012 at 8:06 AM
I agree with Matt about the more"delicate " perches. This one is a bit hefty for a small bird, and big birds look ok on small twiggy ones anyway.
Was this with flash ?
Nice shot anyway . I am sure there will be loads more chances.
JR
Posted by Paul Whippey on August 28, 2012 at 1:19 PM
Thanks for the comments everyone. No flash on this one John, the light shone through the trees nicely. I had been experimenting with flash, but I was having issues. I had to act quickly with this one, hence f/11 leftover from using the flashes... I need to put in some more work on this setup, but its definitely part of the fun Keith! :wink:

Thanks. :wavey:
Posted by Oscar Dewhurst on August 28, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Nice detail Paul, agree about bg though :toast: :toast:

Oscar :wavey:
Posted by Nick Mckeown on August 28, 2012 at 5:33 PM
Great shot of a very quick bird. A little more work on the BG and you will have a great set up. 2x extender looks good to me Paul.

Nick. :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :smile: :wavey:
Posted by Phil Ellard on August 29, 2012 at 12:31 PM
The BG is the obvious issue the rest of it looks good, the little birds are not easy at all :toast: :toast: :toast:
Posted by Paul Whippey on August 29, 2012 at 4:35 PM
Thanks for the comments guys. I'm hoping to fix these issues this weekend and get a few more photos. :wavey: