Trying to learn everything on the new camera is defiantly a challenge, but I am certainly having fun with it!
My neighbors probably think I'm nuts - taking photos of everything around the house, but who cares what they think lol
PLEASE critique away if you like .... I NEED to know what is good, bad & how to do things right.
So.... here is my 1st birdie... a little Carolina Wren bathing in the sprinkler. It's a little blurry I know :(
This message was edited Sep 20, 2010 9:52 AM
Maybe this is better?
or this ...
darn ... that was a little hard.
Moving on to a hummer.... He was flying sideways ....super fast lol
I don't like the color (or lack thereof) in the above photo. Moving onto the next hummer.
Maybe you can see his tongue sticking out??
The above photo is the best so far I think. I can see more details and color.
Here is the same hummer without sticking out his tongue. I got these in the sports setting.
That's all the feathered friends for now.
I will keep reading & practicing and hope to have better pics soon!
Hi 2rb, Those last 2 hummer pics are very nice!
Were you hand holding the camera in the first 3 pics? I can't hold completely still when hand holding my camera and my pics do not come out as sharp as I'd like so I use a tripod for perching birds.
Thanks for posting the pics!
Pelletory - yes I was hand holding the camera because I was just going around the yard shooting this & that (flowers and such) and saw the bird bathing so decided to shoot. I think I had it on the micro function which is probably wrong, but I don't know all the settings yet. I tried to focus on him but the something was all wrong. He was not far away either ... probably 15-20 feet away. It should have been much crisper but didn't turn out that way.
Don't be discouraged, your hummer shots are great! Love that balloon feeder of yours. That wren is a cutie and we all know how fast moving they can be.
That's how I take all my pics, because I'm always walking around the yard too. I'm pretty sure your camera setting should not be on macro when taking bird shots, but it takes a while to learn where to set it. I have a setting for action shots which I use for birdwatching.....but because I don't use a tripod, most of my shots are not perfectly sharp. Your Hummingbird shots are AMAZING, because we all know how fast those little buggers are. Keep practicing, and thanks for posting these.
Thanks guys! The camera is LOTS of fun & I kill WAY too much time playing with it. lol
Duc .. I found that feeder at Lowe's at the beginning of this spring season. It's heavy glass and very well made with lots of details. It is the nicest feeder I have and hope to find another this coming season. They also had one with hibiscus flowers on it that was very pretty. This just happened to be one of those deals too good to pass up .... I paid a whole 10 bucks lol
Garden - you are right. The micro is for flowers & such. I had it wrong apparently. Must be why the 1st photos are pretty fuzzy. Rookie mistakes aye? lol
The hummer did turn out better than I expected and I certainly didn't know I would get the tongue like that, but I used the sport setting, focused and it took 3 super fast photos and that is how I got the tongue shot.
Hi 2racingboys! Those are really nice hummer shots! The Carolina Wren shots are just the results of being hand held.
When I first starting photographing birds I couldn't take a hand-held shot to save my life, then I learned to tuck my arms in when shooting...it made a big difference..although a tripod will make it much better for sure. I use hand held quite a bit...but I make adjustments to get my shutter speed very fast which makes up for any shake from my hands etc.
Keep experimenting and have fun!
Burd
For the first three shots you have your aperture set at f/5.6 and your ISO set at 400. That gave you a shutter speed of 1/30 sec on the first shot, 1/100 on the second and 1/160sec on the third. That combination is OK if you are inside, taking a picture of your puppy, and using a flash. But that is far too slow if you are going to hand hold your camera.
If you are going to use aperture priority, change the aperture to wide open (f/4.0), boost your ISO to about 1600 and see what kind of shutter speed you get. I like 1/1000sec or better and your camera is capable of speeds up to 1/4000sec. If your shutter speed is faster than 1/2000sec at f/4.0 and ISO 1600, drop your ISO to 1000 or even lower and/or close down the aperture a stop or so until you get a shutter speed in the range you want. Obviously, the lower the ISO, the less graininess you will see. But for on line posting, graininess is not that much of an issue anyway.
I use aperture priority because I like to control depth of field. I like smooth, blurred backgrounds so I usually shoot wide open and adjust the ISO to give me a decent shutter speed. But if blurred backgrounds is not your thing, set your camera to shutter priority and your shutter speed to 1/000 and your ISO to it's maximum (3200). and take a few shots. Check to see what aperture the camera selects. If you are getting too much light your images will show it and the f/stop will be f/22 ot thereabouts. If so, or if your images are too grainy, drop the ISO and/or raise the shutter speed to where they look better. What I am saying is you have a nice camera and the more you play with it the more options you will see you have.
I also use spot focus and always aim at the bird's eye. It is nice to have the whole subject in focus but I find it OK as long as long as the head is sharp and the rest of him is not too far OOF.
This shot was taken this afternoon in full sun. 1/2000sec, f/6.3 and ISO 320, using a 400mm lens and hand held. It may take a little practice but you have a good camera and it is capable of shots like this.
Dave
This message was edited Sep 21, 2010 6:46 AM
This message was edited Sep 21, 2010 6:55 AM
Your last 2 shots are nice!
I really can't offer any technical advise....I have yet to really be able to comprehend it all and I use a point and which is pretty nice. I do know that you have to practice, pratice pratice and then practice some more!! I just play with the settings and and start to get a feel or eye for what works under what conditions. But sometimes you just hope for the best!
Look forward to more pics!
