Bird Photography

[fleet mica]

R3 has better sensor, bigger buffer and more AF calculations per second than the R7

So unless the AF of my 500f4 is a crap load worse than the Sigma lens (VERY unlikely imho)…

[wheat hare]

I doubt that very much

[fleet mica]

Given Canon’s anti-consumer RF lens 3rd party stance, nothing would surprise me in the slightest

[wheat hare]

I feel like that's a little different than intentionally gimping hardware on a certain system

But what the hell do I know at the end of the day 🤷

[scarlet tulip]

Anecdotally, this did happen to a coworker

He’s a video guy, does music videos and weddings on an R5C

A firmware update broke video-autofocus on his Sigma f2.8 zooms

It didn’t seem intentional so much as an example of Canon disregarding EF third party stuff as a byproduct of the RF bodies being improved upon

[ember harness]

The older canon lenses don't have 100% functionality on RF

Not sure if 500 f4 is amongst that

Partially because changes over time just limit it

[ember harness]

Probs coz third party is just hard to support with small differences and it isn't that worth for business lol

[scarlet tulip]

Its great for business, they get to sell more RF glass to desperate pros

[fleet mica]

Only in terms DPAf coverage (80%) and FPS in ES mode (down from 30fps to ~22fps with my R3 after testing by myself). General AF accuracy is unchanged between 1st and 2nd gen lenses

[lusty kindle]

Really ? Af is as good on the ef 500 f4 I than on the II ?

[ember harness]

Yeah that sounds like the standard limiting

Its coz of software differences

70-200 gen 1 does it too

Still perfectly usable, but yeah an unintended byproduct of the changes over time

[fleet mica]

Yes, but shit for consumers

[fleet mica]

It is, see my reply above

[ember harness]

Yeah, my point is it's just not deliberate

Power limitation of how the aperture works in canon cams and older lenses

[fleet mica]

I have my suspicions

[fleet mica]

Processed this today, using my amended workflow. I think this is perhaps a bit oversharpened and needs some more contrast. What do you guys think?

bird was backlist, thus in shadow. Obviously a front lit bird, by direct sunlight (not overcast light) is generally preferred. Sadly, nature doesn't always comply with what you want, and not every location lets you position yourself in the best manner.

[fleet mica]

Rainbow Bee Eater, Nudgee beach. This is a crop sadly. I made this for my iPhone 12 mini as as wallpaper, hence this particular resolution.

[ember harness]

i think its def a bit washed out and maybe a touch magenta?

you see so many more cool birds than i do lol

[fleet mica]

Not seeing the magenta, but yeah needs more contrast in hindsight

[fleet mica]

I get out 3-4 tines a week!

[mint warren]

I use this one as my lock screen, They should be arriving back soon at their usual spot for nesting

this one was from before I got the R7

[ember harness]

i used to get out 2-3 times too, nowadays life is in the way lol so its once every 2-3 weeks

[gilded yarrow]

Such a beautiful bird, hoping to see them one day

Rn focusing more on mammals tho

Found out theres Red deer in a forest thats only like 10km away from my home

[barren yoke]

Ooo I want mammals but I hardly see any soooo

I went out once for deer but it was too hot and they came out when it was too dark

[fleet mica]

that sucks 😦

[fleet mica]

where are you? My Nudgee (Brisbane) babies came back a tiny bit early this year, mid April!

@ember harness adjusted Magenta slightly, dropped the brightness a bit and adjusted contrast. What do you think now? Also changed the image reduction method to bilinear (from bicubic sharper)

[barren yoke]

Ooo I like that. It looked good before and it looks fine now. As long as you think it's good

[fleet mica]

Thanks! I’m always open to feedback

[mint warren]

Perth, they usually show up in October and spend the rest of the year further north

[fleet mica]

Nice!

[ember harness]

I reckon that looks solid!

[fleet mica]

Thanks for the feedback! I suck at judging contrast

[fleet mica]

The Thinker

[fleet mica]

Silver Gull in flight - these guys are great to practice your BIF skills on!

been trying bilinear instead of bicubic sharper for my image reductions, I think I might prefer it. It sharpens, but not like bicubic sharpen and it's more subtle.

[wheat hare]

On our way back up to WA so hoping once I get back from vacation and settled back into work I can find some time to do some actual photo taking.

[static magnet]

I love these fluffy lil guys

[fleet mica]

White Faced Heron

[barren yoke]

Oooo! thats so cool

it looks like a mixed bird of green heron and blue heron/great egret

[fleet mica]

it does, doesn't it?

[barren yoke]

yep

[fleet mica]

another shot of the same bird. A bit more dramatic. I suspect a slight vignette may help this image.

and maybe a slight crop, keeping the original aspect, to get rid of that darker section at the bottom which is a bit distracting. mmm

what do you guys think?

[mint warren]

Even though I got a long way to go before I can consider myself good, I've had people ask to buy prints of some of my pics

feels good

[fleet mica]

I've had 1 image printed in a mass published book

[fleet mica]

the author (Jerry Olsen, RIP) tracked me down and asked if he could use it in his book

this is the image - Juvenile Grey Goshawk

https://www.abbeys.com.au/book/-australian-high-country-raptors.do?gclid=CjwKCAjwr_CnBhA0EiwAci5simUo9Bb-2zYdS5tvSVV6krBsZSUe1SS8RyjkuAGFpbafkJ9CnbiLIBoCCKMQAvD_BwE

excellent book - Jerry was a life long expert on Australian Raptors and scientist working for the CSIRO

[mint warren]

Oooh this is one of the coolest raptors in Aus

I'd love to findone

[fleet mica]

these guys are really cool - 1 of the first images taken with my R3 back at the beginning of 2023

[mint warren]

screaming at 4am intensifies

[fleet mica]

might do a re-process on that iamge

[fleet mica]

a bit of masking in Lightroom Classic (not super precise), some cloning in Photoshop 2023.

mm I forgot to adjust the White Balance

meh easy enough to fix, adjust Wb in Lightroom, open changed edit in Photoshop, copy layers from tif file already done, paste them to the new WB file...voila! Very similar, it was very close on the original version

[mint warren]

Looks ready to traumatize any QLD or North NSW weekend reveler

@fleet mica Ever gotten pics of their chicks?

they cute

[fleet mica]

seen them, never gotten close enough to get shots, but that was with my old setup.

sorry, had to help my sister clean out all of the bird cages, hence delay in responding

[mint warren]

hey no worries

its just discord

[fleet mica]

true, I just hate people think I'm ignoring them

[fleet mica]

female Satin Bower Bird from today. Heavy crop, high ISO (6400).

Saw her twice, both times fleeing, managed to get this. Saw the male a bunch more times, but couldn't get a damn decent shot as he wouldn't stay still for more than a split second.

[fleet mica]

buff banded rail from today

[barren yoke]

Neat

[rancid fern]

red tail hawk today!

[scarlet tulip]

always fun to get one sitting still on an isolated branch

easy backgrounds

[barren yoke]

Sick!

[rancid fern]

it was such a money shot moment. i was walking down a trail past a section of the lake/creek and i look over and boom, sitting right there! theres almost never anything in that one spot so i almost missed it 😭 once it flew off i had to hold back from yelling in excitement LMAO

[mint warren]

Man these guys are so shy at my usual spot

[astral arch]

I saw one of these in San Jose pretty close, but I didn’t have my camera on me 😭

Absolutely beautiful bird

[fleet mica]

remember, it's a captive bird. Sees hundreds, if not thousands of people every day.

[fleet mica]

last shot from yesterday

[mint warren]

Captive buff banded rails?

[dusty fog]

damn thats a very blue birb

[mint warren]

White Wing and Splendid fairy wrens

the allopreening one was v underexposer and generally not v good, but was cute so tried to save it

[dusty fog]

Very cool, i wish I had colorful birbs

Or maybe I just dont know where to find them haha

I have cardinals which is nice

[barren yoke]

I love the colorful migration birds we get

I hope I'll get better photos with this camera setup now

[fleet mica]

Yup. Several theme parks have them, as well as private or government parks.

[mint warren]

Requesting pictures of loons

[fleet mica]

I have seen neither of these species 😦 I got out with the camera today again, and captured a pretty special bird, but haven't had a chance to check them on the computer yet (just got home) let alone import the images and start working on them.

[fleet mica]

here you go...a real loon!

🤣

[mint warren]

Don't think they occur in qld

You get superb fairy wrens tho

[fleet mica]

yeah, saw a bunch today 🙂

[mint warren]

Real talk loons are my new recent favourite when it comes to American birds

[fleet mica]

what do you call a loon on a horse?

a hoon!

[fleet mica]

what pronouns does Michael Jackson have?

[dusty fog]

He/He

https://tenor.com/view/haha-mickael-jackson-queendugif-ahah-hehe-gif-13642339

[fleet mica]

how do you confuse an archeologist?

[fleet mica]

bagged this today, and it's my bogey bird up until today. To say that I am beyond stoked is an understatement. ISO1600 at near dusk. 0.75 stops underexposed and backlit didn't help my cause, but boy am I HAPPY (it is a crop too).

[mint warren]

Azure Kingfisher?

[fleet mica]

yup

[mint warren]

https://tenor.com/view/noice-nice-click-gif-8843762

[fleet mica]

I didn't realise I'd captured this pose until I got home

I knew I'd gotten some decent shots of it.

[mint warren]

I'd be well happy about that

spread it far and wide

its a great shot

[fleet mica]

I'm saving for a bird hide. Will go back there with the 500f4 and 1.4x TC and my R3 and R10 and said bird hide. Will be front lit in the morning, so better colours and DR and better noise too

[mint warren]

maybe mask the bird a lil and add a lil more exposure

if you have AI denoise

[fleet mica]

I used DXO Pure RAW2 as my first step in Lightroom Classic

and Topaz Deniose AI in Photoshop as my last step

I'm always leery of using the latter, as it tends to oversharpen and ruin images

I always do it on its own layer so I can adjust the opacity, but I probably ony use Topaz on 5% of images

I suck at masking 😦

someone like Jan could make this image SING (Jan Wegener)

[fleet mica]

someone suggested adding some warmth to it, so adjusted the temp in Camera RAW...

an improvement?

[mint warren]

Ooh

[barren yoke]

Do any of y'all have experience with Darktable editing?

[barren yoke]

Before

wait lol i need to figure out how to send this

after

I'm still working on the other image

the brighter one

Is that better?

oh I didn't crop it

whoops

discord ruins the quality but thats basically it

the non cropped is better for my background

[wheat hare]

Steller Jays are annoying as fuck. Especially when there is a damn army of them flying around.

[wheat hare]

They were buzzing around the house fighting while trying to unpack and move in yesterday. If those bastards show up again today I’ll get the camera out.

[barren yoke]

I've never seen them but they sound pretty

[wheat hare]

I’ve never seen so many together. It had to be around 8-10.

[fleet mica]

nope. Downloaded it on my other laptop but never really played with it.

[fleet mica]

gull?

[scenic pollen]

damn! perfect timing

[wind hedge]

@fleet mica Yeah my opinions on these are still the same but those eyes are amazing

[fleet mica]

Oh well. I like all birds.

[wind hedge]

Yeah fair enough

I like the look of some curlews but not bush stone ones

The eurasian ones are nice

[fleet mica]

I might as well face it, I'm addicted to birds

[dusty fog]

these birbs are eating this bush

[barren yoke]

Omg yes! I always see house sparrows on top of those bushes

[dusty fog]

I have like 50 of them at home, not the best pictures but they’re fun to be around

[fleet mica]

I guess it's my Turn 😉

[valid nymph]

I have a friend with an animal rescue/rehab with quite a few species of bird (along with a lot of other animals) the peacock has a crush on me though lol

[icy sparrow]

i messed up and took it at 1/40s 😭

[barren yoke]

Oh thats not too bad

[icy sparrow]

he was 4ft away
i had my 50mm on but it was dark already
and for some reason i had it on 1/40

[barren yoke]

darn

Maybe you can edit it?

[icy sparrow]

i could try yeah
but the quality is trash

[barren yoke]

just try

it looks decent from my perspective \

[icy sparrow]

i've tried for a bit
but there's just too much motion blur :(

[barren yoke]

Aww

Well I'm sure you'll get many more opportunities to capture those birds

[fleet mica]

I’d turn down highlights or exposure, the photo is just way to bright and cuts out details from the birb

[fleet mica]

with IS that's doable with these modern MLCs

[fleet mica]

Already did that. Bright bird against bright overcast background.

[icy sparrow]

I have an a6000 without any IBIS soo yeah

[fleet mica]

ahh well yeah, you're limited then

does the a6000 even have animal eye detect?

[icy sparrow]

nope

only human face detect

[fleet mica]

well that's a major drawback too imho

[icy sparrow]

yeah
but ya gotta make do with what you have
flexible spot focus helps a ton
though it's harder to frame shots with it

[icy sparrow]

it works but it's harder lol

[fleet mica]

true, true

[wheat hare]

Diseased ground birbs unite #🖼・photo-sharing message

[static magnet]

There’s been lots of robins about recently

[static magnet]

I love their little hands

[icy sparrow]

You love their little hands, huh?
Here's more!

I was incredibly lucky that day

Took all of these with a prime 50mm f/1.8

[icy sparrow]

are those groundhogs too?

[ornate nimbus]

Nice dog

[static magnet]

Only similar thing we’ve got around here is squirrels

Prarie dogs look like tiny capybaras

[wheat hare]

Prairie dogs in South Dakota

[icy sparrow]

ah i see
similar looking fellas

[mint warren]

Osprey time

[fleet mica]

Dusky Moorhen from yesterday

[barren yoke]

Damn! Sick shots

I went out to find birds. But the grebes were not corporating so I'm not sure I got anything good

[wind hedge]

Start of a new collection

Not sure if I wanna keep the Black and white one in or not

[barren yoke]

Pretty!

[pure belfry]

todays haul:

[scarlet tulip]

what sort of kingfisher?

[pure belfry]

Kotare / Sacred Kingfisher. We only have the one type.

[scarlet tulip]

they don't seem to mix species much in the same region

only one type in the eastern US afaik

[barren yoke]

Amazing photos!!

[barren yoke]

What lens do you use? Sorry if you said it before, I forgot

[pure belfry]

200-600G

[barren yoke]

Sweet

[wheat hare]

Such a nice lens

[fleet mica]

That is amazing

[wind hedge]

Left facing

That bokeh is no joke

[pure belfry]

I made that second one right sided and right facing just to spite you tho

[wind hedge]

Jokes on the north hemisphere, they're seeing it upside down

[ember harness]

Surprisingly we have a bunch in aus

But then aus is the land of oddities in wildlife

[scarlet tulip]

true, like the non-corvid magpies

learned about that today

[ember harness]

Aussie magpies are great yeah

Unique

[scarlet tulip]

wonder if they got named before people knew what corvids were

[ember harness]

Nah they're actually not related to corvids like at all

Their close relatives are all Australasian only so probs diverged from corvids ages ago

[scarlet tulip]

but they look like magpies

bizarre

do they steal things?

[ember harness]

Not particularly I think

They are much more pure black/white than European magpies too

The beak is a lot like a butcherbird which they're related to

[scarlet tulip]

i'm guessing some naturalist saw them and said "wow that's a weird magpie" and the name stuck

[ember harness]

We also have magpie-larks

Which look like magpies too

But its a flycatcher

So there are 3 unrelated magpies lol

[scarlet tulip]

maybe it was just a generic term for a bird with a bill like that

[ember harness]

Might be a generic term for a black and white bird too

[scarlet tulip]

also possible

[ember harness]

Ah apparently was named for its similarity to European magpie

Old Aussie wildlife was often named like that according to wiki

That's dumb lol

[scarlet tulip]

interesting, so they'd pick a European analog and just kinda go with it

i guess it was a nation of thieves at first, they didn't send white collar guys down there

[ember harness]

Yeah lol

Terrible way to name but I guess it made sense at the time

[scarlet tulip]

It makes sense if you don’t yet know how Linnean stuff works

[ember harness]

Yeah

[spring vault]

burd

bby burd

some pics from my first time using the 70-350

all were from the like first 100ft of the boardwalk lol

[mint warren]

Appropriately evil looking magpie, very much suits the season

[barren yoke]

Wow how'd you get that close to a sandhill crane?

Lovely shots

I think I found my new favorite birding spot

[spring vault]

they're pretty friendly at the park I went to

walk up to you asking for snacks lol

not supposed to feed em tho

[fleet mica]

Magpies aren't evil at all. Lovely birds.

[fleet mica]

red capped robin?

[mint warren]

Scarlet robin, note lack of red cap

Although we get those also

[fleet mica]

Ah, thank you! I've never seen these birds in the wild and was going off memory from seeing them in Duade's various videos

Various images from circa 2012, re-processing them. Practice is a good thing and helps you develop your skills. Lightroom and Photoshop are no different.

[mint warren]

Eastern King parrots are so cool

[barren yoke]

Pretty! I'm going on a third bird walk lol

[icy sparrow]

I'd greatly appreciate feedback on this

[barren yoke]

I love it

Personally amazing, but some could say there's too much going on. (Ducks and a house)

[wheat hare]

the bright objects on the shore are what distract me the most

[barren yoke]

Oooo sharp

[scarlet tulip]

300PF continues to make me wonder why i ever bothered with anything else

[barren yoke]

Sweet

[barren yoke]

I need to take more photos lol

I went on all those walks and only took a handful of photos and they weren't that good. Ig it's because I'm not used to the lens

ALSO again if anyone cares I have my Instagram where I post my birds photos- under my discord profile

In connected apps

[wheat hare]

I need to get done settling into work and get my ass out there too

I have a little over a week off at the beginning of October. Our original plans fell through so we might just skirt over to Yellowstone for a week instead.

[spring vault]

I went to a bird show here's some birds

[scarlet tulip]

Harris Hawk woke up and chose intensity

Nice shots

[wheat hare]

nice

We stopped at the Peregrine Fund Raptor Center in Boise a few weeks ago and they had a little show with a Red Tailed flying around.

[spring vault]

there's a red tailed hawk that lives in my back yard

pic 3 is from my back yard

1 and 2 are like a mile away and I think a diff hawk

[fleet mica]

it looks a sweet lens! What body are you using it with?

[fleet mica]

duly followed on IG (brisbanebirdphotos)

[wheat hare]

I should probably make a photog IG at some point

[fleet mica]

2 more re-processes (images circa 2012) from the archives.

[wind hedge]

[scarlet tulip]

This is all on a Zfc and an adapter

D500 sensor, just not quite on that level with the autofocus

[barren yoke]

I saw a Wilson's snipe yesterday!!

I couldn't get a photo it was hiding

[mint warren]

Pied stilts are nice

underrated bird

[fleet mica]

It’s doing a good job with making images

[fleet mica]

2 more images from 2012 re-processed.

[sage drum]

very sickass bird

[mint warren]

Noisy Miner

[sage drum]

yooo how’d u knooow

[mint warren]

Even though they're a native bird, they're causing some problems

[mint warren]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rIAJTdvQxw

[barren yoke]

Omg lovely

[mint warren]

The Fairy Wren gods have smiled upon me today

[barren yoke]

lovely

[wheat hare]

Pretty birbs

[fleet mica]

they have nothing on Rainbow Lorikeets

[fleet mica]

from yesterday

and this One too

[mint warren]

OH SHIT A BRAHMINY KITE

https://tenor.com/view/noice-nice-click-gif-8843762

[icy sparrow]

what bird is that?

[mint warren]

Red-Winged Fairywren

[icy sparrow]

damn i wish we had colorful birds like that out here

[mint warren]

Theres a load of other very similar looking fairywrens that are not subs but seperate species and it is the most confusing thing in Australian birding

Red Winged Fairywrens, Purple backed fairywrens, Variegated Fairy Wren, Blue breasted fairy wren

look this up, in the field it is a bitch trying to tell the dif

[icy sparrow]

wdym it's the same bird
i literally couldn't tell a difference

[fleet mica]

They are different and have unique colours

[icy sparrow]

I know i'm just joking
but they do look extremely similar

[mint warren]

weathers good

i'm going to the same place again

and maybe a new place on the way back

[barren yoke]

Oh my lord how do you guys get photos?? I go out to my park, I didn't even take the camera out most of the walk. And I only attempted grebe photos that never turn out because water and lighting hates me

I've been on a couple walks recently where I didn't take a single photo

I just walk around and document cool birds. But I know I wouldn't be able to get a good photo

[scarlet tulip]

these doves congregate behind my house

but the thing to do is to find a spot where birds seem likely to be and wait

find somewhere with the sun at your back, and some okay concealment if you expect to be close to the birds

i like running water and the areas where woods become open ground

[fleet mica]

research location. Learn about bird and its behaviour. Scout location. Ideally, sun behind your back and the bid flying into the wind is a good thing - front lit is what you want for best DR and colours.

Learn your lens/camera and the right settings. My defaults are 1/1000 and f7.1 for my 500f4 prime. You can lower the shutter speed if your lens is shorter than this. Faster usually helps with camera shake though. This is for perched birds. For flying birds, I may shoot at 1/2000 or even faster, depending upon the bird. General rule of thumb, smaller birds fly faster, so require a faster shutter speed to freeze any action

heavy crop

[barren yoke]

Thankyou!

I usually just start with default/ what feels best

But i have been finding myself just not taking the camera out and not taking photos

[fleet mica]

no no no no no. Get out with the camera. Even if your images suck, it's valuable experience

and trust me, f7.1, 1/1000 and set the ISO to get the exposure right are very solid starting points

[barren yoke]

Okay

I'll try tonight but it's still 80 out and I don't like the heat

I took some coolish photos the other day, I just havent looked at them yet

I'm sorta waiting for it to be colder so I can go out more

[fleet mica]

don't move to Australia 😛

[static magnet]

I find walks along country trails usually work, the local parks are practically devoid of wildlife here because there’s so many people

Somewhere like this will have birds everywhere

Nice walk that was 👀

[barren yoke]

Oooo

Pretty

Can someone ping me in an hour and a half to go through my camera photos I took the other day?

[hollow tusk]

Thank you

[barren yoke]

Mkay I'm moving the photos

[wheat hare]

@barren yoke you go through your photos yet?

[barren yoke]

Ahh I have not lol. It just doesn't seem that exciting at the moment

I will do it tonight tho

[barren yoke]

Nothing amazing

[fleet mica]

true, but when there's people around, it's harder to get mugged and have your expensvie camera gear stolen 😉

Variegated Fairywren from today. I have an even better pose, but will need to work on it in Photosho

[static magnet]

It’s the opposite here - more likely to get mugged around people

[fleet mica]

mmm

[static magnet]

Opportunist thieves on bicycles like to snatch gear and phones in populated areas here - I see it happen weekly, meanwhile on country lanes you’re likely to go hours without seeing people

[fleet mica]

wow, really?

[static magnet]

Yeah it’s bad for it here

Our police department is all but useless too, they won’t even investigate burglaries and property damage , let alone petty theft

Only way to get them to investigate something so if someone’s been injured (unless it’s a hit and run, they don’t even show up to those half the time)

[fleet mica]

what country?

I'm guessing the wonderful US of A

[static magnet]

Jail sentences are very lenient for all but the most serious crime so there’s no deterrent either - only way to avoid crime is to avoid people

[static magnet]

51st state - the UK 😭

[fleet mica]

ahh lol, that's Australia mate!

[fleet mica]

yeah it's like that here now. youth crime rate is through the roof. We have kids stealing cars 10+ times and never been in jail. They end up getting into a car chase and kililng another motorist FFS

it's out of control

night guys, gotta work tomorrow

[static magnet]

Gn, don’t get your car stolen by a 13 year old

[ember harness]

annoying bird

[ornate nimbus]

What a goofy goober. What is this bird even?

[ember harness]

Noisy miner lol

Native here but somehow still a pest

[ornate nimbus]

Noisy... sounds like you're not the only one annoyed by it haha

[ember harness]

It's got a bit of an unkind name lmao

[ornate nimbus]

In russian its name is "black hat manorina"

Oh god what's with its face

[ember harness]

Hahahah

That one looks ridiculous

[ornate nimbus]

🥺

^ this bird

[ember harness]

It's so much more round than usual

[fleet mica]

nah, love them. They have such character.

Sacred Kingfisher from yesterday's outing

[mint warren]

Kingfishers havent come down yet here

thinking another week

[wheat hare]

I need to find some

[ember harness]

No, like they take over other habitats from more affected birds

They cause damage to other native species and lack of diversity

[fleet mica]

That’s nature - survival of the fittest. By your logic humans should be made extinct

[ember harness]

What the fuck

Nah I'm out no way

What an insane oversimplification

[dusty fog]

The correct analogy is "By your logic humans took over the habitats of many animals"

which is exactly true

[wheat hare]

If they were human introduced then it’s not survival of the fittest.

[ember harness]

to be exact, not introduced, but favoured by being less affected by human intervention, causing them to dominate

[wheat hare]

Ah ok

[fleet mica]

and killed them off. We're on the cusp of the 6th major extinction, and it's 100% manmade

[fleet mica]

these are NATIVE birds to Australia. Repeat - NATIVE.

[fleet mica]

and, as humans have taken the vast majority of land for ourselves, it has left less land for every other species on the planet. This means many species are now forced to co-habit to a much more intense degree than they did in the past, pre-rise of humanity. Greater competition for a smaller parcel of land leads to more successful species surviving, and less successful species going the way of the Dodo.

[dusty fog]

yes i know

[wheat hare]

Yes I’ve been told

[ember harness]

native is still problematic unfortunately

https://www.latrobe.edu.au/department-of-environment-and-genetics/dept-of-zoology-documents/Final-low-res-LR-LatrobeUni-Birds-Broch.pdf
reference from latrobe uni

[fleet mica]

man NEEDS TO STOP interfering. This is why our global ecology is fucked up atm

nature knows what it's doing and doesn't need our help. It needs us minding our own business

[ember harness]

youre missing the whole point

[fleet mica]

not really

[ember harness]

stopping interfering is what we're trying to do here

the dominance of that species is due entirely to our interference, it could be seen rather as our interference causes other species to go extinct and the mechanism for it is overabundance of noisy miners

[fleet mica]

we need to 1. stop taking land from other species 2. stop trying to genetically modify them, introduce new species to combat problems etc 3. stop polluting our local and global ecologies.

[ember harness]

yeah if i wanted to discuss conservation id go speak with my professors

believe what you want

[fleet mica]

it won't make a difference, we'll fuck this planet up within the next 50 years and our species will go extinct. The ball is already rolling and $$$$ are more important to governments than anything else. The domino effect has started and once in motion, can't be stopped.

but anyway, I'm outta here for now to work on some images

[barren yoke]

The weather sucks right now for birds. Also the migration birds are nowhere to be seen right now

True the world is fucked up but all I want to do is enjoy what I can because I can't make a difference

[mint warren]

So are kookaburras and rainbow lorikeets, native to Aus.
But they've spread into areas that are not part of their native providence and are being quite destructive

Rainbow Lorikeets in West Aus are probably the more egregious example, they aggressively push out local natives parrots such as Ringnecks, Western Rosellas, Red Caps , Elegant parrots ect out of many areas

While Kookaburras are considered naturalized, they absolutely decimate duckling populations.

Little Corellas are another one, they've come further south of their natural distribution and started outcompeting Carnaby's, Baudins and Red Tails for viable nesting space which is getting harder to come by.

Yes, a lot of these problems were caused by human intervention, but that means it's our responsibility to clean up the mess

[fleet mica]

Everytime we interfere we fuck things up more. We need to stop pretending that we know better than mother nature

[scarlet tulip]

nature knows nothing, is the thing

it's a blind force

[mint warren]

This is untrue, there have been many successful conservation projects with very positive results. The entire US parks system is a great example.
Just because we have made many bad decisions doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to make the right ones.

More locally, programs like Westshield have had very positive effects

[barren yoke]

Yea, if "mother nature knows best" then we should aid it in returning the world to how it was, because that's when it actually was still mother nature

[icy sparrow]

there's someone working on like a 21:9 photo with aa bunch of seagulls iirc

i'm looking for that photo but i can't find it at all

[spring vault]

day 3 in maine and I finally found a bird to take pics of and its a hummingbird

I also saw a seagull catch a crab which was kinda cool but none of my shots were super great

[wheat hare]

Go to Newfoundland and find the Sea Eagle 🦅 it’s not thatttttt far away

[fleet mica]

sure, we have some success, but it's very limited.

[fleet mica]

well, humanity as part of an extinction process would help that a lot. We make locusts look nice.

Anyway, enoough griping from me, an image from yesterday. NOT happy with it at all, blown highlights, had a really BAD session with the camera yesterday and just couldn't do anything right. A very frustrating day. This was the best of a very bad bunch of images.

[mint warren]

Had some rotten luck this morn

Saw some cool shit like red ear firetails and spotted pardelotes but none of my shots really came out well

[fleet mica]

That was my day yesterday

[mint warren]

Only pic that was somewhat salvagable

[hollow tusk]

My camera is too bad for these type of photography yk

My tje

The camera clicks at 6000x4000

And yours is like

6920x4320

Something like that

[icy sparrow]

huh

[icy sparrow]

6000x4000 is standard 24MP for cameras

[scarlet tulip]

Yeah I don’t see an issue here

You can do birds on 10MP APSC no problem with the right glass

[icy sparrow]

if only the glass wasn't that expensive 😭

[hollow tusk]

I see

[scarlet tulip]

D200, 10MP body on a 300mm

[hidden wyvern]

me with 20 mp

[spring vault]

I crop pics down to 5mp sometimes lol

still looks good enough for discord

[hollow tusk]

doesnt this look lower quality than yours

[spring vault]

that's just a skill issue

[hollow tusk]

i see

but what can you expect froma kit lens that too 55mm

[hidden wyvern]

mostly to get a better lens for birds

[barren yoke]

Hm?

Yea I did see that quality is way better between the kit lens and something different

[hollow tusk]

but the budget

[hidden wyvern]

18-55 if thats the one in question wont cut it on a $9000 camera for birds either

need a telephoto

[hollow tusk]

say in simple words

i am just a teen

[hollow tusk]

i got 600

only

if thats what you were talking of

[hidden wyvern]

telephoto would mean long lens, something like 150-600, or on the cheaper end 55-250

allows you to get closer to birds

[hollow tusk]

oh ik that

but here at my place 55-250 is around 600

thts pretty costly

[hidden wyvern]

over here its around 150ish, certain countries have varying prices

[hollow tusk]

damn thats too cheap

[hidden wyvern]

18-55 will be difficult for birds unless extremely close

wouldnt blame the camera for that

[hollow tusk]

same here but i thought that there would be large difference if the resolution is different

[hollow tusk]

ikr

specially when you dont have any trees near you

i dont even have a tripod

[hidden wyvern]

my camera doesnt have the highest resolution, but the detail comes out when you get closer and closer

mine is 5472 x 3648 which is actually lower

birds are small so thats where the big lenses come in

[hollow tusk]

i see

[hollow tusk]

which cam do you have

[hidden wyvern]

i have the canon r6, has 20mp, but i feel its a good amount

[hollow tusk]

i wonder how can r6 have lower resolutin

resolution

so does that conclude

that

uhh

expensive doesnt mean higher reso

[hidden wyvern]

yeah, r6's benefits are speed, video, noise, its also full frame

where the r5 is almost double the price, it is nearly the same but with 45mp

r5 would have more room to crop in video and in general, but, that doesnt mean the r6 is incapable

[hollow tusk]

i see

ya speed is also a problem with this 1500d

legit 3 frames per sec

that to works only for like

11 seconds after that starts to hang

althogh by fluke i captured lightining with this

ya and also my view finder is destroyes

destroyed

and my sensor is a little dirty

[scarlet tulip]

This is happening because digital sensors will naturally show noise in underexposed areas, and that bird is backlit in harsh light

[hollow tusk]

no solution for the noise /

[scarlet tulip]

There’s not enough dynamic range in the sensor to actually see any detail

[hollow tusk]

?

[scarlet tulip]

Adobe AI Denoise, DxO, Topaz

[hollow tusk]

thank you

[scarlet tulip]

I wouldn’t keep the image personally

You want better light if you can get it

[hollow tusk]

in air ?

[scarlet tulip]

Look for cloudy days

The clouds diffuse light and create less of a difference between the sky background and the underside of the bird

Camera has an easier time exposing for the bird here

[hollow tusk]

i see

thanks

but these birds never show up when its cloudy

[scarlet tulip]

They will if you wait long enough

[hollow tusk]

4 hours

and i dont have a proper environment

i literally click pics from ym terrave

terrace

[barren yoke]

@hollow tusk where are you located?

[scarlet tulip]

What’s the environment around the terrace like

Unless it’s completely bare you should get birds in nearby trees, etc

[hollow tusk]

india

[hollow tusk]

buildings

[scarlet tulip]

Birds nest under eaves and such

[hollow tusk]

no trees

haha

[static magnet]

24? Luxury, I’m on 18

[icy sparrow]

luxury fr

[dusty fog]

i have a path just like this near me, i struggle to find any that aren't hiding in the brush
also it gets really busy pretty often

[scarlet tulip]

Some kind of kite?

[frosty yacht]

can’t be a kite I don’t see a string attached

[icy sparrow]

[mint warren]

I find that cloudy/sunny works different for different birds

[spring vault]

pics from my boat tour today

they were all far af so not very sharp

[mint warren]

Cloudy won't work for Rainbow bee-eaters for example

[scarlet tulip]

Sure

but he’s shooting raptors from below

Hard light is a killer in this case

[mint warren]

Been recently interested in loons, they seem cool

[spring vault]

me casually cropping to 2 megapixels

[mint warren]

yeah in that circumstance definitely

[spring vault]

need me a 1200mm lens and a motion stabilized boat

[mint warren]

And cannon sized arms

[barren yoke]

Lmao yeah

Just try your best and have fun. Photos will turn out eventually!

I got a wren photo, hoping this good cuz I only got one lol

Slim chances but he wasn't cooperating

[lusty kindle]

Buzard

I'm not sure of the translation though, but in french it is a buzard

[barren yoke]

Ah

[lusty kindle]

Circus aeroginosus

Easier that way

[loud lotus]

I really like this one, I kind of think of him as shy and hiding behind the leaves just a bit

[barren yoke]

Ooooo

I wish we had exotic birds

[barren yoke]

Wow! Amazing flight shot

[scarlet tulip]

background is suspect, bit it was nice catching the head in front of the wing like that

brings the bill out

thanks!

[barren yoke]

Yeah I think it's great!

I took this the other day

And

And these grebes photos

They are very finicky. So I hope they aren't too bad. I already edited

[spring vault]

think you gotta export as 8bit srgb as these aren't displaying correctly in discord

[hollow tusk]

on phone they are showing corrdctly

correctly

on pc its messed up

[barren yoke]

Yeah

you have to open in browser

One sec I'lll fix it

there

I have more

Way better photos

I'll share soon

Okay okay

look

they don't need editing

I used a biggr aperature

best descision

oh and

They are adorable

and they like, fold to go under

I didn't get a video because I barely have any photos. Now I have a ton of good ones

[mint warren]

Aw yeah, saw a kingfisher while driving home

They're back, gonna check my usual spot soon

[barren yoke]

Cool! I hope you get a photo

[sage drum]

It’s a distinguished gentleman having a lil snack :)

[barren yoke]

Awwww

Adorbs

[barren yoke]

What do you guys think of my photos

[icy sparrow]

the background isn't good tbh
the subject doesn't stand out

also the perspective is a tad bit too high up

[barren yoke]

I was laying on a dock lol

I tried

But its really sharp!

[icy sparrow]

ya the sharpness is great

but overall the background separation isn't there sadly

[barren yoke]

Aw

How do you get that with ducks?

I couldnt get any lower and I sure as hell wasen't putting my camera over the water

[spring vault]

put your camera over the water

[barren yoke]

Noooo and I didn't want to scare the Birdy

I've been trying forever to get good photos of it

Also my neighbor spotted an owl yesterday! I hope it comes back tonight cuz I missed it yesterday

[hidden wyvern]

encoutering lots of these lately

[hidden wyvern]

groundpod and ghillie suit

might not actually need the ghillie suit but just some level surface to lay on

i have a tabletop tripod

some people will actually just straight up use a boat as a surface but i think id just give up on that water area at that point

[barren yoke]

Yeah

I just thought they were really good photos

[fleet mica]

lovely shot, is that a starling?

[fleet mica]

the dock was probably elevated above the water level at a guess. Get off the dock onto the banks and shoot lower. As Keyan suggested, a groundpod will help. Your shots aren't bad, but you do need to get lower (I understand that it's not always possible, or easy to do). Also might I suggest using masks to work on the bird and background/water separately. Also, use the ruler in either Lightroom or Photoshop to level the image, so it's not at an angle. The 1st duck shot was a bit soft on the eyes, but the other 2 were fine. Just get out and practice and shoot and have fun.

I'm off for an indeterminate period of time, have somehow hurt my Left thumb and I am in a lot of pain. Have seen my GP today and got x-rays and ultrasounds done of the thumb/hand and surrounding joints, including the wrist. My best guess is arthritis combined with tendonitis, bursitis and a pinched nerve, at least based on my symptoms. I'm having a lot of trouble even driving my car.

[ember harness]

this one is nice but tilted, needs some editing to draw more attention to the face (and a better light direction would help)

[spring vault]

I got a lotta nice seagull pics this morning at the beach and I don't have time to edit them all rn

took these with the cam almost touching the wet sand using the flippy screen

[fleet mica]

1st 1 is awkard - you really want the bird looking into the empty space. ATM, he's looking out of the frame, from the edge of the frame. 2nd image is a bit too central in its composition, but lovely colours.

and reflection

[spring vault]

I might have better compd pics hidden somewhere in the pile lol

can't wait to get home and edit

[hidden wyvern]

Yeah, seen quite a few of them lately

[barren yoke]

Yikes I'm sorry I hope you feel better soon

[barren yoke]

Yep that's all I can do

[barren yoke]

Pretty wren!

I saw a house wren. But the single shot I took didnt turn out

But there was a Garner snake in a bush I saw

[fleet mica]

Just will have to rest the thumb

[barren yoke]

Sad

I took more photos, I'm not sure if any were good though

I mostly enjoy watching the birds but I am trying my best to get used to the camera and take photos

You have to enjoy nature. If I'm pointing the camera at everything I'll miss it

[mint warren]

Was kingfisher o clock at the place I just went

Will upload once lightroomed

[fleet mica]

nice!!!

[mint warren]

that shot is

superb

[fleet mica]

where was this?

anyway, I see your Sacred Kingfisher and raise it with a Poweful Owl. My thumb/wrist/arm are killing me, but it was fucking worth it. This is the baby Powerful Owl from today.

turned on IS on the 500f4 (I usually don't use IS as it makes an annoying as fuck whirring noise) as I shot at 1/400 and f6.3 and ISO8000

[mint warren]

Tfw don't get powerful owls in wa

[fleet mica]

tfw?

[mint warren]

That feel when

[fleet mica]

ahhh!

[mint warren]

Near midland

[fleet mica]

cracking kingfisher shots mate

what lens? You got remarkably close (I presume these aren't crops)

[fleet mica]

mother Powerful Owl

[barren yoke]

Cute

I wish I could get owl shots, I've been trying, my neighbor found one in their yard close to 7pm but I was gone 🥹

Hasn't come ack since and the owls I found lasyt time were too dark to shoot

Barred owls

But I also know we have eastern screech and great horned

Lets hope the bird gods let me get some owl photos soon

[mint warren]

Not big crops no. Sigma 150-600 C

And he was hanging out close

[barren yoke]

Yeah I had a close shot with a 300mm

[barren yoke]

Damn we're going kayaking but I can't bring my camera

And I don't know how to make the 300mm lens get good quality image

[scarlet tulip]

Which 300?

@barren yoke

[barren yoke]

Canon kit lens

5.6-6.3

I would've needed the 600 anyway

[icy sparrow]

is that with a 300mm or a phone?

[barren yoke]

Phone

[scarlet tulip]

Same as anything else

Shoot at 300, widest aperture, auto ISO, pick a shutter speed

I like 1/1000 for flight

[barren yoke]

THERES A WINTER WREN

LIFER

He's so cute I love wrens

[fleet mica]

wildlife photography is like that

[fleet mica]

I don't recommend shooting at widest aperture, especially with the cheaper lens Stop down a stop I much prefer 1/2000 for BIFs (larger birds) and 1/4000-1/8000 for smaller birds

[scarlet tulip]

I don’t necessarily disagree, but when on a budget one must compromise

Given the choice between extra sharpness and a sufficient shutter speed, I’ll take the shutter

[spring vault]

I had to drive people to the airport at 5am but I took that as an excuse to visit a park I've never been to at sunrise and I saw a bald eagle

[barren yoke]

Awesome!

I'm going kayaking again today

And although I was threatened that if anything happens to my camera, it's the end of my photography career, I think I'll be fine

I have a water resistant bag, and a bunch of towels wrapped around the camera inside the bag

And it's a swamp so there won't be waves to tip me over

I'll make sure I'm in a safe spot before taking my camera out

I hope I can get a kingfisher photo

I was thinking to wrap the camera in a grocery bag, but I'm pretty sure I won't tip over

[dusty fog]

Get gear insurance

[barren yoke]

Idk what that is

[dusty fog]

Don’t want to end your photo career

[barren yoke]

I got my camera lens second hand

[dusty fog]

https://www.ppa.com/benefits/insurance/basic-equipment-insurance

Not warranty, insurance

[barren yoke]

I'm pretty sure Ill be absolutely fine

I'll make sure I'm in a good spot before taking my camera out

[dusty fog]

Famous last words, just be careful getting in an out of the kayak that’s the hard part lmao

[barren yoke]

No one else goes on this swamp a

True

But it's a backpack and it's on my front

[dusty fog]

Nice

[barren yoke]

I have others so I can hand it to them

I'll be extra safe. This is like the only time I'm going on the water with it

[spring vault]

here's the eagle I saw this morning

had to crop a lot

first time seeing one in MI

[compact plank]

A bit out of place

[fleet mica]

yes, this is true

Went to the Maleny Bird World yesterday - lots of birds, including beautiful Macaws which I have never seen in person before. Unfortunately, their shows are limited to 1 hour and you are rushed from cage to cage. Loved the birds, but the experience was disappointing. Got some shots with the 70-200. Got a bunch of soft shots too (too close to the subject). Am I missing something - don't Canon MLCs don't tell you when the shot is OOF in servo mode? In single shot, the focus box turns Orange...why can't they do that in servo mode...frustrating design and very poorly thought out.

[lusty kindle]

Don't you have a 500 f4?

[mint warren]

turkey vultures?

[fleet mica]

yeah, but I took the 70-200. I have a busted L thumb/hand/wrist (waiting on the scan results), so I shouldn't even be using my camera at all LOL. And here's me going out on Saturday getting the Powerful Owl shots (fuck it was my attitude LOL). I'm going to pay for it but meh. Went out today looking for the Powerful Owls but nowhere to be found. Did get a Lewin's honeyeater though, but at ISO10000 (1/400, f5.6). Should clean up OK.

[fleet mica]

it does look like, doesn't it?

[lusty kindle]

Oh okok

[dusty fog]

yes

managed to get that with 70-200 while doing sports becaue it flew so close

[fleet mica]

That’s cool! I would brighten it up a bit but that’s just my opinions. Also depending on how noisy it is it’d look bad brightened.

[spring vault]

nah I think it's unsavable lol

only keeping it as proof I actually saw one

that pic is already running thru topaz ai denoise and sharpen which helped a lot but also kinda melted it lolol

[barren yoke]

I have.. more grebe photos!

Yeha the kayaking was fun but I hardly got any bird photos

the one I really wanted to turn out, was not focused properly so yeah

[spring vault]

sounds like your photography career is intact

[fleet mica]

would you consider sending me a copy of the RAW file to play with and see what I can coax out of it?

[mint warren]

saw another kingfisher today near my house

fly across the road

[broken spruce]

I have a couple of common kingfishers that settle on a river near my office. Hope I'll be able to catch a good shot soon

[spring vault]

hell yeah lmk how it goes

[fleet mica]

give me 10 or so minutes to have a go at processing it

you've already processed this image in DXO Pure RAW?

[spring vault]

this ones untouched

here's the rawer raw untouched by adobe dng converter

[fleet mica]

lemme see what I can do with the DNG file first

just uploading the DNG, TIF with layers, and JPG file to my google drive and will provide a link when it's done (1.4GB)

[barren yoke]

Yup!

There was a moment when the lens cap popped off, but all is good. I want to get those rubber caps so I don't die inside when setting my bag down too hard. Lmao

But yeah my companions aren't really bird people so they wouldn't stop paddling when I told them to. Also saw a 3rd white squirrel!!! I thought they were rare and then I found 3 in 2 days

Couldn't get a photo cause of the angle and it was gone when we returned

That photo and this one

It's a bit busy but idk I wanted a photo of the wood ducks

[wheat hare]

There’s a billion white squirrels in Brevard, NC just fyi. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/north-carolina/white-squirrel-capital-brevard-nc/

[barren yoke]

Oh

I'm not in north Carolina, but I thought they were a bit more rare then that

[barren yoke]

I thought maybe they'd be more rare bc of survival issues

But now I want photos of them

[mint warren]

hearing kingfishers when I'm sitting on the can now

[barren yoke]

Ooo awesome!

Sorry for the late response lol Iforgot to reply

[barren yoke]

Ooo is that a mockingbird or a shrike. Or neither cuz I'm stupid

[scarlet tulip]

Mockingbird

Lots of them out today

[barren yoke]

Yayy I was right

Cool photo btw!

[scarlet tulip]

Thanks!

[static magnet]

I love grebes, they look so goofy

Couldn’t get as close to the water as I wanted so the angles a bit weird but here’s our local ones

[mint warren]

I gotta try get some better shots of grebes too

I dont really have the patience to wait around for reed dancing tho

[mint warren]

Gonna do a coastal walk for ospreys and white wings tomorrow

Followed by a splendid wren spot

[mint warren]

Ooooo

[broken spruce]

The best I had right now but I spotted its fishing place

[ornate nimbus]

😌

[mint warren]

He blue

[mint warren]

good signs at the area too

the local council is trapping foxes in the area

very based

[barren yoke]

Damn

Poor foxes

But you have great bird spots!

Does anyone have an Instagram?

[mint warren]

It's good they're controlling their numbers

Foxes are such a big environmental problem for us

[barren yoke]

True but it's sad

We apparently had cougars a while back

Saw some coyotes earlier this year

There used to be a fox that passed through our yard but I haven't seen it in a while. Shame, id like photos

Oh and I want to photograph those white squirrels

[solar bay]

ducky:)

[barren yoke]

Duckyyy

[solar bay]

[wheat hare]

Kinda disappointed spent four days in Yellowstone/Teton and a quick jaunt through Glacier and no birb photos

[fleet mica]

brisbanebirdphotos

[spring vault]

yeah lol I went to acadia national park for a week and saw fewer birds there than 30 mins at my local park

[broken spruce]

flolechevelu
But just a few birds in there

[barren yoke]

el.zabeth.w

[ember harness]

Xu_amagi but only like a quarter birds

[barren yoke]

No problem! We just follow each to support and you can view everything I send here, there usually

[fleet mica]

I'm already following you, must have done so in the past lol. Can't remember when but I have a crappy memory so....

[barren yoke]

Ah right

Yeah I usually follow everyone back

[hidden wyvern]

mine is keyanv3 and its mostly birb

[barren yoke]

Same mine is mostly birds

Omg snek

[barren yoke]

This is mine

Just to bump it

[hidden wyvern]

i followed back anyway

i need to find more birds around where i live now, recently moved so things changed lol

[fleet mica]

female Australasian figbird. Bummed about the branch cutting off the tip of her beak 😦 thought I'd nailed it in camera but alas

[hidden wyvern]

i need to find a cardinal, and i know theyre around here lol

thatll be fun

[fleet mica]

Lewin's honeyeater. Deep in the shade, very late afternoon. ISO10000. Cleaned up OK. R3 ftw

will eventually pull the finger out and clone out the distracting background vines, but not tonight

was a very co-operative bird, happily posting for like 2 or 3 minutes lol

[ember harness]

some from my last trip out i think i never posted here

[fleet mica]

I really like the female, she's prettier than the male imho

[barren yoke]

Thanks

[ember harness]

same, harder shot to get tho

[barren yoke]

Awesome photos though!

[fleet mica]

yeah the female appears to be more nervous than the male imho

Willy wagtail. auto subject select masking in Photoshop was a mess, so had to manually do things...wanted to bump the hue/sat on the background up a bit but not the bird. Quick 'n' dirty effort with the masking lol. I don't have the patience for accurate masking these days.

[barren yoke]

Oooo

Pretty

[fleet mica]

I dislike shooting these birds as they are mongrels to get right exposure wise - getting details in their face is a bloody nightmare.

[barren yoke]

I love how the bird is built. The big tail and wings are so cute

[ember harness]

they are really hard to shoot but quite pretty

[barren yoke]

Like American redstart, they are built cutely

[fleet mica]

yeah, these guys have ATTITUDE with a capital A

[ember harness]

ive only gotten up close to a few

[barren yoke]

Wait what is that bird?

[fleet mica]

they are generally speaking pretty easy to approach from my experiences, but I am shooting with 700mm

[barren yoke]

Damn

[ember harness]

shots like this

at the time i was using 400mm i think?

[barren yoke]

Woah

Did you crop?

[ember harness]

yeah 10mp down from 30

[barren yoke]

Also wait what bird is that

[fleet mica]

I can never get them front lit. Bastards prefer to be bloody well back lit

[ember harness]

same one as dave

[fleet mica]

drive me crazy

[barren yoke]

Silhouette!

[fleet mica]

yeah I could I guess. I just want a decent shot of 1

[barren yoke]

I love bird silhouettes and I like the shape of that guy

[fleet mica]

very similar to our grey fantail

[barren yoke]

Hm

[ember harness]

this is my experience with birds of prey so alls fair lol

grey fantails are super cute

[barren yoke]

Do you guys know Chiara?

From Instagram?

[ember harness]

nope

[barren yoke]

She's a birder+photographer

[fleet mica]

this is a grey fantail

[barren yoke]

That's her page

[fleet mica]

I don't think so

[barren yoke]

I'm doing a meeting with her to improve my photography

Well the program is a paid thing but the beginning is free

[fleet mica]

yeah I've had hit and miss luck with getting them front lit

[ember harness]

thats a nice shot of a fantail

[ember harness]

sounds like fun

[barren yoke]

Yeah the birds of prey won't sit still for me

But now that I am have the 600mm I'm praying I get more photos

But it's cold and I hate going out in the winter with a camera

[ember harness]

ive recently gone up to 800mm for most of my birding and its so luxurious lol

[fleet mica]

the bigger raptors will glide on warmer air currents, making them easier targets. I always recommend knowing the location, where the Sun will be in golden hour dawn/dusk too.

visit the location and watch the birds where they like to fly/glide/perch

then position yourself so that the raptors are front lit to suit morning/afternoon

[barren yoke]

Oh right! The eagle photo I have, uh well it flew off as soon and I pulled out the camera. But would stay there for 20 min with everyone

[fleet mica]

I'd really love the EF 600 f4 II - with my mark 3 1.4x TC it'd give me 840mm

[barren yoke]

It's camera shy

[ember harness]

i really want to see an eagle doing something interesting, all my photos are just boring blue sky

[ember harness]

that would be a dream setup too, i use the 400 2.8 ii with the 2x TC

[barren yoke]

Oh

[fleet mica]

most birds are camera shy. Approaching birds (without spooking them) is a Black art and takes time to learn. I'm only just starting to learn this now

[ember harness]

its very sharp but slightly lacks AF speed imo

[fleet mica]

400 f2.8 is way too heavy and bulky imho.

[barren yoke]

Yeah well I only got the wings flapping photo cuz he flew away

[ember harness]

i dont have an issue with it personally haha

but i can see it

never tried the 600

[barren yoke]

I was mainly hidden bc I was like 150 yards away or something. He was up in a tree and was spooked

[fleet mica]

I"m used to my 500f4 now ((I think my mark 1 is about the same as the mark 2 400f2.8 in terms of weight?)

[ember harness]

i also shoot sports, so the 400 is the best option for both

[fleet mica]

try ghillie suits

[ember harness]

about the same yeah

[fleet mica]

ah yes, 100%

300 and 400 f2.8 rule for sports imho.

[ember harness]

yeah those are the ideal lenses

[fleet mica]

400 f4 DO might be alright, but costly used

[ember harness]

DO is really a compromise for size anyways, i personally prefer the wider aperture

[barren yoke]

I'm taking a photography class this year so I'll learn the mechanics and like grides and stuff. All I know is pick a setting and take a photo then repeat

[fleet mica]

me too, but...some people like the smaller size weight and you only lose a stop but still very sharp optics

[ember harness]

pick a setting and take a photo is most of what i do too lol

[barren yoke]

Yep