Bird Photography

[gilded yarrow]

Lool I got a very similar pic yesterday but havent edited it yet

[magic crown]

Oh

[hidden wyvern]

guy tried to correct my grammar on my chickadee post in another page lol, I named it "Chickadee at park name" Anyways I need to get out more, spring coming soon so, so wont the little fluffs they call ducklings

people already spotting geese here

i will say the 500 f/4 has caused some form of overstress on a muscle handholding it all winter but nothing that wont go away i figure, prob best to try using a monopod more than once lol. I just cant do what I can do with the 100-500 position wise handholding the 500 f/4 as easy (this is actually my leg, not my arm)

worse would be ignoring it and continuing anyway, just a heavy item

[magic crown]

Day 3 for the kingfisher (i hear it really close to me)

[green meadow]

Thanks and I like it too. But I'm not sure about that edit. I just couldn't figure anything else how to make those details pop out.

whole bird and head were taken with Nikkor Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S and wing details with Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/2.8G VR II

[green meadow]

You need to go to gym and build biceps like Jared Polin has. It is kind of funny how he flexes on review and tell that big lens is handholdable if you have muscles as he has. 😅

[green meadow]

Already now I have to wait at least month or two.

[hidden wyvern]

think i was putting too much weight all on one leg, but im sure itll get better, gotta use zoom more often for now lol

they have these white geese im hoping to see in person here, usually i see canadian geese

goes to show something thats probably everywhere in the us is uncommon here

[green meadow]

Sorry, I didn't notice that you had issues with your leg rather than hands. Hopefully it gets better soon.

[hidden wyvern]

thanks, just gonna try to take it easier on it

yesterday with the chickadee was easy enough just walking with my zoom

[green meadow]

Good to have different lenses also for emergence like that. Big primes are great but that weight is quite a burden to carry. 🥹

[scarlet tulip]

The one time I tried a 500/4, I began to understand the appeal of the monopod

[green meadow]

Today's action shots. Light snow fall gave nice touch to some of these.

[spring vault]

hell yeah

[scarlet tulip]

That snow is so photogenic

[green meadow]

It looks nice but it is also needs dark enough background to get it visible.

[scarlet tulip]

I will say I’m looking forward to spring, since mist and rain look good on leafy backdrops as well

And the leaves are coming back

etc

Though snow is always more impressive

[green meadow]

true true. Rain looks nice also, but i think that it is even more difficult to get it visible.

[scarlet tulip]

It is, and you need more of it for it to show up

[spring vault]

im so excited for spring

[astral arch]

I think it works well isolating the colors like that

[uneven bramble]

oh thats pretty pretty

[uneven bramble]

lovely photo

[magic crown]

no kingfisher today but a really cute and round teal duck

[uneven bramble]

which lens did you use?

[magic crown]

a Tamron 150-500mm i have a lot of chromatic abberation that's why i'm saving to a 200-600mm from sony

[uneven bramble]

i found lightroom does a pretty good job removing that

i just got that same lens

[magic crown]

i think i finally found my photo style
large landscape (5:2) with a pastel like color

(like the last photo)

[uneven bramble]

it looks very magical

are you on the ground?

[magic crown]

i'm home actually but wednesday i go at 6am to 7pm to take a kingfisher and some other shots like this one

classic edit vs my (working on it) style

[uneven bramble]

both look good

[magic crown]

the 2nd for me is the best

[uneven bramble]

have you thought to get a a7r?

[magic crown]

i'm going to stay at aps c sensor the next one is an a6700

[uneven bramble]

i was about to snag one for $940 last month

their prices are starting to decrease

[magic crown]

idk abt 7r series i just heard that series is really good

[uneven bramble]

if i see the a6700 again for 1k ill tell ppl here

[magic crown]

blud is really mad

[carmine fox]

DOMS from photography is wild

[carmine fox]

JUST SAW MY FIRST OWL

[dark ermine]

thats so exciting!! congrats!

i've yet to see one myself

[wise trench]

I heard one very close last night, and I think I may have gotten a glimpse, but it was a shadow so hard to tell. Not that cool for most, but for me it was nice haha 😭

[mint warren]

Grats

[carmine fox]

not bad for sooc

600 shots of owl
didn't want to miss anything

[finite flower]

some recent finds

essential birding kit

[uneven bramble]

wow

is that a chair?

[finite flower]

yep foldable chair

[uneven bramble]

i should get one thats also a cane

[hardy fox]

i have that exact one

[finite flower]

stonks

7.90 cheap nia

[magic crown]

this...is a chair

old vs new

[finite flower]

yes

[finite flower]

how do you tint it like that btw

[magic crown]

desaturation and color gradin panel

[finite flower]

you mind sending the settings you used

so i can sorta know where to start

[magic crown]

this panel

[magic crown]

theres a lot

last version

[magic crown]

A hen with his boyfriend

[magic crown]

Here one photo of her

[magic crown]

I think she will soon lay eggs bc she stay laying down like that with his mate a lot

[steep kelp]

Back button focus - how many of you are using it?

[magic crown]

?

[gilded yarrow]

I use it, its a lot nicer than normal focusing imo

[gilded yarrow]

Thats normal lightroom right

Not lightroom classic

I cant use color grading on masks lol

[magic crown]

yeah

[gilded yarrow]

Damn

[carmine fox]

I find it a little bit more clunky but I use it sometimes
especially for stationary subjects

[wide flint]

I have my subject detection on my back button and a spot autofocus on my shutter half press. Normally just use back button and use the shutter half press for if the subject detection has some troubles

[magic crown]

i use it to put higher shutter speed and use large autofocus mode

pretty useful with flying birds

[wide flint]

@carmine fox Something like this for a crop

[carmine fox]

I agree, I'd like to do more with it when I get a new laptop, my 5 year old msi literally killed itself the day before

I can send the raw if you want to play around with it, for the foreseeable future I am limited to lightroom mobile which is fucking atrocious

[magic crown]

Day 5

[carmine fox]

thoughts on this second angle?

different crop
this is def better

lightroom mobile is ass vro 💔

[magic crown]

This one is going to be really nice to edit

[wide flint]

oh yeah much better

You could send the raw here, I could have a look this evening or maybe other people like @magic crown wanna have a go at it

[magic crown]

I can't actually i'm on field and i don't take my sd card reader

[steep kelp]

Is it cool to post an IG link here( bird photography related)? Its something I feel we all can relate to and get a laugh out of.

[wide flint]

Yeah you're good

[dark ermine]

@wide flint how do you feel about the Nikkor 180-600mm after having it for a couple months now, still like it?

i'm considering it over my 150-600 c when upgrading to z8

though also thinking prime 400mm with tc (not the 12k one lol)

[wide flint]

Yeah its a lovely lens. Very sharp wide open and just really versatile

Only thing I could be kinda complaining about is the speed of the focus motors, that is a relatively big downside compared to primes

[dark ermine]

thanks. i'm trying to use flickr groups to decide but it's annoying because half the uploads don't contain settings info and some of the shots are just complete potato

not sure how people are getting that quality out of a 5k kit unless it's just way over cropped / focus miss / edited

but then same set up pulling this lol

[scarlet tulip]

Don’t bother with flickr

Fred Miranda forums have image threads for the lens that contain much better quality photos

[spring vault]

its a new lens you can just watch reviews

tldr is the lens is good

[scarlet tulip]

If I bought a bird zoom it’d be that one

[dark ermine]

okay yeah looking at FM forum i can only think those flickr people just absolutely lied about their kit lol ty

[carmine fox]

this is the same thing I've heard about the 200-500, ime it's pretty sticky once you actually grab and track something, but getting there is a bit of a pain esp without 6m-inf focus lock
I guess people are comparing it to primes which isn't really fair tbh

[scarlet tulip]

FM has better shooters lol

Anyone can get bad images out of a nice lens

[dark ermine]

what's wild is the "award" comments on flickr, had me thinking my expectations were too high

which is generally true but still

[fallow token]

200-500 is a bit ehh anyway just due to it's age

big and clunky

[scarlet tulip]

These don’t relate to quality so much as popularity

The two don’t always coincide

[carmine fox]

compared to 180-600, definitely

for f mount it's alright i suppose

[scarlet tulip]

At that point just buy a 500PF

The cost is worth it

[fallow token]

even for F mount it's a bit iffy iirc

but maybe im just spoiled by third party zooms

[carmine fox]

the cheapest secondhand 500pf in my area is 3x the cost of the 500pf
you also just lose all the versatility

[scarlet tulip]

Plenty of good work got done with the 200-500, but afaik it wasn’t a standout compared to the Sigma/Tamron competitors

[dark ermine]

just baffling with photography when sure it's subjective art but I think there's typically that technical base line where something is obviously objectively good or bad.

[scarlet tulip]

For birds, you’re at 500 most of the time anyway

The lens is sharpest wide open and can convert to 700:8 while remaining sharper than most zooms

[carmine fox]

sure, but sometimes im not
which is why I like having the zoom range

[scarlet tulip]

You’d have to pay me to replace something like that with a zoom

[carmine fox]

I mean a prime will always be better, that's not what I'm saying
it's like a kg less isn't it?

[scarlet tulip]

Half the weight, something like 2/3 the size

[carmine fox]

the weight doesn't really bother me, and the range covers everything I really need
I haven't particularly noticed any issues with sharpness either, mainly limited by light at this point

[scarlet tulip]

If I’m dragging weight around, I’d rather have a 500/4

[wide flint]

Yeah exactly, it's still amazing and very workable. Only time I kinda struggled with it was BIF, just wished it was a bit faster

But indeed, comparing it to primes is kinda unfair

[spring vault]

I use the Sony 500pf equiv and I don't miss zooming much

the size is really nice

I take my camera and tele with me in a sling bag

[scarlet tulip]

Especially on an A6700

It’s teensy

[carmine fox]

I haven't been able to test it on larger birds yet, but it's tracked songbirds well enough if I give it help, worked pretty well on that owl so I'd assume it should be okay for geese/ducks, I've definitely missed a couple of shots on smaller ones tho

[scarlet tulip]

I’ve yet to be convinced that tracking flight is all that heavy a lift for any modern lens

Almost all the work comes from the body

Especially for waterfowl, you aren’t seeing much in the way of inconsistent movement

[carmine fox]

yeah, I'd bet it's mainly limited by the af system rather than the lens
erratic flight might be a problem when you're shifting that much glass around, inertia and all that

[wide flint]

Yeah only situation I had struggles was super small songbirds flying towards me. Pretty much the hardest situation to be in considering autofocus

[carmine fox]

duckies just kinda pick a direction and fly which is nice

[spring vault]

I notice my 500mm slightly misses focus more often than my first party zoom but it's not a big percentage difference and a lot of it might just be because the dof is thinner so small errors are more noticeable

the lens is sharp enough I can tell if the lens focused on the birds chest instead of iris

[carmine fox]

I noticed that exact issue in that exact scenario lol, I don't really fault it tho

[fallow token]

isn't the 500pf f5.6 though?

[scarlet tulip]

It is

[fallow token]

because then like you aren't even gaining aperture so I can see why someone might prefer just getting the zoom

[scarlet tulip]

I wouldn’t touch one if it were the same size as the 200-500 lol

[carmine fox]

the pain of having a performant lens
it will show you exactly where you messed up if you look hard enough

[scarlet tulip]

The zoom is also way worse in optical terms

[spring vault]

500 f4 vs 500 5.6 lol

[carmine fox]

you will be hard pressed to find a zoom that is better than a prime because the fundamental purpose is different
obviously, yes, primes are sharper because they can be optimized for a specific focal length, zooms have to be "good" throughout the range
you lose 15-20% IQ at worst but gain far more versatility

they are also faster because they have less glass to move in general, and less glass means less inertia which means faster direction changes and micro adjustments
I'm not over here trying to tell you muh 200-500 btfo primes, I'm just saying the versatility is what I need

I'm fairly certain my 7 year old sensor isn't gonna outresolve the lens either

[carmine fox]

wild
whats the weight difference?

[scarlet tulip]

No shit

And there’s nothing wrong with a zoom for versatility

[fallow token]

I mean why go 200-500 when other options exist

150-600 and 100-400

[scarlet tulip]

200-400, 180-400

Those are the wild ones

Would definitely be interested in one for sports or larger mammals

[fallow token]

180-400 if you can find one or afford one lel

very cool lens though

[scarlet tulip]

Same price as an 800PF or something

[fallow token]

200-400 is pretty cheap though for the vri

[scarlet tulip]

Have seen a ton of good sports work on those, yeah

[fallow token]

would probably have got one if I knew about it rather than my 100-400 just for a bit nicer aperture
can be had for like £5-600 surprisingly

[scarlet tulip]

AFAIK the issue with them is that they’re dark for f4

[spring vault]

the mirrorless sigma 60-600 is actually quite nice optically and has really good stabilization too despite the ridiculous zoom range it's just massive and heavy af

[scarlet tulip]

Must be fun off a tripod

[waxen coyote]

Do u think this is too much? 😭

(The bird is on the bottom part)

[dark ermine]

wym too much?

this is landscape photography ᶠᵉᵃᵗᵘʳᶦⁿᵍ ᵇᶦʳᵈ though 😄

[spring vault]

can u show the original

looks like a phone picture

[carmine fox]

150-600 tamron supposedly acts up after a few hundred shots, and is less sharp past 500 anyway
100-400 was too close to the 70-300 I was upgrading from
new condition first party lens 50% of msrp with box & accessories is about a good a deal as it gets

also apparently the 150-600s in testing showed slightly faster af but worse af accuracy

*sigma specifically, whoops

[dark ermine]

think i'm going to bring my 150-600mm c over to the z8 with the ftz, see how it does before going for the 180-600

[waxen coyote]

Cuz I think the bird is hard to notice. Btw @ me for answers cuz I might loose the reply

*lose

[waxen coyote]

Now I can’t sorry…

[waxen coyote]

No it was done with a camera

[carmine fox]

this is also partially why I went first party
guaranteed** to work with ftz when I eventually upgrade

double asterisk in case Nikon goes superevil and stops making ftz

[scarlet tulip]

They have no reason to do that

[fallow token]

never heard that about the tammy

apart from their first gen lenses

this is a g2 though should be fine

[carmine fox]

yes it was mainly satirical

that would obliterate their pr department lmao

brand image gone faster than tesla

[scarlet tulip]

“We have decided to stop making money”

[dark ermine]

yeah i just feel like need to give the sigma a shot at least because i only just bought it in feb 2024

sunk cost fallacy maybe but we'll see

[carmine fox]

might be g1, can't really remember
there's some instances where the g2 gets "confused" apparently, I'd rather not take a chance regardless
I got a crazy deal anyway

[carmine fox]

sometimes it pays off
might turn into a beast with the z af

[waxen coyote]

Oh well

[carmine fox]

might have to cop the bif aftershave

[magic crown]

original

[carmine fox]

breh

hopefully that didn't ping anyone

bro its 30mb why ts take so long 💔

@magic crown @wide flint feel free to mess around if you have a minute

[magic crown]

oh i always wanted to do an owl edit shot

[steep kelp]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGyw5woxGg2/?igsh=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA==

sharkieran

A little Ranty McRanterson about why I have trust issues #canonphotography

Likes

55907

Instagram

[carmine fox]

I have a bunch more I have to go through yet, I'll toss up any other good ones

[carmine fox]

hell yeah

[magic crown]

i'm still cooking x)

[carmine fox]

\ indeed my brother

[gilded yarrow]

Lmaoo wanted to compare edited to sooc in lightroom and still had discord open

[carmine fox]

[magic crown]

with my 5:2 format style

[carmine fox]

I love when windows decides you actually want to type in a minimized text field instead of using a hotkey in the currently open program

[carmine fox]

epic
love the drama

the dark branches are awesome

[gilded yarrow]

Different crop

[magic crown]

i was going to do the same

[carmine fox]

sharpness is crazy
is that from lr only or dxo too?

[gilded yarrow]

Wouldve been insane without all the smaller branches, backlit also makes it a bit hard to edit but sick photo either way

[magic crown]

both for me

[gilded yarrow]

lr denoise + sharpness

So lr only

[carmine fox]

that makes sense, both look way sharper than sooc

[magic crown]

dxo for denoise and lr for sharpness

wanna test my images to edit ? (already denoised)

[carmine fox]

I wonder if they'll perform significantly better on lr mobile
also, do yall shoot 14bit compressed or 14bit lossless? compressed gives me 10 more shots in buffer but idk if it will affect image quality that much

[magic crown]

i'm on a a6400 so it's compressed raw

[gilded yarrow]

I shoot normal raw

[magic crown]

btw what's the real difference ?

[gilded yarrow]

Theres barely any difference lmao

[magic crown]

maybe the size ?

[gilded yarrow]

Lol it applied your edit for some reason

[magic crown]

wtf

how

[gilded yarrow]

Even all the masks

wtf

[magic crown]

wtf bro

oh i think i know why

the metadata of the file

even the mask are in my language

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah

[magic crown]

[gilded yarrow]

Wait

What makes this even weirder is that I dont even use normal lightroom

I use lightroom classic only

Lmao

[magic crown]

blud is cooked

i also have this recent one

(shot today)

[magic crown]

oh i really like the tones

what do you think ?

original

[gilded yarrow]

Looks great imo

[magic crown]

tf is he doing

lil bud is bored to live

[carmine fox]

clean 🔥

[dark ermine]

it's because juletek sent a dng. both versions of LR use .dng files which store xmp data (edits) within them, that's how LR keeps the original raw from being modified

recently learned more about this because i was breaking lightroom community uploads due to too much xmp data

if instead sent the raw would have to also send the xmp file to see the edits, but because dng it's all packaged up

[carmine fox]

ohshitohshitohshitohshit

caught him taking off but the fucking WING IS CLIPPED

[wide flint]

Aayyy nice

I wanna see some northern Hawk owls as well

Hopefully will see them in the north of Norway when I go this summer

But I'll be mainly on the Lofoten, so idk if they really come there

[carmine fox]

I'm crazy excited about this, hopefully he stays around this summer, this is like 10min from my house, usually I go to the big park 20min away

they're super cool

[finite flower]

@scarlet tulip

abit too excited

anyway ill send again the full res

[carmine fox]

cool shot

[scarlet tulip]

Well captured

That’s a hell of a moment

[waxen coyote]

What do u think?

[uneven bramble]

amazing

[magic crown]

original

[carmine fox]

lightroom mobile continues to beat my previous expectations of insanely poor performance

couldn't recover shadows to save the company

[wide flint]

I think you went a bit overboard with this edit. The bird itself looks way underexposed now, its even darker then its own reflection

[magic crown]

better ?

[wide flint]

A bit, but i'd still brighten the bird a bit

Egrets are tough to get right exposure wise since they're just completely white

Normally I try to have detail in most of the bird and then have the brightest highlights be on the edge of being blown out, that looks the best I found

[wide flint]

Yeah, that looks better

[gilded yarrow]

imo bird still too dark and Vignette too strong

[gilded yarrow]

Thats sick af

Peregrine?

[finite flower]

yeah

[wide flint]

Peregrine falcons are so sick

Still really want to get one in front of my lens some time

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah same

havent seen one ever

[finite flower]

this particular one has a slight skill issue in catching prey

it takes very long to get brekky

[magic crown]

[scarlet tulip]

Must be a younger bird

[dark ermine]

I like this! I'd probably just lighten up the shadows on the subject, looks like you may have used spot metering on the sky? if so was good idea to keep it from overexposure

[gilded yarrow]

cute wren

[wide flint]

Have seen one a few times, but only far away and without my camera

[waxen coyote]

It wasn’t my attempt but it has still turned out really good!

Do you guys know how big is the impact of megapixel for image quality? I have a Nikon d3500 and I’m thinking to buy a Nikon d500 for various reasons. The only thing that I’m not sure is the fact that the d3500 has 24 megapixels, and the d500 has only 21. Will this impact my quality a lot? I know photographers who shot with a 40 MP cameras….

I already don’t like the quality of my d3500, and I think I will like even less the sharpness of my d500…

Plz @ me for answers!

[scarlet tulip]

D500 is an excellent bird camera

It’s 20MP, but on a smaller sensor, so you get resolution equivalent to something like a 45MP full-frame

[fallow token]

I did the exact same thing d3500 to d500

[waxen coyote]

Please @ me cuz I don’t want to lose the answers

[fallow token]

if you have good lenses you won't notice it

like at all

[waxen coyote]

Ill read it asap

[fallow token]

what lenses do you have firstly?

[waxen coyote]

Oh u serious?!

[waxen coyote]

I didn’t know this

[scarlet tulip]

Yep, the sensor is in APSC format so it’s physically smaller than a full-frame

[waxen coyote]

I have a sigma 150-600 f/5.6-6.3

[scarlet tulip]

that’ll do the job

[fallow token]

that's why

[waxen coyote]

Ohhhh niceee

[fallow token]

it can tend to struggle on aps-c

[waxen coyote]

?

[fallow token]

as that lens has high sample variation

[waxen coyote]

Nice

[scarlet tulip]

Depends heavily on the copy of the lens you have yeah

[fallow token]

so it could be a cause of softness if there is any

[scarlet tulip]

If it’s soft I’d eliminate user error first

[waxen coyote]

Idk I could send u some images to let u see

[waxen coyote]

What

[scarlet tulip]

Do you have images made with the lens that exhibit the problems you are having

[waxen coyote]

You mean softness? 😭

[scarlet tulip]

Do you have images showing this

[waxen coyote]

Oh yeah

Shit

It’s a raw file

I can’t send it here

[fallow token]

yeah they work here iirc

[scarlet tulip]

Easiest thing is to post full-size jpeg exports

[waxen coyote]

Cant I do a screenshot for now? I don’t have my pc with me 😭

[scarlet tulip]

That works

[waxen coyote]

pls @ me for answers

[waxen coyote]

does this thing works on my currently nikon d3500?

[scarlet tulip]

Your D3500 is also an APSC so yes

That looks sharp enough at such a low resolution, I would not blame the lens

You test lenses for sharpness by taking photos of defined patterns that aren’t moving

Some text in a book or on a poster is an easy target

[fallow token]

yeah do some further testing

the lens varies so much that it could be either

[waxen coyote]

i’ve already tried it with the sweet spots bur they all looked identical and no so sharp. Idk maybe im getting something wrong?

[waxen coyote]

So it would be arounf 50 MP?

[spring vault]

here's a good explanation for comparing the actual reach of various sensor sizes when accounting for pixel density and cropping in editing.
https://jpolak.org/photo/the-mathematics-of-reach

the math isn't complicated I just thought this article does a good job explaining it

[scarlet tulip]

“Sweet spots”

[fallow token]

24.2mp would be 54.5~ full frame density wise

its just x2.25 or / by 2.25 if going from ff to aps-c density iirc

[gilded yarrow]

Not sure if I like it

Looks boring

[dark ermine]

I think the lighting is off, looks like the bird and branch were pasted into the photo. maybe background is too muted? I like that soft light though in the bg

[gilded yarrow]

Didnt change it that much lol, this is sooc

[carmine fox]

something about the foreground seems more contrasty, the softer contrast sooc looks a bit more natural imo

are you able to isolate the wren itself?

[scarlet tulip]

Raise whites on the bird, lower them on the defocused area

The bird is darker than the big white patch to its left and that throws the viewer off

[waxen coyote]

im the only one who thinks that it looks good as it was here?

the bird didnt look like it was put later in the photo

[wide flint]

Nah but the bird being darker than the background doesn't quite look right as praetor pointed out

[dark ermine]

that might be just how i see it because I do a lot of photo manipulation and lighting is always the struggle lol

like this one of mine looks shopped in to me and its the raw - but like praetor said, raise whites on bird, same for this one, will probably help resolve

[gilded yarrow]

Changed it a lot lol

[scarlet tulip]

That feels a lot better

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah the other one was way overdone lmao

Still a bit boring, need to edit one of the other pics with a more interesting pose

One of those maybe

This one might have nice colors

[carmine fox]

someone skipped leg day

[gilded yarrow]

Oh I like this one a lot more

[scarlet tulip]

Those colors are also better

Temp feels good

[gilded yarrow]

Changed the other one to look similar

[gilded yarrow]

Still like that pose a loot more tho

[magic crown]

thas was some months ago but still happy to see it

[dark ermine]

^ man i love ducks

[wheat hare]

@scarlet tulip spotted a few days ago in Clarenville, Newfoundland

[scarlet tulip]

It’s probably a permanent resident now

[wheat hare]

just chillin

[scarlet tulip]

Will live out its days wondering why all the other eagles are so small

[wheat hare]

yeah it sucks I wish it had a mate

[scarlet tulip]

Maybe another will blow in

[wheat hare]

it has been seen building nests a couple times

damn that's a long drive and ferry

[scarlet tulip]

Can the Stellers hybridize with baldies?

[wheat hare]

I desperately want to drive up there for a week and do nothing but watch it

I don't think so

would be cool

oh hey

https://ebird.org/checklist/S215749595

unconfirmed

you have work to do sir

It's most certainly not one

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1Goz7BZ-WSIv2KCs99I2WPLUrFDd-32iU&ll=46.512566941452995%2C-61.37557703845701&z=6

[scarlet tulip]

I’ve been seeing more juvenile baldies this winter

They seem to be moving back in for the season, saw a huge adult while crossing the 295 bridge in Yarmouth

Right in time for the 500PF, unless MPB fucks me again

[wheat hare]

If you have shit luck for the third time I don't even know

I think it would be the third. My memory is quite shit

[scarlet tulip]

It would be

[gilded yarrow]

mpb is just very mid

[wheat hare]

plenty of people have great experiences with them though 🤷

[gilded yarrow]

didnt wanna refund a lens I bought which just stopped working out of nowhere after like 3 months while I still had warranty for another 4

didnt even answer the first few mails

Ended up refunding it after like another month lol

[scarlet tulip]

I chalk it up to their warehouse people sucking

Their customer service desk is excellent

[spring vault]

I've never had issues but there's not a lot that can break with the lenses I got so low risk

[mint warren]

gettin hyped for singapore

[magic crown]

Eurasian Teal and Northern Shoveler flight because a buzzard was chasing them

[gilded yarrow]

U sure it was a buzzard? They mostly eat rodents etc, definitely no ducks

[magic crown]

yes this is
there were baby ducks

[wide flint]

Ducks still get scared by buzzards. Likely wasn't chasing the Ducks but they just flew away from it to be sure

[magic crown]

old vs new

old vs new

[gilded yarrow]

KINGFISHERRRR

[magic crown]

So far damn

In my lake i have 2 kingfishers a male and a female

[gilded yarrow]

Ive never been to this lake, my gf lives close to it and they are insanely active here

only got my hassy with me sadly

[uneven bramble]

what color clothing should i wear to sneak up on birbs?

[gilded yarrow]

something that doesnt reflect UV would be ideal but realistically it wont make a difference

[uneven bramble]

my blue jacket seems to make them run away

[magic crown]

Buy a hunting outfit if you don't have one

You can find some really good at 30€

[hidden wyvern]

think ive confused lightroom somehow, didnt even edit the image lol, found another loon

not sure what the artifacts are, doesnt reflect in other things just the editor

[carmine fox]

that's probably more you walking up to them rather than the jacket
I try to wear neutral colors tho, usually grey

I had no problems wearing a bright lime green jacket
but spring gear is mostly grey

[magic crown]

what about brown ?

[carmine fox]

my dad & uncle hunted many a deer in literal jeans and flannel, the main thing is not walking right up to the bird
anything that helps blend you into the environment and, ideally, breaks up your form (camo) is just icing on the cake and let's you get a bit closer

[fallow token]

amd gpu?

[hidden wyvern]

yeah, looks like super resolution was auto applied if that makes a difference

[fallow token]

amd gpus just struggle with lr for some reason

typical unoptimised for productivity tasks

either have to disable the gpu in lr or just restart sometimes

its weird

[hidden wyvern]

im guessing it was some sharpening thing but will see if it persists, i recently changed gpus to something stronger than what i had previously

also not really sure what itd do if i use integrated since its an amd processor lol

[fallow token]

i use integrated on a 7600 and its fine

still plenty quick enough and removed every issue in my case

[hidden wyvern]

i upgraded to a 5700x3d and a 9070 from a 3700x and 2060 recently

2060s wouldnt have drivers making it auto use dlss though (or if it did i disabled them)

noticed this had some active settings (makes sense in a game lol)

no issue for now at least

[fallow token]

lucky 🙏

was gonna get a 9070xt until they upped the MSRP lol

[hidden wyvern]

yeah i wanted a 9070xt, but at only 13% performance increase, while the price where i was was +%40, yeah lol

makes sense if an early msrp model

the cheap ones sold out instantly, so they were all like 1300 cad except this msrp OC 9070 for +30-$50 over the cheapest model

mine was $849 cad, at the point of the 9070 xts available the 5070 ti was more viable esp with the ray tracing difference (this also not being available lol)

[fallow token]

im probably just gonna get a used 7900xt for 500gbp used

rather than 9070xt for like 650+

with the same perf except for ray tracing

[hidden wyvern]

those are still pretty good, for me i considered that too but theyre pricey here, plus i just seen this in store, got it day one lol, getting double the fps i got on ultra, mh wilds runs smoothly now too

rarely do i even see proper ray tracing anyway, even if its there it hits performance so hard anyway may as well have lower ray tracing or none at all

[fallow token]

my issue was similar except much more colourful than yours

lots of red everywhere

and it was very intermittent

5700x3d should be plenty good if the issue persists

[fallow token]

most of the gpus have seemingly gotten more expenisve on amd since the 90 series sadly

good for me selling a gpu but not good for my need to upgrade

[magic crown]

you have the raw ?

i wanna try something

[scarlet tulip]

sec

that should be the right one

[hidden wyvern]

finished but i think ill revisit it another day

also the amd gpu has issues with topaz photo ai adjustments so i set it to cpu and now it works as well, guess i could put the 2060s back in if its gonna be reoccuring

[magic crown]

thanks i'll do an edit tomorrow

[scarlet tulip]

cheers

[uneven bramble]

im waiting for rocm support on the amd gpu i got so i can run free ai models to denoise and enlarge

[carmine fox]

does ai upscale still produce a shitton of artifacts

[uneven bramble]

the free models are the same or better vs the paid ones

most of the time they are better

the paid ones often try to optimize for speed

[magic crown]

quick question guys i want to do some wildlife photography under rain what equipement/clothes you suggest ? my camera and my lens is waterproof but i don't have any waterproof clothes

[gilded yarrow]

You should probably still get a rain Cover for your cam just to be safe

[magic crown]

it's planned with the buy

[magic crown]

Afterwards, what do you think is better : a complete waterproof outfit or a waterproof poncho who covers the whole body ?

[gilded yarrow]

poncho would probably be easiest

ngl, I dont have a rain cover and my gear is still fine lmao

[magic crown]

What a move

But i agree for the poncho i think it's better and easier

[magic crown]

https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0B3CDPCSZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1&language=en_GB&psc=1

i take this one

[magic crown]

and for the cover i take this

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005006982966093.html

(same product but cost 3x less)

[magic crown]

here you go

your edit

[scarlet tulip]

The more extreme gradient in yours is nice

[uneven bramble]

oh thats a good idea

[magic crown]

For the same product but on different market it's really worth it (amazon : 70€ and aliexpress : 20€)

There's no difference

[uneven bramble]

yeah

it rains a lot here

[carmine fox]

hardshell jacket & repellent trekking pants
I have a pair from tilley with DWR that works great, I have an old trilogy hardshell that I got years ago that I use
now, I'd buy Arcteryx, Outdoor research or Mammut

your local MEC or equivalent house brand would also work fine

get good boots, personally despise mid rise hikers so full length mountain boots are what I prefer

full grain, treated leather if you can, gore & similar dwr works as well

surplus boots are where it's at imo

honestly I'd rather the rest of me be sopping wet with dry feet than wet feet and bone dry everywhere else

also get a nice pair of merino wool socks that you baby and only wear on longer outings, your feet will thank you

[finite flower]

is that a tit

mono tit

[scarlet tulip]

chickadee, so yeah

very similar to a tit

[magic crown]

I have waterproof hiking shoes and socks
My bag is waterproof too and the only thing i "need" left is a waterproof pant

[uneven bramble]

im looking at costco next stuff

i see some coats and rainjackets that could help me blend in

[carmine fox]

what's your price range like

personally I scored a bunch of my trekking stuff at thrift stores and shit

bonus points if you're near a mountain or prolific trail system

[uneven bramble]

yeah im checking mine for that

[carmine fox]

my buddy lives in BC and frequently picks up high end hiking stuff for cheap, it's just not worth as much as it is here because of the massive saturation lmao

[uneven bramble]

maybe something like this

[magic crown]

I spend 50€ on the poncho and the lens cover

And the poncho is really huge it can cover my whole body

[carmine fox]

hardshell
you're gonna soak up water like a Scott towel
those are good layers tho

[magic crown]

For the pants i'm going to try next day if i need one or not

[carmine fox]

poncho is kinda meh
honestly I would spend the money on a good trekking outfit, can use it for more than just going out and taking photos

[uneven bramble]

ill become one with the ducks

[carmine fox]

you're going to start disliking the poncho the second or third time you have to fold it up

[carmine fox]

ultimate duck photography camo

[magic crown]

just for those 2 shots i was in my standard outfit (jean pants, waterproof jacket)

[carmine fox]

jeans might actually work well if you get yourself some otter wax

maybe even better than traditional trekking stuff since it'll hold up to more abuse

[magic crown]

I'm just sitting and wait i do a lot of lookout for hours i don't really move

That's why i take the poncho
It cover my whole body when i'm sitted

[carmine fox]

fair enough

[magic crown]

And when i go out on a rainy day it's just a small rain not a strong rain

The thing maybe i forgot is just a waterproof cover on the ground when i'm sitted to avoid mud

[uneven bramble]

that person looks like they are having waay too much fun

[wide flint]

Curlew trying to eat a dead fish. It took about 10 minutes before it completely swallowed the fish

[magic crown]

"Wait a sec gimme food hooman"

[magic crown]

Damn on 240 photos i'm 5th

[dark ermine]

what contest platform is this?

[magic crown]

PulsePX

[dark ermine]

man some of those photos make me want to get into still life photography

[wise trench]

Congrats!

That penguin photo at the top is insane holy

All 5 of those are 🔥

[carmine fox]

the penguin one is more "haha look guys penguins"
#2 is technically superior imo
still not sure how people get those blackout backdrops

I mean I know but I continually forget I asked and or googled it

[magic crown]

Thanks i'm really chocked of how far this one is going

[scarlet tulip]

Glorious lighting

[green meadow]

Long-tailed tit + backlight = nice photo 😅

[magic crown]

You mean insane photo

[magic crown]

Love this one

[magic crown]

So close and they don't mind me they are just chillin (usually they don't let you get so close)

[steep kelp]

are you paying for pulse?

[magic crown]

nope

[steep kelp]

THis ia crazy that they didnt fly away

[waxen coyote]

What’s that

@me for answers btw

[magic crown]

I DID IT FINALLY

After 48h of hiding i finally did it

[gilded yarrow]

Damn

Nice

[magic crown]

i'm so happy now a lot of work and patience for that shot

[magic crown]

16:9 version

[scarlet tulip]

Well struck

[magic crown]

thanks it was really hard to get that one

[waxen coyote]

I JUST SAW UR PIC AT THE PULSEPX CONTEST AHAHAHAHAH

[dark ermine]

really well done, both versions

[magic crown]

Thanks

[magic crown]

then vs now
the difference is so huge

[scarlet tulip]

That’s properly sited

How’d you hide, camo netting?

[magic crown]

net and outfit

i've ordered a camera cover for the lens

[gilded yarrow]

And I still dont have a single proper kingfisher pic lol

starting to give up

[magic crown]

[spring vault]

only have belted kingfishers here and theyre less colorful but still cool looking

all my pics of them are from very far away

never tried to wait for one before tho im more of a walker

too many bugs lol

[magic crown]

At the beginning of the week (after roughly 9 hours on lookout), I started to giving up. But then I told myself, "Who said lookout photography is easy ? Success comes from perseverance, not from giving up and choosing the easier path." That's why I decided to keep going, and in the end, I captured this photo, which I'm extremely proud of

Photography is currently the only area where I am fighting to be able to make it my profession (and my administrative procedures are in progress) and when I see the result of my photos (this one in particular) I realize the level that I have reached in such a short time

[magic crown]

btw i ordered a new net with green colorscales better for spring and summer

[scarlet tulip]

Good call

I’m buying a set of camo fatigues for spring here

[magic crown]

but my dream photo would be to shoot an owl and a European bee-eater (the kingfisher was in the list)

[magic crown]

I have two, one more autumn-winter and one more spring-summer

The colors don't change much in my area, it's either very woody brown or a bright green

other pose

in french and make just for fun but i wanna try something

[fallow token]

the 2nd to last bullet point being 2 lines while everything else is 1 is mildly irritating

[magic crown]

better ?

[fallow token]

feel like it fits a lot nicer like that
decent bit smaller with the same effect

[carmine fox]

every good bird outing ends with really fucked up boots

I saw crows attacking an owl today

pics aren't great but I got some

[carmine fox]

heard a bluejay today

couldn't find it tho

[stray plover]

it was hard to get this guy tbh, only got this shot of him

[finite flower]

is that a common kf?

too much french cant read

[magic crown]

Yes

[waxen coyote]

I need some guide for PULSEpx. Who can help me? @ me for answers plzzzzz

[hidden wyvern]

lots of these today

pretty happy with the third image, different style though

[scarlet tulip]

500pf does the needful

[scarlet tulip]

this first one is great, good striking light

[spring vault]

500mm gang

[wheat hare]

sucks being the only member of the 800mm gang

[scarlet tulip]

i can convert to 700, that's close

but not the same

[wheat hare]

https://tenor.com/view/same-gif-8650053

[spring vault]

[scarlet tulip]

plane of focus on this thing is super narrow

[hidden wyvern]

nicer weather here lately, might be going out more often, sun becoming normal again

in winter its all grey

[scarlet tulip]

it's been the same here, for the past week or so

clouds came back today

[hidden wyvern]

seemed like song sparrows today, but the birds are moving around too, heard theres geese flying by and such

was like 12 of those guys where i was

[scarlet tulip]

been seeing more geese lately, and an influx of juncos

i think both are moving north

[hidden wyvern]

i was hearing juncos but didnt see any today, those are generally around all year here but hide in the reeds/bushes looking for bugs in spring

everywhere but rare lol

[scarlet tulip]

The coloration is less than helpful

Hard to see in their favorite hangouts

[hidden wyvern]

theres loons going around here but theyre still in their winter colours, hoping theyll change soon enough

also should get blackbirds in the spot i was at eventually, miss seeing them

[scarlet tulip]

how far north are you?

[hidden wyvern]

im in nova scotia which is like right beside ottawa/ newbrunswick

[scarlet tulip]

i'm Maine, so similar latitude

but NS probably gets much better variety in waterfowl

[wheat hare]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcDsd_sMtiw

[hidden wyvern]

surrounded by water so you can find something everywhere pretty much, pipers, geese, swans, general ducks, wood ducks, herons, kingfishers, normal seagulls, eagles, etc, great since i like pretty much all of those

i have gotten two of the belted kingfisher although i believe the blue one is here too, or some other variation, this is the average one here though

[scarlet tulip]

i've only ever seen belted fishers, but maybe it's different on the islands

[green meadow]

I had really nice light this morning.

[scarlet tulip]

These takeoff shots are excellent

Are you starting to see spring migrants?

[carmine fox]

downy woodpecker but he worn red pants instead of a red hat that day

[astral arch]

These are beautiful

What’s the aperture on your lens?

[wheat hare]

great spotted or white winged maybe

[wide flint]

Great spotted

[magic crown]

For who asked me what hiding i'm using here you go
2 net with brown and greenscale color
One outfit with a poncho
A hiding cover for the camera

And a waterproof cover is coming soon next week

[green meadow]

Yeah, but this one is great spotted woodpecker. 😄

[green meadow]

Thanks. These were taken with 300mm f2.8. 👍

[carmine fox]

yeah haha I figured it was a different species
same tuft around the beak and such, and similar spotting

[green meadow]

Today, I saw my first goldeneyes and some whooper swans. But they have probably stayed in the southern parts of the country throughout the winter. Otherwise, nothing yet.

[scarlet tulip]

Has kind of been similar here

Perhaps a goldeneye or a loon today, I wasn’t close enough to say

[green meadow]

but after month or so and then things starts to happen. It is also nice that specially on sunny days birds have started to sing already. 😀

[green meadow]

and I didn't doubt that. 😅 I think that our lesser spotted woodpecker is even more similar with that downy one. 👍

[wheat hare]

not a fan of the post on that. Looks oversharpened and the vignette is a bit heavy handed

[magic crown]

mask correction and other angles

[magic crown]

it's the standard sharpness settings

[wheat hare]

🤷

[magic crown]

and the vignetting is normal too ? it's not the strongest

[hidden wyvern]

i find specifically this male duck suffers from some moire effect irregardless of sharpness increases/decreases, might be why it looks more pronounced on the left

[green meadow]

Cute little woodpecker and great photo. 👌

[scarlet tulip]

Thanks! He was pretty tame as they go, I was able to get more than one angle

[carmine fox]

guys how do I articulate to someone that 1/1500s is not "overkill"

it's enraging

especially for anything that isn't the size of a duck
usually I double that for anything flying just to be safe

[fallow token]

why are they calling it overkill

and also like do they understand shooting birds at all

if not its probably worth just letting them figure it out on their own

[carmine fox]

his entire profile is birds
mainly perched birds and larger birds, some raptors and crow sized exotic ones I can't identify

he said his range is usually 1/850, for perched he'll go down to 1/500

[dark ermine]

sounds like they don't target small fast BIF is all, so they don't personally see a need for it

[carmine fox]

the problem is this was in a beginners group, the post was about getting sharper images of songbirds, and he was speaking rather matter of factly

[dark ermine]

also depends on the situation +what you're after, frozen in the air or motion, like this hummingbird was at 1/640 vs the dive bombing cardinal at 1/2500, which wasn't even enough

[dark ermine]

yeah if they're applying a general rule across photography beyond the utmost basics, they don't know photography lol would just let them find out - "the more you know, the more you realize you don't know"

[carmine fox]

absolutely agree
I touched on it in my comment, I prefer the more "institutional" frozen in time look, some people prefer some blur to add some life, you will have to play with it to find what you like, but going under 1/1000 on stuff like chickadees will only cause headache, perched maybe, but they hop around pretty quick

[hidden wyvern]

can get pretty low ss wise if you got good ibis + is on the lens for still birds, but either way i find any movement above 1/400ish can get blurry

[carmine fox]

admittedly quite glacial 8fps and unfocused but still, this is a single burst at 1/4000
there is no way you're getting anything usable under 1/1000s, those little bastards are fast as hell

[hidden wyvern]

ive done as low as 1/30, but for fun, usually ill do 1/1000->3200

just tell him fast capture speed for fast subject is easier pretty much

[carmine fox]

yep same, thats about my range too, I harped on not needing excessive speeds, and to prioritize iso first

[hidden wyvern]

makes sense around the 1/800 range for raptors theyre very slow vs other birds, actually find them to be easy BiF wise, as long as you can find them

hummingbird more like 1/4000 or higher lol (depends if motion blur or freezing outright)

[carmine fox]

if they're anything like geese they're pretty glacial, only real experience with raptor bif was an Osprey and that wasn't too terrible but he was pretty far out

[dark ermine]

and with the photo I posted above there was a feeder nearby so it was easier to predict movements which probably made the low shutter speed more viable. lots of variables

[carmine fox]

also i have this topic adjacent little example I've been using for folks that are having trouble with fast action stuff, what do you guys think? I tried to make it easily understandable for people that aren't very knowledgeable on the intricacies of af in general

I saw like 8 "why is x blurry I am using high shutter" posts in a row one day and got tired of explaining a dead center af point is not optimal for tracking motion especially with most dslrs

[fallow token]

but also some dslrs just suck tracking wise so some people still might not get it

group af is a nice compromise sometimes

[carmine fox]

group af is awesome, I like to use it for bigger birds, but it requires you to be somewhat competent at panning which is a bit of a hard ask for Gretchen, 61, shooting the sparrows in her yard

[hidden wyvern]

sometimes slower is better

goes nice with ugly weather

also i think of hummingbirds as like helicopters, feels like they should have some blur naturally

other times fast is great lol, cant predict random jumps from plant to plant but i can predict the stance (this also freezes the movement of the plant, which is pretty significant with a random landing)

little birds are quick sometimes, generally i observe behaviors first to find any reoccurring things if i have a specific bird in mind, then plan settings around it. Otherwise generally go like 1/2000 or something

[dark ermine]

yep yep, all great points to say that "it depends" is pretty much the answer, can say fast for fast but then if they really want to dig in there are many variables to consider.

[dark ermine]

lol this is an awesome shot

[static magnet]

i've broken the rule of never showing human influence like feeding but i just love this lil guy's feather hairline

[static magnet]

the little ones always act like theyre on crack

[dark ermine]

I mean if you want, slap some gen ai on top of those seeds, that'd clear it right up

[magic crown]

i love the way how they move their head like "huh huh huh huh huh"

[static magnet]

they're super cute, i think it was a bit skittish as i only realized after i was right next to the nest after taking that video

[static magnet]

it does look a bit better to be fair

[dark ermine]

https://tenor.com/view/letter-kenny-wayne-to-be-fair-gif-14458907

[magic crown]

New cover for rainy shots of birds

[analog kindle]

Cute VEFL from a few evenings ago
In South Carolina too

[magic crown]

Flamingo series

[wide flint]

Lovely lighting

That out of focus branch in front of the bird is a big of a shame

But luckily it's so out of focus that its not super distracting

[scarlet tulip]

I’d been hoping to avoid the branches in front, no such luck but the PF is fast enough to get rid of it mostly

[white lake]

Got a couple shots of some american robins

[wide flint]

Yeah it being fast enough is nice on the one hand. But I feel like branches that are less out of focus are easier to remove in post

[gilded yarrow]

Just saw the insane light morph buzzard from my window again

theres 3 of them that fly together, 2 light morph and 1 normal looking one

[green meadow]

That is really light. Is it common buzzard or could it be rough-legged buzzard?

[gilded yarrow]

Thought rough legged too but pretty sure that its just a common buzzard

[green meadow]

Raptors can be sometimes real pain to identify correctly because of all those variations.

And you are almost out of battery...it is time to reload. 😅

[wide flint]

Yeah seems like a common buzzard, it's missing the dark spot on it's belly and the dark band at the end of it's tail

Tho hard to make out, not entirely sure\

[gilded yarrow]

Haha yeah true

[gilded yarrow]

Yep, and since one of the other 2 is 100% common I'm pretty sure that one is too

[wide flint]

Yeah you can also tell by their flight pattern, the rough legged is much more smooth and relaxed while the common has a faster and more stiff pattern

But that's also a tough indicator if you don't have both species side by side

[magic crown]

after vs before

[finite flower]

duck

[dark ermine]

do you have any specific things you do to get that glossy eye?

[magic crown]

before vs after

[magic crown]

mask on the eye and color point

and i add some exposure

[finite flower]

what duck is that

the colourful one

[dark ermine]

mandarin

[magic crown]

it's the mandarin duck the most colorful duck

and the rarest in my country

[scarlet tulip]

They can be, my issue has always been the way that photoshop renders feathers

[gilded yarrow]

focus isnt on the head ffs

need a better body with bird eye af

Getting better

[wide flint]

Skill issue

[wide flint]

Even with that I can't get proper in flight shots

Guess I have an even bigger skill issue

[gilded yarrow]

Lmaoo

Just need to kinda predict when they fly off

[spring vault]

you need really good af for small birds flying from up close

my cam has good eye af but I think it being mechanical shutter with a slowish readout speed limits it

a9iii will be able to follow a bird flying directly at the camera my cam will prolly lag behind a little

[magic crown]

Guys a mallard hen have his babies now in my local pond

I did some good shot of them

So cute and fluffy

[gilded yarrow]

Ohhhh I need to check out local pond/lake too

Yeah I'll go there now

Think it could be a bit early but I can do a 3rd kingfisher check too if I'm there lol

[gilded yarrow]

No babies, no kingfisher

[wide flint]

Sadge

I think the grey herron colony in my local park had it's first babies in the nests as well

At least I think I hear them calling for food, but not sure

Always love the explosion of life and activity in the bird world when spring hits

[wide flint]

Yeah even my Z8 struggles with birds flying directly at it, especially when there's busy backgrounds. I think this is also hindered a bit by me not having a prime lens with faster focus motors

[gilded yarrow]

Just found this guy in the middle of the lake, thats pretty cool

[spring vault]

https://imgur.com/oi54Sm4

[gilded yarrow]

Thats insane

[spring vault]

in the same amount of time my camera wouldve taken two pics with neither in focus lol

[gilded yarrow]

Crow eating frog

[finite flower]

cool

[gilded yarrow]

100% convinced that dude is just sitting there to watch the sunset

[magic crown]

She is pretty scared of human so she go away

[gilded yarrow]

Not really sharp but I'm kinda happy with it, 1st decent bif shot

[magic crown]

I did macro of duck feather but in a really insane way

Look how close i can go

The trust in insane

[stray plover]

Yeah geese hiss at me if i even try

[magic crown]

Those ducks are used to me i go there a lot to take photos and feed them

[stray plover]

Ah so u got a good connection with them

[magic crown]

yeah but it's the first time i go as close

[magic crown]

today is the duck day

[dark ermine]

awesome shot!!

[magic crown]

cute fluffy ducklings

[spring vault]

nice

[magic crown]

The eye of mallards

[finite flower]

what bird is that

[scarlet tulip]

it's a song sparrow

if one is lucky they'll pop out and sing on a branch, but usually they are seen in bushes like this

[finite flower]

can get that one dentremont shot where the bird did the singing

[scarlet tulip]

with the right background, yeah

these guys are just starting to migrate north so i should have plenty of chances

[green meadow]

Those reflections on the eyes are insane. 👌

[magic crown]

yeah it's really good when you see the original

edits of today

[spring vault]

https://dariuszbres.pl/sigma-300-600-4-dg-os-sports

sigma 300-600 review

it's pretty detailed and they test it adapted to z9 too

autofocus isn't as fast as native but he says its still good and it will do high frame rates on nikon

it's as sharp as a 600mm prime in the center and not as sharp in the corners

[finite flower]

isit tcable

[wheat hare]

haha the gloves

[mint warren]

Got my first common kingfisher today

But will have to get back home and edit them next week

[magic crown]

You have the image ?

Show us

[mint warren]

Overseas, have to get home to edit

Was in pasir ris, Bridge near the mangrove forest

Singapore

[finite flower]

my ckf is like

mid

[magic crown]

mid ? MID ??!!

bro your shot is insane

[finite flower]

the background sucks

[magic crown]

well yeah but you can dark it

[finite flower]

true

maybe one day ill select pixel by pixel to dark it

[gilded yarrow]

istg this shit always happens when I dont have my camera with me

[magic crown]

that's why i always have my camera with me

[gilded yarrow]

Only got my hassy with me rn

[magic crown]

better than nothing

[gilded yarrow]

Lol

Phone wildlife photography

[carmine fox]

how'd you manage getting that close to a long eared owl

[hoary sigil]

I cheated

I went to a bird of prey centre

Cool place though

[spring vault]

was hanging out w old people

got a lot of bad bird pics

saw a short eared owl might send a 0.5mp crop of it later

[mint warren]

Jule is right, this anit mid.

This is real good

[uneven bramble]

oh i thought about getting something like that

[analog kindle]

Yellow throated warb from last morning

[scarlet tulip]

Ponder the warb

[magic crown]

New thing for the hunting camera

[magic crown]

decent shot

love the color tone

[drifting silo]

Thx, I initially wanted to go for a cool tone but ended up with this. Glad you liked it

[magic crown]

Well made edit for me

[carmine fox]

awesome feather detail

[gilded yarrow]

ffs everyone but me gets kingfisher pics

I give up

Spent over 30 hours, maybe even close to 40 and no single photo

Stopped actively counting at 28 hours and that was months ago

[magic crown]

[hidden wyvern]

1000mm f/10 vs 500 f/4 vs 800 f/11 vs 100-500, think its fair to say they can all kinda do that look im going for with this bird

happy to see these guys hopping around again

f/4 really does just blow out the background so much easier though, but is it much easier to crawl on the ground with 12 lb or something under 3

similarly ,this guy was jumping around the dead grass for nesting materials, this is the 100-500

[hidden wyvern]

this is overall soft but, i like it, not much can be done with these sandpipers as of yet, theyre very far off the island (hence having the 2x TC)

but you get these moments where they just kinda deal with nature, like waves and such

seen these strange duck things too, now i know what they are but yeah, the range while flawed is interesting to use to see things i normally cant

[spring vault]

honk

my 0.5mp owl pic as promised

[scarlet tulip]

ears are indeed short

[carmine fox]

gneese

amarzin

[hidden wyvern]

another one, theres so many on this small little rock formation offshore

water was consistently spooking them a little

[green meadow]

Veins on the third eyelid are visible. 😮

[scarlet tulip]

Sun caught them perfectly, I’ve never seen those veins before

[gilded yarrow]

Cute sparrowhawk

Crazy how small it was

Also crazy how chill it was lol

[gilded yarrow]

Photos from yesterday & today

[magic crown]

Long tail tit ❤️

I love that birb

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah, 1st time seeing them in this forest

I love them too

R O U N D

Marsh tit is the english name I think?

Yep

[magic crown]

My 2 fav shot of them (the 1st is actually on my shop for sale)

[magic crown]

Fluffy birb

[stray plover]

Good evening sharpness

[magic crown]

yeah dxo make that

[mint warren]

Sungei buloh wetlands was fun but hell to get out of

Should of gone on a Sunday with the special bus

[magic crown]

he's watching us like : don't think i can't see you fool

[gilded yarrow]

Red kite?

[magic crown]

Black or Royal Kite

[finite flower]

tits?

[carmine fox]

personally I prefer ass but they're alright

[scarlet tulip]

first one is an American tree sparrow, second one is a black-cap chickadee

a chickadee is related to a tit, afaik

[finite flower]

idk i cant really differentiate them, smol, cute, round and small beak -> tit

[carmine fox]

correct
they're all Paridae

I sacrificed my pants for a cool chickadee shot today, abysmal lightroom mobile edit incoming

[scarlet tulip]

fell in a pond?

also, easiest ID of the day even counting the chickadee

[carmine fox]

fortunately not, just sat in mostly melted snow

[carmine fox]

look at those gorgeous peregrine falcons!

[scarlet tulip]

they came down from the local skyscraper for a stroll

[scarlet tulip]

neat to see one on the ground, they don't often do that for me

[carmine fox]

this was right near a stump that usually has seeds on it from the older folk that like to feed the birds