We have a few Grevillia’s that are flowering really well at the moment and as a result we are seeing regular visits from these incredibly fast little Honeyeaters.
I’m starting to take some better shots but don’t seem to be getting the clarity that AnnieJ or some of the other posters are producing.
Any suggestions anyone?
These were all taken with a Canon70D and a Canon300mm prime lens.
Lovely photos! Great job capturing such a fast little bird
I love, love, love the third photo
So jealous
Hi Reflex, would need the camera settings plus distance for the shots. Nice bird.
Thanks Rick. I will respond to-night with the camera settings but the distance was about 6 metres away.
Samford Valley Qld.
Had another look, 300mm on 70d equals 480mm.Assuming hand held.
There isn't anything I can see that's in focus so I would say camera shake.
I know people say they can hand hold down to some really low shutter speeds but I can't get really crisp results below 1250s even 1600s, that's not to say others can't. Will be interesting to see your settings as distance should not be the problem.
Cheers
I would have to agree with Rick there Reflex..... Each person has a different ability to hand hold ... I am terrible and the older I get the worse it seems to be getting. The light looks low and did your flash fire? you need to keep your shutter speeds up and that means better light or using a higher ISO, which can cause a few issues but not with focusing . Also...have you cropped these for posting?
The browns are just so frustrating to shoot as they are always hopping all over the place and they hide behind foliage if they can..... good job catching them though and great to have them in your garden
Sunshine Coast Queensland
All hand held and yes they have all been cropped for posting.
The difficulty I have with using a tripod especially with this bird is by the time I am ready to shoot they've been and gone. I have some great shots of Grevilliea flowers though!
I can't honestly remember if the flash was triggered but I see a reflection in the eyes on a few of them to suggest it was.
Samford Valley Qld.
have you tried a monopod?
Peter
Very hard to get clear distinct shots of the brown honeyeater - hence its scientific name lichmera indistincta
Love these little guys!
Great pics!
Shutter speed 1/400th
Aperture 5.6
ISO speed 200
Flash off.
Image quality RAW
Samford Valley Qld.
Hi Reflex, firstly: If you are shooting in raw your images will need post processing of some sort. I assume you are just converting them to jpegs and posting?
Second point I would suggest is to increase your ISO to at least 400 maybe even 800 for situations such as this. That give you the ability to increase the shutter speed and therfore control the camera shake more.
Are you shooting in auto mode?
Cheers
BIrdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi Reflex, Way too slow for the Apeture IMO. Assuming an average light day ie overcast but some sunlight I would typically be shooting 1250ss 5.6ap iso 640. Not sure if your lens has VR, mine doesn't. Cheers
Your SS and ISO are way to low for shooting fast moving dark coloured birds in what looks to be low light
I'm not up with all Canon lanses so I'm just assuming its a 300f4
Yes but the images I transfer onto my PC are so clear and the images I post on here are miles apart!
Samford Valley Qld.
What a dear little bird Reflex, and lucky you to have them visiting! Judging by the amount of foliage around and in front of him (her?), I think you've done a remarkable job focusing past all that to the bird!
I agree with what Rick and birdie have both said, re handholding and shutter speed. I'm not sure what sort of light you had to deal with, but you possibly could have taken your ISO up quite a bit, say to 800, and used a higher shutter speed.
What shooting mode on the camera do you use (Auto, Av, Tv, P, M etc)?
Also, unless you're using Auto, which Auto Focus mode is your camera set to (One shot Focus, AI Focus, Al Servo). Lastly, for now
, which Auto (AF) Area Selection Mode are you in (Single-point, Zone, or 19 point Auto).
Is it possible to see one of the shots before cropping, just to get an idea of the size of crop you're doing?
West Coast Tasmania
Ohhhh, so sorry guys. I was waylaid while typing and.....you all posted about ISO in the meantime. Reflex, I would say to get of Auto for a start. Auto mode leaves all the focus point control to the camera....well it used to when I was a Canon girl, so that can have an impact on the sharpness of the image too.
I'd suggest shooting on TV or AV for starters, some more experienced than me may have other suggestions about that too. I shoot on either of those a lot of (read most), especially with the fast little birds.
West Coast Tasmania
Reflex, just looking at your O'Reilly's post from a few weeks ago, how I missed your post I don't know
, but there are beautifully sharp shots in there. Are you using a new/different lens by any chance? Sorry for the 20 questions, I'll stop in a minute, but how do you load your shots to BIBY - directly (by resizing your shot and loading through BIBY), or linking to an external host (like Photobucket of Flickr etc)?
West Coast Tasmania
I'm a little confused. Not sure if the question was about the photos as shot or about the quality of the resize/upload?
Thanks for all the advice folks. Much appreciated.
From what I can see I need to do the following:
I will have another go on Saturday or Sunday using the camera's functions as per your advice and hopefully post some clearer images.
Once again thanks for the advice.
Samford Valley Qld.
Just a few points on that reflex..... if you change to TV mode , that means you select the shutter speed and the camera selects an appropriate aperture not you. So say you want to shoot at 1250 and I personally think that is very high unless you are using the lens at full zoom or are after a bird in flight, the reason I say this is because it will limit your your light too much if shooting amongst foliage... once you choose 1/1250th the camera will then try to open up the aperture and when it reaches the maximum available it will give you a warning in most cases. This means that then you have to start dropping your shutter speeds down until you get an indication in the viewfinder that the exposure is good. A general rule of thumb used to be that 100th sec is needed for up to 100m, 200th for 200ml and so on, but I would add a bit to that for the difference between the old film cameras and the newer ones. So I would suggest never to go below 500th if possible in your case. I do find myself often using lower than that in order just to get the shot. But if you increase your ISO by one full step ... ie 100 to 200, or 200 to 400, 400 to 800. It is the same as lowering your shutter speed by one full stop or opening up your aperture by one full stop.
Most people agree that centre auto focusing point gives the most accurate result for birds..especially when they are amidst foliage.
Finally, the compression that email programs use for sending pics is generally pretty brutal. What program do you use for viewing your photos on your computer? It should have a way to resize in their. If you cannot find one try using Picasa, which is a free download from google, it has and export mode and you can change the settings in there.
Hope this serves to help and not confuse you
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Good advice Birdie,
I should clarify that the settings I mentioned earlier are for BIF minimum. Have fun experimenting.
Attempt #2.
Overcast day with periodic spells of good light when the clouds allowed the sun to shine through.
Same camera 70D with EF 300mm lens on auto focus.
ISO set at 800.
Shooting on TV with ss at 1250
Managed to lean against a strong post but still hand held.
Samford Valley Qld.
They look pretty good Reflex ... more even in the lighting and pretty sharp. Still need to ask you if these have been taken as a jpg or are you still taking them in Raw format and not editing?
Sunshine Coast Queensland
All taken in RAW and edited in Lightroom prior to posting. Have to tell you that this little bird and I have a significantly different relationship after to-day. I have had more eye to eye contact with her or him than anyone I have ever known (hope my wife is not reading this).
I took some more (read 100) shots later and downloaded them with the Canon software (not Lightroom) and I think my problem is with the way I am reducing the photos.
Samford Valley Qld.
Ahh so you know a little more than we thought then if you are editing with Lightroom ... yes it quite possibly is the way the compression was crucifying your image when uploading. I find Browns so difficult to even keep sight of as they jump around all over the show. very vocal little birds though ... good that your garden is enticing smaller birds... mine is run by the Little Wattlebirds completely
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Let's see what this one looks like...
Samford Valley Qld.
Good shot and even the little tongues is showing . Did you crop that one much Reflex? On the small one it looks ok but when it comes up on the pop out it looks pretty soft around the neck feathers. Looks like the flash has fired too by the light in the eye and on the twig in the foreground, which is always a bit annoying. Anyway seems to me you know a fair amount about processing and stuff so I don't wnat to be seen to be teaching you how to suck eggs. If you have any questions you can always PM me or others who have heaps more knowledge on the matter than me.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Yes cropped quite a lot actually. I hadn't noticed the tongue until you mentioned it. I've just started to use Lightroom after watching what my son can do with it. It's not all that user friendly in my opinion but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Thanks for the advice.
Samford Valley Qld.
3rd Attempt.
Same camera and lens.
SS 1/1250.
ISO set at 800.
Aperture priority set at f4.
Weather overcast and starting to rain.
But with a Tripod and I believe it has made a difference. These are all cropped but sharper than the first images and all in focus. Thoughts anyone?
Samford Valley Qld.
Just to chip in at the last minute, but I had a thought that might solve your problems.
Are you uploading directly to BiBy, and thus having to downsize to 500kb?
It made my photos look awful when I tried posting a couple of threads a few months ago, so you might have the same problem. Downsizing to 500kb creates an ok image, but doesn't provide the level of detail of larger files. I'm not 100% sure of the imagehost - BiBy pathway, as I don't use them, so I could be wrong. Have to wait for someone more informed to comment.
Trying again using a photo from my new flickr account.
IT WORKS!!!!!!!!
Samford Valley Qld.