Bird Photography

[fast knoll]

seagulls pelicans and nothing much else

[daring imp]

i also got this one today idk what bird this is. also cool that the colors match the rock aswell xD

looks pretty rare tbh

[gilded yarrow]

very slightly brighten the birds and up the contrast, invert mask and darken the background a bit, linear gradient from the bottom to the birds and maybe radial gradient from top left to middle and brighten as an artificial light source basically

Thats what I would do

[daring imp]

wanna try editing it?

[gilded yarrow]

Already in bed rn so I could only do it on mobile

But sure

[daring imp]

ahh aiit famm tomorrow is fine too!

[magic crown]

Ready for Frioul island

[green meadow]

I didn’t have my camera with me, so image quality is poor. But a young chaffinch was in the middle of the road, so I helped it to a safer place. It didn’t seem to appreciate my help, though. 🤣

[daring imp]

Hyvä juhannus bruv!

[green meadow]

Samoin! 👋

[gilded gale]

Looks like a male Red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator). He could certainly be rare depending on your location.

[daring imp]

We dont see them very often here

Only the bigger versions of them

[green meadow]

I agree with @gilded gale about the species. We have about 25000-35000 nesting pairs and I think that it is quite common by the sea.

[gilded gale]

I'm in the Pacific Northwest of the US and we typically see them at the coast as well. Haven't seen any where I live which is only 60 miles from the ocean.

[hidden wyvern]

duckling close-up

felt like a macro lol

[gilded yarrow]

Finally got some decent red backed shrike pics

Better than no pics I guess

[gilded yarrow]

Wanna send the raw? Just remembered it lmao

[daring imp]

My friend edited for me all gucci famm!

Damn my reddit is insane. I wish i got this kind of attention on ig. On ig i get fuck all likes

[spring vault]

I wish I got that many votes in PL

[fast knoll]

i realized most ppl dont give a shit about wildlife

the most liked images youll get on insta are images with ppl in them

[scarlet tulip]

thankfully instagram means nothing

[hidden wyvern]

today i learned young tree swallows look like a gigantic chickadee

[magic crown]

Actually with my italic gang

[green meadow]

That wing tip touching the water is great detail. How low were you while taking this one? I think that like this one more. Even thou one above has probably bit cleaner background.

[scarlet tulip]

For this the lens was maybe a meter off the water surface

But I had a teleconverter on my 500, so the angle looks pretty significant

[gilded yarrow]

Hooow do I always end up in those situations without my cam

[wide flint]

Only solution I see is to just start carrying your cam everywhere

[gilded yarrow]

Lmao yeah fr, dont care where I am I'll just always have my 200-600 with me

Doesnt matter tho, I was super happy that I got to see kingfishers and even got to watch one fish for a solid 5 minutes

[gilded yarrow]

@magic crown I'm still cursed lmao

[magic crown]

Nah bro wtf at this point take your camera everywhere

[gilded yarrow]

Watch me do that for a week and still not get a single pic

Thats when all the animals will decide to disappear

mass extinction will happen as soon as I take my cam with me

[magic crown]

It's not a curse at this point it's a damnation

[elder yarrow]

got some birding from a while ago

from Perth

[astral saffron]

Went on a bird tour here in the Philippines today

Most of these have HEAVY cropping and Lightroom denoised. We’ve been spotting birds with binoculars but getting close has been near impossible. My camera has also been struggling with focus because they’re so small and I end up using the XS spot focus and it doesn’t lock onto the eye. Anything I can do to improve the sharpness?

I go out again tomorrow

I’m using a 300 2.8 with a 2x tele

[magic crown]

guys quick question, what kind of tripod you use ? mine broke and i want a new one but a good and robust one

[wide flint]

I just bought the leofoto LS-323C ranger, will use it in my upcoming trip to the lofoten

Haven't used it yet, but got it reccomended by a friend. It's really sturdy but also super easy to clean bc u can just take the whole thing apart and wash it

[magic crown]

I was thinking of buying a mini tripod because I often lie down to shoot

I am looking for a tripod without an internal column

[wide flint]

that one doesn't have an internal column

[wide flint]

wait I have a reccomendation for you

[spring vault]

https://digital-photography-school.com/a-project-for-the-new-year-how-to-make-a-diy-ground-pod/

frying pan + gimbal head

lol

[magic crown]

not a bad idea indeed

I saw two tripods (one is the old version of the new one) from Siriu and their prices are interesting
But with my old tripod, I found it cumbersome when I used it (even though it was useful at times)
That's why I'm hesitant to buy a mini tripod

[spring vault]

falcam/ulanzi zero y is a popular travel tripod thatll go low if you remove the center column

under $200 on sale

[magic crown]

I bought an Artcise tripod, but within a month its head mount broke for no reason

[spring vault]

like snapped?

[magic crown]

yeah

[spring vault]

wowee

[magic crown]

https://amzn.eu/d/4d4KtVP

i think about this for big tripod

https://amzn.eu/d/1isqFuw

and in a small tripod this one

I'm hesitating between the two and I wanted to go to Sirui because my school uses their tripods (they use the same large tripod) and I saw that it's good quality

[gilded yarrow]

Rollei c5i is decent for the price, also has a center column tho

But I dont use a tripod at all unless I'm waiting for kingfishers or something

[magic crown]

That's why I'm asking myself the question : is it not better to take a small tripod and if I want to enlarge it further, take an external central column that I screw or rather a big tripod like that I can do everything ?

[gilded yarrow]

Nahhhh

Center column is trash

[magic crown]

I can't see the advantage and disadvantage

[gilded yarrow]

dont do that

Very unstable

[magic crown]

When I say external column, it's one that I can screw and unscrew, but while being able to use it without, it's like an extension

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah nah

dont

[spring vault]

I mean if its for supporting a gimbal wobble prolly doesnt matter as much as if you were using it for long exposures

[gilded yarrow]

wont properly hold the cam

[spring vault]

might blow over in the wind

[magic crown]

and as I take a lot of photos at ground level I wonder if it's not better to take a small tripod

[gilded yarrow]

Just get a normal one

[spring vault]

normal tripods get low

when you dont extend the legs

[gilded yarrow]

But you wont use a tripod if youre low to the ground anyways

Usually, atleast I dont

tripods are waaaay too limiting for me

[spring vault]

get a tripod that lets you adjust the leg angle

[magic crown]

It works, I think I'll go for the cheaper one I think (I'm not looking for a crazy tripod either and it's cheaper because it comes without a head)

this one

[spring vault]

I dont think that one lets you adjust the leg angle

[magic crown]

you can

[spring vault]

that works then

[magic crown]

I hope it doesn't break as quickly as the other one though

tripod ordered

https://amzn.eu/d/4SYSA5A

i go for this one

Besides, I never understood why the central column still exists

[analog kindle]

Finally back 😆
I swear I cant manage to post on here more than once every 2 months

hopefully I havent shared any of these here yet

[wide flint]

That first shot is really nice

[green meadow]

common whitethroats food delivery

and one with more conventional angle

[fast knoll]

Unfortunately I think you’re doing the best u can @astral saffron

Sharpness looks great on the photos where you’re closer

But cropping a lot will inevitably give u pretty poor images even with perfect focus

Less pixels in the photo are the bird

[fast knoll]

Wow u shoot dslr?

Very nice image quality

Also is that long necked bird some sort of heron?

[analog kindle]

Yep lol
20mp Aps c body from 2016

Someday I'll buy a z8

[fast knoll]

Sheesh

What lens

[analog kindle]

200-500 and an old 500f4

[fast knoll]

I heard nikon has a sale on refurbs today?

[analog kindle]

No clue haha

[fast knoll]

Just checked z8 is actually 2774 rn

[analog kindle]

Ok

[fast knoll]

Msrp is like 3k+ right

[analog kindle]

Yeah

I think it started at 4k in 2023

[fast knoll]

Sheesh

Wow Nikon is having a sale and today canon raised prices 😭

[analog kindle]

Rip

[fast knoll]

I was eyeing the rf100-500 refurb it was 2339 now it’s 2700

[analog kindle]

Thats wacky
I got my 500 f4 for less than that out the door

[fast knoll]

yea a lot of canons telephoto lenses r crazy expensive

I guess the most affordable and best zoom would be the 200-800

[analog kindle]

Although the only bad thing about it is that my setup weighs 12 pounds, so it takes some manhandling to use it

[fast knoll]

What bird is the long neck one do u know

[wide flint]

Its a bittern

Or at least thats what we call it in Europe, no idea if its named the same in NA

[analog kindle]

Oh yeah thats an American Bittern

never seen one just chillin on the side of the road before
was at dusk too

[fast knoll]

Dang where do u live

[analog kindle]

that photo was actually taken at 1/30"

[analog kindle]

I live in Michigan, that was taken on a recent trip over to canada though

[fast knoll]

I love herons with long necks that retract lol

Ohh I see

[analog kindle]

yeah

[fast knoll]

Ugly crow

[gilded yarrow]

I mean dslr doesnt mean its worse than mirrorless lol

Same glass will have the same sharpness on both

[fast knoll]

yea i guess theyre not action shots those would be more impressive without the detection af lol

[gilded yarrow]

Still possible

[fast knoll]

yes

[gilded yarrow]

Gotta remember that good mirrorless cams havent even been around for 10 years yet, everything before that was shot with dslrs

[fast knoll]

Very shitty background and my 200 lens can barely reach anything 🥲

[dark minnow]

Guys I’m finally getting a good lens and sorta ditching the 55-250!!!

[elder yarrow]

loud birdlings

Tomato Lake at Perth

[wide flint]

Nice! What lens u getting?

[dark minnow]

100-400 II canon ef

[magic crown]

why he seems angry

[scarlet tulip]

She is an eider

Wouldn’t you be angry if you had to rise five kids every year?

[magic crown]

i'm leaving

[daring imp]

Finally got swallow pics when theyre in the forest! Not on a boat lamp or electrical wire! They were afking forever

Hopefully theyre sharp when i get home!

[fast knoll]

take like 20 shots of the same thing if u want the best chance of sharpness

[daring imp]

I did. Took like 50/60 cuz kinda rare moment 😂

Never ever seen a swallow afk that long in a tree. Always on a ugly platform thats man made

[daring imp]

Damn pretty nice close up of a sandpiper

[gilded yarrow]

find the kingfisher lmao

I'll go there with my cam on thursday, hoping for some kingfisher in flight shots since thats the only way of getting close lmao

[dusty fog]

what lens you using these days?

[scarlet tulip]

500PF

sometimes with a 1.4x

[daring imp]

thoughts on these? did i miss focus or naa? it feels like theyre abit off

[dusty fog]

they look pretty good

maybe a little lens softness

but nothing significant

[dark minnow]

Guys

[daring imp]

i was using f4 on my 600mm prime because it was rainy/cloudy aka pretty dark but otherwise i use f5.6

[daring imp]

these better?

tried fixing the softness with topaz

[fast knoll]

def looks sharper

[dusty fog]

i prefer it natural

but yes it is AI sharpened now

probably just regular lightroom sharpening is enough

[daring imp]

so do i! but sometimes to save a photo u need to use ai sadly. 😦

[dusty fog]

wym the photo is already very sharp lol

well within the range for lightroom edge sharpning to handle it

[daring imp]

how is the edit on them? its okay to post?

[dusty fog]

it's quite dark and muted to me, if that's what you want then it's good : )

[daring imp]

no im learning to edit so i want it brighter ofc!

[dusty fog]

increase shadows and saturation/vibrance a bit

[daring imp]

but when i tried making them lighter it looked weird af

like this?

[dusty fog]

probably too much on the shadows

probably too much on saturation too

[daring imp]

oh shit i put it at 100%

didnt notice it was at 100% shadows xD

@dusty fog better?

[dusty fog]

pretty good i guess, editing birds is very subjective, there's not a ton you can do with it, it's mostly documentary photography

the colors still look pretty washed out to me though especially the greens

clearly canon

[fast knoll]

those white areas on the left and right are detracting from the subject

maybe a linear gradient on both sides and bring down exposure a bit?

u can also make it just include the sky if u dont want to affect the branch

[gilded yarrow]

Nahh theres tons of editing you can do with bird pics

[dusty fog]

i should say there's not a ton i can tell you to do with it

[daring imp]

im also very new so im just practicing atm! trying tho

[dusty fog]

@daring imp one thing that is usually a pretty universally good idea is to make sure the subject is separated from the background
notice how in the photo on the right it's darker background makes the subject stand out more

you can try to replicate that by darkening the background in the first one

[daring imp]

good idea!

[daring imp]

i was acctualy thinking of how to do that but i have no idea how

[dusty fog]

using lightroom right?

[daring imp]

yes!

[dusty fog]

go to the masking tool and click select background

[daring imp]

doing that! tyy

[daring imp]

like this? i tried matching background to other birb

[dusty fog]

yes, just need to increase exposure on bird

can use select subject or object brush for the bird only

subject will probably include the branch

[daring imp]

acctualy no it dosnt haha

i just found a pic where the bird is looking at the plants. would that be better pose to use? since the plants were kinda nice it would fit well @dusty fog

[dusty fog]

hard saying not knowing

[daring imp]

how is this? i did everything u teached me. background etc

[dusty fog]

somehow the bird is darker now

[daring imp]

i tried to remove the bright part on the tummy

it looked over expo

[dusty fog]

just raise shadows instead

[daring imp]

like that?

sorry if im spamming just trying to learn xD

[dusty fog]

better

maybe just start over, it's getting cooked

[daring imp]

Fr

i hate editinggg 😦

ty for help tho! @dusty fog learned abit

[gilded yarrow]

You mind sending the raw?

[fast knoll]

now the background is a tiny bit too dark for my liking

there's a point where it starts to look unnatural

but yea practice masking

@daring imp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiAOZ-yEaHg

this guy has amazing bird photos and i love his editing

his editing style is bright and vibrant

he did a ton in this image but u get a general idea what u can do using lightroom

[scarlet tulip]

He has a nice naturalistic style

There appear to be a lot of linear gradients used here

[fast knoll]

yea this dude is my go to birding youtuber

[scarlet tulip]

I’ve found the linear gradients to be the best way to change the look of an image without being too unsubtle

[gilded yarrow]

linear & radial gradients are the best for wildlife editing

[scarlet tulip]

I barely touch radials, but yeah

Negative clarity/contrast/dehaze applied to a linear gradient background mask is great for softening up distractions in your background defocus

[daring imp]

sure fam. ull get a few raws if possible!

[daring imp]

u can choose the best once from there i have no clue

i sent u a request so i can send it private! idk if wetransfer links are working here! @gilded yarrow

[dark minnow]

Hello details

[astral saffron]

visayan wattled broadbill

[fast knoll]

upgraded from 70-200 ii to 100-400 ii, it's on sale for $1200 on canon refurb

hopefully i can get some better shots now

[gilded yarrow]

Hell yeah

ffs its supposed to rain the whole day tomorrow

No kingfisher photography I guess

[magic crown]

New gear soon

[daring imp]

We have these im gonna try and photograph later today. I really want a pic. Only 350/500 pairs in my country. And they live on a mountain next to my cottage atleast 1 is there

[green meadow]

mayhem

[scarlet tulip]

Siskins?

[gilded yarrow]

Ohhh sick, those look cool

[green meadow]

Those are young greenfinches

[daring imp]

How is this quality? On phone it looks ait

[magic crown]

A good one

[fast knoll]

looks nice zoomed out

when u zoom in it's not perfect but it still looks great

the background is so clean

[wide flint]

Already did 2 full days of driving and I'm halfway on my roadtrip to the Lofoten. Saw some cranes and red kites today which I normally don't see often in the Netherlands so that was nice

Can't wait to arrive and enjoy the 24h sun

If it was possible to just not sleep at all I would

[daring imp]

Fr. F4 is insane on 600

[daring imp]

Ty fam!

[astral saffron]

Anyone use a Monopod or tripod? Have a preference to one or the other?

[gilded yarrow]

for days where I'll stay in one place for multiple hours I'll use a tripod, otherwise I'll just use handheld

[wide flint]

Just saw a capercaillie hen on the road

Lifer!

Didnt expect to just see one without going out to search for one

[green meadow]

Some frames of last two days.

[gilded yarrow]

Burd

[green meadow]

Young burd in rain.

Weird how red moves from top of the heat to the back of the head when they grow up.

Other young one getting some food.

[scarlet tulip]

@green meadow out of curiosity, what do you use for a camera strap? Do you hang the strap from the lens tripod foot? My Blackrapid just died, and I’m going to replace it

[green meadow]

https://www.peakdesign.com/eu/products/slide?Color=Sage Peak design has served me well. With tele lenses I have other anchor on body mount and other on tripod foot. Then I carry it like over the shoulder.

like this

But word of advise then lens barrel will scrub against your side. And at leas for my 600 pf it has caused some wear and tear to it. 😭

I also got slide lite, but slide is better specially on longer sessions.

[scarlet tulip]

This is good info, thanks

I’m looking at one of these, or a Magpul rifle sling

[green meadow]

I think that with rifle sling you won't need to worry about carrying capacity. 🤔

[gilded yarrow]

PD Slide is great

Thats what I use too

[gilded yarrow]

Oh god why would you mount it like that

bendy lens mount lol

[analog kindle]

Im actually like strongly considering this😂

[green meadow]

This way other thread and bottom of the foot are free for arca-swiss plate which is not attached right now, but you get the point.

[green meadow]

No it won't be. Nikons are sturdy af.

[green meadow]

But on 300mm f2.8 which is over 2x heavier lens both anchors are on the lens foot.

[scarlet tulip]

How much does the padding help with the weight?

[gilded yarrow]

I can walk around with the 200-600 all day without it hurting my shoulder because the strap is pretty wide

[scarlet tulip]

Does it have trouble sliding over clothes?

That’s one good thing about the Blackrapid, the lens slides up the strap very easily

[gilded yarrow]

Not really, it has one side with rubber and one without

[magic crown]

new hunting cam let's see if it's a good one

[scarlet tulip]

Ok that’s a really useful setup

I think what I will do is buy a Slide, and also a new QD linkage

I can attach the QD to my lens plate this way, and then use anchors and a safety tether with it

Thanks

[wide flint]

Can confirm, the PD slide is great

Have no trouble walking with the 180-600 all day

[daring imp]

Do u guys prefer if there is a little motion blur in the wings of bif pictures or everything super sharp?

[scarlet tulip]

i don't mind some wing blur

depends on the image

[gilded yarrow]

I like it sharp but its not possible like 80% of the time because theres not enough light lol

[astral saffron]

I’m able to get away with the PD leash if I’m wearing a backpack and the strap sits on the shoulder straps

[scarlet tulip]

i can do similar in winter, yeah

[daring imp]

Egrett?

[scarlet tulip]

little green heron

when close enough, i find the wings blur thanks to the shallow field of the lens

[fast knoll]

Do u guys shoot electronic shutter

Might start dabbling

[spring vault]

it depends on the camera lol

the r5 sensor is fast enough for moderate action

[scarlet tulip]

Electronic shutter the entire time for me

If I’m under cheap LEDs I will turn the mechanical back on but that’s it

[fast knoll]

whats ur readout speed

also kinda sad that r5 is 12 bit instead of 14 with electronic

[spring vault]

doesnt make a diff once youre high iso

[fast knoll]

ok yea

ima try electronic

[gilded gale]

R5ii, electronic 100% of the time for me

[scarlet tulip]

Like 14ms

[fast knoll]

Ok r5 is same ima try to make the switch

[wide flint]

Yes

But I have no choice

[fast knoll]

Lmao

Z8 is fire

Insane readout soeed

[green meadow]

Easy choice for us. 😅 👍 And at least I haven't ever been on a situation where I would have missed or needed mechanical shutter. But I take most of my photos under natural light.

[green meadow]

Are you there yet and did you already have a change to enjoy midnight sun?

[wide flint]

Currently on the last ferry, only 30 more minutes. Sadly the weather has been super gray and rainy and it looks like that won't be changing for my stay here :/

But it'll make for some great Moody landscapes

Also saw our first Moose today, very impressive animals

[mint warren]

It's fairy wren time

[fast knoll]

beautiful

[fast knoll]

is this alright?

switched to electronic today

ima stick to it

[fast knoll]

how do u guys get sharp birds in flight?

i feel like my AF jumps around and likes to track the body usually

slightly smaller aperture?

[scarlet tulip]

I don’t know enough about Canon autofocus settings to comment there

But I try to get as close as possible to give the camera the most data to work with that it can get

[fast knoll]

ye u answered my question in the other channel i appreciate it a lot

cant wait for my 100-400

we'll see how much it helps

and if it's just a skill issue on my end

[scarlet tulip]

These are all with a 420 (300*1.4) or a 500, sometimes with the 1.4x

Half the battle is getting close

If you’re super far away it will always be harder to get perfect sharpness, and a longer lens can help to a point

[fast knoll]

wow

u got such a nice angle on all of these

so close to the water

[scarlet tulip]

Shooting down on the bird, or with the bird at eye level, helps a lot

As do background linear gradient masks combined with negative dehaze and clarity

This helps remove some of the more distracting texture that can show up in backgrounds

[fast knoll]

i see

[scarlet tulip]

That second one is quite nice

[fast knoll]

yea i used some of ur tips

def makes the scene a lot cleaner

i thought the reflection was pretty cool too

[scarlet tulip]

Grey days like that are good for reflecting, yeah

Not too much light

[green meadow]

Too bad. But I'm sure there's a lot to see there, even if the weather isn't perfect. Moody pictures can be really cool too. 👍

[green meadow]

Yes they are. And remember to be careful while driving, especially in the evenings and early mornings.

[wide flint]

Luckily it really cleared up as soon as we were on the Lofoten. Sunny weather today. I think the saying "if you don't like the weather in Norway, wait 5 minutes" really is true

[green meadow]

Great! And I think that is typical for Archipelago and sea shores where weather can change really rapidly.

[wide flint]

I was also wondering if it's true that birds are more active during the night here? Because I might just stay up all night and sleep during the day in that case

[green meadow]

Not sure how it is that up north. Here where I live I think that they are most active in the morning.

[green meadow]

Rainy day ducks

[fast knoll]

ef 100-400 ii arriving tmrw 🙏

[scarlet tulip]

that last one especially is really nice

[scarlet tulip]

the first one, of the wing, is a neat shot as well

[fast knoll]

Is there a minimum MP you guys try to stay above when u crop

[spring vault]

if it's just for discord 2mp

depends on the pic tho it has to be really good for me to not just throw the pic away when I'm cropping that much

[fast knoll]

Might be controversial but I feel like I can still see some good/bad sharpness when I zoom in on discord photos

Like when ppl blame image softness on discord compression I feel like that isn’t rlly the case

Insta compression is terrible tho that’s for sure

[astral saffron]

Not really so long as it appears mostly sharp

[green meadow]

Wider shot works well for showing that rain better. That wing shot is my own favorite. There is even other duck spreading its wings in the background. Should have zoomed out and/or stopped down bit so that other duck was clearer. Then it would be really awesome.

[scarlet tulip]

getting the water droplets like that makes the wing shot i think

stopping down could help, but it works either way i think

[green meadow]

Great choice. My duck shots were taken with nikon 100-400mm. It is quite good and versatile range. 👍

[green meadow]

True, I would have missed those then.

[fast knoll]

yea upgrading from 70-200

[green meadow]

400mm is much better for wild life, but you still need to get quite close to your subject.

[fast knoll]

yea

i feel like even with 600

[green meadow]

true true

[fast knoll]

u have to be closer than i thought before i started using my 200 a lot lol

But once I started using it I realized even with 600 u still have to have good positioning

[green meadow]

And I'm sure that you got good practice with that lens how to get close.

[fast knoll]

Yea lol sometimes it was just impossible tho

Even the AF could barely track the subject

I usually go to this protected lagoon so there’s bridges and fences

[green meadow]

New lens will help. 100-400 also focus really close so it works well for close up work too. It is possible to get almost macro like photos.

[fast knoll]

Yea I heard

Very excited

Trying to get photos like yours LOL

[green meadow]

That heron in flight was already really great photo. So keep on practicing and you will get better photos than me. 👍

[green meadow]

It try to keep shot edge over 2000px (sometimes less) for viewing on screen. And I export most of my photos using that. Except for ig "horizontal" edge 1080px.

[fast knoll]

Thank you!! Maybe one day I’ll be as good as u

[green meadow]

Thanks and I'm sure that you will be. My photos are nothing that special.

[gilded gale]

Nommin Wren

[magic crown]

this new 4G hunting cam is quite good

[daring imp]

Would u guys say its faking to take underexposed parts of an animal to try and fix over exposed parts? Like from a wing of a bird etc thats not overexposed to fix the side that is overexposed?

Idk if i explaned well. From the same pic ofc

Like here are some bangers im trying to fix

[wide flint]

This made me think of your tern shot @scarlet tulip

Sadly it's the wing tip on the other side that is touching

[magic crown]

Unedited shot

[fast knoll]

Nope

That’s just editing

very cool pics

Sucks that the lighting was like that

[scarlet tulip]

Still a neat moment

[fast knoll]

for any pixel peepers here: does this image look sharp to you?

feel free to donwload and look even closer if u want

[magic crown]

Yep it's seems good to me

[fast knoll]

how bout if u look at this

[magic crown]

Btw good shot with the color balance

[fast knoll]

i feel like i see some motion blur am i crazy

[magic crown]

at this point of zoom it's really big

[fast knoll]

alright after askign around this shot is indeed slightly out of focus

and so were all of my other ones

[magic crown]

it's not that bad

it's still sharp enough

[fast knoll]

yea ik but the problem is

i took a huge burst of photos

and they all look like that

on my new lens

i wouldnt care if i just missed focus

but the AF seems a bit off to me

[gilded yarrow]

try it on a wall or something

[fast knoll]

ok one sec

[fast knoll]

here's my light switch how does it look

[gilded yarrow]

Looks good to me

[fast knoll]

yea same here

fuck whats goign on then

why were all of my shots this morning slightly off

[dark minnow]

Maybe improper settings

But for me it’s been pretty sharp

Might be far or front focusing

[fast knoll]

here it was this shot

[fast knoll]

the settings^

[dark minnow]

No, I’m talking about AF settings

[fast knoll]

ah

mine r pretty default

i just use case 1 with -1 -1

i didnt mess with anything

@dark minnow hows ur 100 400 working

like to any normal person that image above would be sharp enough

but im such a pixel peeper bruh

in camera i could see something felt a little off

[gilded yarrow]

the feathers are sharp

it just isnt focused on the eye

[fast knoll]

maybe i was just too far away for the AF to be exactly on the eye?

i guess egrets have huge bodies and tiny faces that might be why

[gilded yarrow]

Shouldnt be the case

af point a bit off maybe

[fast knoll]

fuck

trying to figure out how to fix it tho

and idk if there is a fix

[gilded yarrow]

bro theres nothing wrong the af point Was probably just not on the eye

[gilded yarrow]

Its sharp

[fast knoll]

slightly above?

the thing is none of my pics today were exactly in focus

[magic crown]

heat haze ?

[fast knoll]

nah it was like 65 degrees outside

cloudy morning

[magic crown]

yeah it's not that

well the focus just a little bit higher does that maybe

[fast knoll]

ok honestly

im gonna chill out

and take more pics tmrw or something

if it becomes a consistent issue then i'll come back and ask u guys again lol

[dark minnow]

It’s going pretty well, I’m on a trip to Nova Scotia currently and its making wonders both in landscape and in wildlife

[fast knoll]

this would be fire if i didnt miss focus

i think another issue i have is i only start shooting a subject once it moves and catches my eye

so AF doesnt have time to find and lock on

maybe i should just stare at a subject with my camera until it does something instead of moving looking for action

[gilded yarrow]

get lower

[fast knoll]

cant

bridge

[fast knoll]

i wish i had more locations

this is a protected lagoon tho

lots of fences and stuff

[fast knoll]

literally only got pics of snowy egrets today

i think this new lens is getting me a lot of shots i wouldnt even take before

[scarlet tulip]

extra reach is fun like this

[daring imp]

Pretty sick perched eagle shots that i got from the photo hide

[dusty fog]

so cool

what kind of eagle?

[analog kindle]

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/638356617

Finally getting to some photos from months ago lol

[daring imp]

White tailed eagle

[fast knoll]

the wings feel a tiny bit bright to me hmm

but if i turn it down any more it doesnt match the head

what r ur guys thoughts

also does sharpness look ok on this image?

[scarlet tulip]

Can always mask the wings and lower the whites on just them

[fast knoll]

yea i did that and dropped highlights a bit

lemme try that too

hows focus on this one

[scarlet tulip]

Looks fine to me

[fast knoll]

k i think im just peeping too hard LOL

[scarlet tulip]

You can always adjust sharpening in the editor if you want more pop

[fast knoll]

also lowering the whites makes it a bit gray

[scarlet tulip]

Can’t be too aggressive with it

[fast knoll]

yea i did like -8

[scarlet tulip]

Messing with the highlights first is best

[fast knoll]

yep i did that

this is like -15

does that look normal still

oh maybe i turned up contrast too high

[scarlet tulip]

They’re always going to be bright, to me this loses some detail it could otherwise preserve

Bringing down contrast can help

Metering for highlights also helps

[fast knoll]

is this more balanced

or does it look the exact same lol

[scarlet tulip]

I can see more wing detail, it’s all quite bright but less of an issue than before

[fast knoll]

hmm

do u prefer this

i thought it was too extreme but looking at it again i think it does look quite nice

u can see lots of detail

[dusty fog]

looks good to me

[fast knoll]

ok

thank u guys for ur help!

maybe i can turn the temp up on the bird

so it's less blue

final product

woah this is kinda cool

caught him mid blink

[dark minnow]

@fast knoll ima get a thorough test of the 100-400 tonight, going on a boat trip to some islands off the coast for some puffins and other seabirds.

[fast knoll]

oooh nice

[scarlet tulip]

I may have a solution for your sharpness issue

Are all the photos you send getting run through a denoiser?

[fast knoll]

yea honestly i think conditions just arent ideal

cloudy gray day

[scarlet tulip]

Which denoiser?

[fast knoll]

im shooting like iso 1600+

just using lightroom

[scarlet tulip]

That can and will cause issues with sharpness

Because those undenoised screen caps look very sharp

[fast knoll]

oh fr

but yea i realized the high iso is prob sacrificng a bit of sharpness

havent had a sunny morning for a few days

what denoiser is thr best?

[dusty fog]

lightroom AI denoise

but don't go above like 35 strength usually

[fast knoll]

oh fr

i just leave it on 50

[dusty fog]

some people say they go higher, i don't like how it looks

[daring imp]

Got a pretty sick sequence of a white tailed eagle flying away with a fish

[dusty fog]

insane

huge fish lol

#2 and #4 so goood

[fast knoll]

Those r heat

[daring imp]

Ty boys!

[fast knoll]

i want to see a green heron up close

apparently theres tricolored herons in this place ima check out on saturday

[magic crown]

Poor little guy he's exhausted, thirsty and one of his leg is injured

[eternal igloo]

not a great photo but one of the first loons I’ve seen this year

had to send back my new r7 so I’m back on the t7 😭

[gilded yarrow]

Holy shit

[daring imp]

Trying to look for one atm. I rarely see them here

[eternal igloo]

I’m in upstate New York on a small lake with a protected loon nest, we see them like usually everyday

it’s great ngl

but no other birds bc the loons want to kill them

[daring imp]

Damn they crazy haha

[fast knoll]

wow

u got all the action

shit and catch

do u guys actually switch to horizontal panning is

or do u just leave it on the default is setting

[daring imp]

U didnt use ur acctual cam for that action 🥲

[gilded yarrow]

Ofc I didnt, I never have it with me lmao

[eternal igloo]

😭 the best photos happen when you don’t got ur camera

so I just ended up always carrying it now

[gilded yarrow]

Yup, just as always

[dark ermine]

jeeez, just get your camera surgically implanted at this point

[gilded yarrow]

[gilded yarrow]

Its the same place and even same branch where I saw them last time tho, got two weeks where I dont need to work now so I got a loooot of time to just sit there

Watch me not get a single pic after 20 hours of sitting once again

Spent around 30 hours on kingfishers already without a single good photo, I think its time to change that

went there like 4x with a girl I'm meeting, partly to watch where the kingfishers like to sit LMAO

Got like 3 of their branches now

[gilded yarrow]

AN OWL JUST FLEW PAST ME

Looked like a tawny Owl, pretty dark tho so not sure

[daring imp]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLafF1WI6yO/?igsh=aW9hamswajNmcjhv holy shit i wanna start doing this... 😂😂 this is fucking epic

jps_wildlife

You guys asked for it and here it is!

Even more effects and a banger DnB track.

Let the brainrot begin😈

Track:

Basstripper - In the City

#fypreels
#fyp
#nikonphotography
#brainrot
#dnb
#drumandbass
#nikondach
#wildlifephotography
#naturephotography
#wildlife
…

Likes

52175

Instagram

[dark minnow]

That’s fucking hilarious

[daring imp]

Gz on 1st medal btw. What did u win?

[dark minnow]

Overexposed contest a while back

[dark minnow]

Here’s a few recent photos from my trip in the eastern part of Canada

[wide flint]

Last night on the Lofoten was crazy. Finally saw rock ptarmigans, a goshawk, Coopers swan's with young, red throated loon with young, 2 foxes and much more that im forgetting atm

Can't wait to edit the pics once I get some sleep, especially got some amazing bif pics from the rock ptarmigans

[daring imp]

Ayy gz

[gilded yarrow]

Only a few more months till I get my drivers license and can finally go wherever the fuck I want to photograph birds

[fast knoll]

Damn bruh u a baby

[gilded yarrow]

I'm 18

[gilded yarrow]

Going back to the spot where I saw the owl yesterday now, theres a breeding thing there

[fast knoll]

Ohh is the license age 18 where u live?

[gilded yarrow]

Yup, and crazy expensive too

around 2.5k€

14x90 mins of theory lessons and then 12 hours of different driving lessons plus whatever amount of driving you need to actually be good enough for the driving test

So the waiting begins

[fast knoll]

damn

[bright vapor]

Here you need 30h of theory and 30h of driving. Although it’s kinda cheap compared to you. (~700€ + some random fees which make it 800€ total)

[gilded yarrow]

Damn thats really cheap yeah, registration alone cost me almost 500

[gilded yarrow]

1st hour, no owl so far

[fast knoll]

i want to find a bittern

that's my new goal

theyre so interesting

[gilded yarrow]

2nd hour still no owl, also still very bright out tho

[gilded yarrow]

around 3 hours later, went home because phone died

No owl today

[dark minnow]

Some Atlantic Puffins taking flight

[bright vapor]

That 2nd one is amazing

[eternal igloo]

loon popped up like 20 feet away in front of me while I’m on a dock

[dark minnow]

Thank you!!

[fast knoll]

wow just saw an osprey nest

it was gigantic

[fast knoll]

terrible lighting but mother and juvenile

[magic crown]

I love the 1st one the bokeh is so creamy

[fast knoll]

do u guys shoot craw

i find myself hitting the buffer quite fast

might switch over

[twin grotto]

Visited the national aviary, got to try out bird photography n got sum nice stuff, not sure what im doin tho 🙂‍↕️

[fast knoll]

these r very nice!

what camera and lens?

ideally u want to stand further back and zoom in sometimes to shoot the birds more at eye level

but if theyre too high up and it's impossible then u just have to work with what u see

[twin grotto]

thanks!

[twin grotto]

lumix gx85

with an f2.8 35-100

[dark minnow]

Yeah, I’ve taken I think 1 RAW photo, CRAW is half the size with no loss whatsoever

[fast knoll]

Damn bruh where do u live

[scarlet tulip]

maine

plenty of breeding eagles up here

that's a juvenile, probably came back to the place it was born

[fast knoll]

Damn that’s the only reason I want to go to the east coast LOL

[scarlet tulip]

there are not many other reasons

[fast knoll]

Lmaoo

[hidden wyvern]

first tern photo for me

not much to the background but at least its blue lol

[scarlet tulip]

it pops nice, as does the bill

[finite flower]

the bg is pretty clean

[magic crown]

edits of the day

[green meadow]

Little ringed plover and Common greenshank from yesterday

[magic crown]

those birbs are so cute

[green meadow]

Specially plovers are really adorable indeed.

[green meadow]

Nice close ups you got there. Gulls are bit underrated birds in my opinion. Yes their behavior is bit off putting. But still they are quite interesting birds.

[magic crown]

and their nuptial dance is killing me

[green meadow]

I haven' t ever seen one. But I can imagine it is something special.

[magic crown]

I am of the same opinion and the same for pigeons, they are often hated but they are very affectionate and beautiful

[magic crown]

https://youtu.be/9eFsEKzJyx0

so funny

[green meadow]

I don't know what I thought it would be but definitely not that. 😅

[magic crown]

the bird is like : look at my feet LOOK AT MY FEET FEMALE

[fast knoll]

went to a spot that looked good on ebird today

but couldnt find much :(

did see a ton of ducks tho lol

this is prob one of my best photos lol

the background is so smooth

[eternal igloo]

ebird?

[fast knoll]

yea

collection of all sighted species anywhere in the world

used by a ton of birders

[fast knoll]

Saw some white faced ibis for the first time

[fast knoll]

Unedited cause I don’t have my computer rn

[fast knoll]

Surprised it was out in broad daylight

[magic crown]

Ibis are so cools

[astral saffron]

Got the best room in my Uncles house

[wide flint]

Best shots I got of the rock ptarmigans

[astral saffron]

The third one

[magic crown]

Awebo

Shots of the day

[wide flint]

Awebo?

[magic crown]

It's his call

[gilded yarrow]

Going to the kingfisher spot with my cam rn, no high hopes since I only got like 1.5 hours tho

[magic crown]

If you have luck and patience you will have this shot

[gilded yarrow]

1.5hours aint enough for kingfishers unless I get super lucky, will come back on the weekend tho

[magic crown]

yeah for me this took me a total of 48h

1h is really small

if you want to have better chance go there before the daylight

[gilded yarrow]

I know, I already spent 30 hours on trying to photograph kingfishers

Oh lol already worth it coming here

[magic crown]

a young one

my pond have a kingfisher only in winter so i'm going to wait a little to have another shot of him

[wide flint]

Bird watching from the train is great. So many red kites here in East Germany. Also some stork's, cranes and buzzards

[gilded yarrow]

theres very young kingfishers here rn, I hope they arent that skittish yet

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah, tons of kestrels too in my experience

[magic crown]

a lot of gulls for me

[wide flint]

Yeah saw 2 kestrels as well

I think I saw as much red kites today as I have in the rest of my life

Its actually wild

[magic crown]

kites are beautiful

[gilded yarrow]

The waiting begins, thats the branch where I saw two of them fishing a few days ago

Its very dark sadly

[magic crown]

that composition looks so good
can't wait to see

[gilded yarrow]

1/400 iso 3200

gotta get lucky

[magic crown]

OOF

try to put it a 1/250 ?

[gilded yarrow]

Hmm I usually wouldnt go that slow

Got no tripod with me

[magic crown]

sad

[wide flint]

Yeah 1/400 without tripod is about max

Unless you got great stabilization and a steady place to rest your arms

I've gotten away with 1/50 handheld before when it was snowing right before sunrise, but hitrate was ofc less then like 1%

[gilded yarrow]

Kingfisher just flew past

[gilded yarrow]

This is how I'm sitting rn lmao

[magic crown]

no hiding ?

[wide flint]

Yeah that looks stable enough

[gilded yarrow]

Nah, its in the middle of a City so they arent as skittish as they normally are, ai could bring something to hide next time tho

[magic crown]

[gilded yarrow]

something to put between those trees

Ideal for that kind of hide

[magic crown]

i would like to say yes too but mine is pretty hard to get close and it's in a city too

[magic crown]

a hiding net hould be perfect here

[gilded yarrow]

Yes thats what I meant

I have one at home

[gilded yarrow]

I think I'll leave this Spot, I'm being attacked by 5000 mosquitoes

[magic crown]

[gilded yarrow]

checklist for next time
-tripod
-Bug repellant
-net

[magic crown]

edits of the day

the heat haze hits hard with the first one

[magic crown]

you take the bug repellant ?

always having one in the bag

[astral saffron]

Crank that camera into high FPS and fire away

[wide flint]

Its only like 11 fps right? Sony moment

[gilded yarrow]

Lmao

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah

[wide flint]

A pic is a pic

[gilded yarrow]

I'll go back tomorrow with more gear and sooner so I can sit there for longer, also got the whole next week too so I really hope that I can finally get a good kingfisher pic

[fast knoll]

Brandts comorant I think

Juvenile?

He was so close to me just chilling under the walkway

[fast knoll]

wish the lighting was a bit better but still very happy with these

[gilded yarrow]

100% screenshot, I love getting those super sharp shots

[magic crown]

Yeah portrait are so cool

[gilded yarrow]

Different to how I usually edit my pics, what do we think

[fast knoll]

i like it

[magic crown]

yeah it's a good one

heron feets are so terrifying

especially the claws

[fast knoll]

Horrible lighting but ruddy ducks r cool

[fast knoll]

do u guys denoise most of ur photos?

i find when i pixel peep all my images r a bit grainy without it

even like iso <800

maybe im just zooming in too much

[gilded yarrow]

yeah most of them

[gilded yarrow]

That one is denoised too and it was only at iso 640

[fast knoll]

ok cool im not the only one lol

great tailed grackle?

[eternal igloo]

ngl

I kinda fw the noisy feather look

some birds it looks really cool on

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah I dont like noise, I like the grain in my film photos but not on digital

[eternal igloo]

fair

I just feel like bird photos especially with how dark the feathers get noise is gonna be there

[fast knoll]

yea u cant lift shadows too much on a dark bird or else it gets bad

[fast knoll]

First decent photo I’ve gotten of a turkey vulture

[green meadow]

Gotta love the midday sun – perfect for getting both overexposed highlights and pitch-black shadows in a single shot. 😄👌

Here's another. Well at least background is kind of nice.

Precapture with 120fps is great, but Z9 jpg quality with that is not so great. After cropping this was about 2500x1700px and then up scaled it to 3000x2000px.

[scarlet tulip]

At normal viewing sizes it looks alright, and remains plenty sharp

And yeah, got to love noontime light blasting

[green meadow]

Yeah but I'm a hopeless pixel peeper 🤣

@scarlet tulip Have you used precapture and found it usable on your Z6III? Was it max 60fps and on full resolution, but only jpg-files?

[scarlet tulip]

I’ve used it sparingly, and at 30fps

But the JPEGs are full-resolution

[fast knoll]

i decided im selling my ef 100-400 ii for an rf 100-500 lol

in the long run i would be much happier with the 100-500

and also i made hella enough money from tutoring to afford it 😛

i think i can also sell my ef 100-400 ii for profit since i got it for 1130 and it's mint condition so i can prob get at least 1600 for it

[hidden wyvern]

sparrow with a song

[finite flower]

fledging

[rocky turret]

Collection of my first week of birding (and relearning Lightroom)

[gilded yarrow]

I dreamed of photographing white throated dippers lmao

Think I'll go to my kingfisher spot today

[gilded yarrow]

One of my hiding nets is gone ffs

[gilded yarrow]

fuck I forgot bug repellant

[gilded yarrow]

proper setup today

@magic crown

[dusty fog]

setup almost complete

just need birb

[gilded yarrow]

Yea lol

[gilded yarrow]

I keep hearing them really close by

[gilded yarrow]

bitch bird

[gilded yarrow]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

FINALLY

OVER 30 FUCKING HOURS

OH MY GOD

Cant get closer than this at this Spot but still wow

100% will look good once I edit it

[gilded yarrow]

Quick phone edit

[hoary sigil]

That is beautiful

I want to kingfisher but there are no kingfisher anywhere

Not epic

[gilded yarrow]

2nd time

I'm so happy rn

[wide flint]

Congratulations

Patience and just being there pays off in wildlife Photography

[gilded yarrow]

Yup

Thinking about moving now, got at least 2 or 3 great shots I think

spent 3 hours

Sun moved so I'll move too

[dusty fog]

congrats

[magic crown]

LETS GO !

The composition

[gilded yarrow]

Found more photographers

[magic crown]

It's so good when this happen

[gilded yarrow]

one of them showed me another kingfisher spot and an owl Spot in the same Park

Super sick

[magic crown]

an owl spot ?! insane

it can be insane to have a kingfisher shot like mine

[gilded yarrow]

Yup, tawny Owl living in a tree

[magic crown]

i'm fighting to have this one

hope you will have this bird

[gilded yarrow]

I already have a nice tawny Owl shot but not with my a7iv, will return to here on tuesday

[magic crown]

here it's too hot now the heat haze is really hard and it's 35°C in shadow

[gilded yarrow]

Omw back home now

Day was very successful

Les hope for even more success on tuesday when I will return

[magic crown]

this shot is so chill

[gilded yarrow]

What do we think guys

[magic crown]

i like it
it deserve a print for me

i really like the clear light it's really chill

[gilded yarrow]

Its cropped to only 4 megapixels lmao

Lucky that I have the a7iv with 33 instead of 24mp

[magic crown]

oof

[warm tiger]

Any tips for shooting birds with minimal cropping (8MP sensor, so not much room to play with)

Basically how to get (relatively) close shots

[fast knoll]

Set up a perch like right in front of u with a long zoom and sit still and be patient

[gilded yarrow]

What lens do you have

[magic crown]

that little up tail move

i love it when they do that

[warm tiger]

300mm lenght, 600mm FFEQ

[gilded yarrow]

That shouldnt be too hard to do then

[gilded yarrow]

Yeah get to a place where wild birds get fed or just be patient

parks can be nice since the birds there are usually used to people

[warm tiger]

Excellent, thank you

[fast knoll]

u can def get frame filling images with 600mm

maybe try larger birds first

ducks at parks r prob hella chill

[rocky turret]

Buddy was so patient for me

[daring imp]

Got a pretty sick shot from a moving boat and theres semi big waves too. Im impressed haha

Looks mega sharp from my cam too

[gilded yarrow]

Omw to the kingfishers again

And owl too

Supposed to rain

Might get some cool pics

[astral saffron]

I need to figure out where the kingfishers in my area are

Back in Austria right now visiting family

[gilded yarrow]

And now we wait

[gilded yarrow]

moved a few meters, completely hidden now and got the most insane angle

[gilded yarrow]

Well this isnt good

[gilded yarrow]

@magic crown

[warm tiger]

Wow that one is really nice

[magic crown]

Rainy composition are so cool

Perfect

[gilded yarrow]

My shutter speed was a bit too slow but theres at least 1 sharp pic luckily, wouldve cried if not lmao

[magic crown]

Fr

I can't wait for winter to make those shots

Actually it's too hot to go out

[gilded yarrow]

Never seen a kingfisher do this before

Very far away but still cool

[dark ermine]

wound up with a 3k inbox of new photos again so with chat gpt's help I built a local bird id ai model that sorts the birds automatically.

it def took longer than manually culling lol, but it's trained and will continue to learn on my photos so should be more confident moving forward

[gilded yarrow]

Did I cook guys

[astral saffron]

Awesome shot

[warm tiger]

Wow

[bright vapor]

Amazing

[gilded yarrow]

Thanks guys

Just went through the shots, I think the rain drops look even nicer in this one

Y'all will probably see 500 re edits of this shot over the next few days LMAO

[fast knoll]

This is amazing

[magic crown]

You cooked more than well

[fast knoll]

It doesn’t even look real ngl the background is so clean

[gilded yarrow]

Haha thanks, yeah the background was like 30m away so I got some sick bokeh

[fast knoll]

What does the raw look like

[gilded yarrow]

1 sec lemme start up lr again

[gilded yarrow]

This was the setup, you can see the branch and how far the background is away

[fast knoll]

Wow

[gilded yarrow]

Natural branch too, didnt put it there

[fast knoll]

Ordered lens from map camera and it shipped from Japan 2 days ago

Fastest delivery I’ve ever experienced

[magic crown]

nice

and it's a really compact one

[gilded gale]

Love that lens so much 😄

[dusty fog]

so cool, where is this running?

[dark ermine]

locally! I just run the python script which starts the app (python ui lib called streamlit)
general idea: https://chatgpt.com/share/6876aa1c-cd84-8006-890a-90d1ddb0b831

[fast knoll]

update i found a single piece of dust 😭

under the front glass

[gilded yarrow]

Lol that doesnt matter

Every lens, especially the ones that extend will have dust in them sooner or later

Doesnt show up on pics

[fast knoll]

yea im just kinda ocd