Comments

1. Nightjar says

   January 2, 2019 at 12:06 pm

   I think I already told you the story of the goldcrest that landed on a perch so close to me the 150-500mm lens couldn’t focus. It stood there longer than a goldcrest usually does, long enough to point, focus and shoot, but of course not long enough to step back. Proof that birds know not only the focal length of your lens but they also have a concept of the minimum focusing distance you are working with…

2. kestrel says

   January 2, 2019 at 1:04 pm

   That first one is fantastic, nice work. I can so relate to these types of photos, as mine are nearly all like this. Or if they are not like these, they are one of those, “You see this tiny speck here, that looks like there was dust on the lens? That’s a condor.” types.

3. Jazzlet says

   January 2, 2019 at 1:24 pm

   The first one is great, but several of the others are really good at showing the bird doing things in it’s habitat, I think you are being too hard on yourself. They are not the classic ‘ID’ photo, but they show the bird’s characteristic behaviours, which is pretty cool.

4. Anne, Cranky Cat Lady says

   January 2, 2019 at 2:06 pm

   I’m impressed. Kinglets are skittish little birds!

5. Marcus Ranum says

   January 2, 2019 at 2:43 pm

   the birb is round
   and has a short back
   my feline fren
   says it looks like snacc

6. Ice Swimmer says

   January 3, 2019 at 12:50 am

   These little, almost egg-shaped bundles of feathers and skittishness are called hippiäinen in Finnish. I think the name is a reference to their small size, for example hippu is a small thing, though that word mostly means gold nugget (kultahippu) and hippunen is one way of saying a little bit of something.

   I also like the first one. The (auto)focus problems are so familiar for me as well, but still there are pictures that “work”. At least they give a hint that the bird was far from stationary.

7. rq says

   January 3, 2019 at 3:11 am

   Mm, nuggets!
   That bird is definitely mooning you, though. A lot. You got the ornithological middle finger again (not rare). :D

8. Giliell says

   January 3, 2019 at 3:57 am

   Nightjar
   I did have that problem yesterday in an even more “creative” way. For faster focus the lens can be switched to 3.5-10m, 10m to infinity, and “full”. Apparently I had switched it to 10m to infinity while carrying it (I carry it under my arm, it’s too heavy to carry around the neck alone) and the bird was much closer…

   rq
   Yeah, but what would be the joy of the “hunt” if your “prey” just held still?

9. DavidinOz says

   January 3, 2019 at 3:59 am

   Nice pic, just needs a touch of post to reveal all. Are you shooting RAW?

10. Giliell says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:40 am

    David
    I do, but i admit that I have zero ideas about what to do with it.
    For years there was a “digital photography class” here at the “people#s university” and I didn’t have time. Now that I have it’s gone.

11. Nightjar says

    January 3, 2019 at 9:57 am

    Giliell,
    My lens doesn’t have that faster focus feature. I’m sure if it did something like that would have happened to me by now.
    Oh, if you have that first photo in RAW format save it for when you have some time to figure out what to do with it, because you probably have a much better result than you think you do. Which editing software do you use (if any)?

12. DavidinOz says

    January 3, 2019 at 3:50 pm

    Shooting RAW is a little like then old days of film. The camera captures what it “sees” but does no processing at all. You need to adjust the photo to your liking using some sort of processing software. I use ON1 Photo RAW because it is incredibly comprehensive, comes with a bucket load of presets, textures, filters, etc. For an additional fee I became an ON1 Plus member which gives me all the upgrades, heaps and heaps of training videos, a whole host more presets, filters, etc.

    You can get a 30 Day free trial to test it out. https://www.on1.com/

    The alternative is to shoot in JPEG where the camera does some basic processing for you, but you lose some detail.

13. Giliell says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:58 pm

    I actually shoot both simultaneously.
    I learned photography “at the pike”, so I mostly still work with adjusting shutter width, time and Iso.
    Thanks for the software recommendation. I’ll take a look at it when I habe the time to actually make use of it.