Mr. Cardinal feeds his wife in my yard

[Scott Stephen]

C&C welcome!

I was pretty stoked about catching these 3 shots. It was right before I left for work this morning, so I had the "golden hour" lighting in my favor. This is a domestic couple of Cardinals I see sometimes, but rarely together, and rarely for long enough to GRAB THE CAMERA!

[Scott Stephen]

They are very fidgety so I have to use a high shutter speed even when they are just sitting there. Because it was morning, and this is a bit in the shade, I had to use f/2.8, so DOF was thin. I have learned to use manual focus instead of auto because you only get a few seconds, and if the bird moves a hair, the AF often loses focus, and while it "hunts" the birds are looooong gone!

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Scott,

I was going to suggest a narrower aperture, faster shutter speed and higher iso - until I read your post and saw the EXIF data: 1/1250s and iso 1000 (at f/2.8 or f/3.2)

Yes, it's a shame the DoF is so thin.

My feeders tend to be in shade too, if I put them where the sun is, they'll be way too close to a busy background, sometimes you just can't win

The first looks a little pale on the red ones darker plummage, might be worth some selective Local Contrast Enhancement on him/her (sorry, I don't know which is which)

Cheers,

[Scott Stephen]

Thanks Dave. I'll try a little post-production work on the first one.

The shade on those feeders lasts most of the day. The only time there is direct sun, the birds are kind of backlit.

I have a hummingbird feeder too, but it is really really tricky to shoot those guys, because to freeze those super-fast wings you need a whole lot of shutter speed. I still don't have a good one for them yet, but I am trying!

[jeeperman]

Petty birds and a great moment you captured. I was right there with Dave and surprised by the EXIF data.

I placed my feeders where they would get a little sun but am never home to see the visitors. lol

For your hummingbirds the shutter speed you where useing should do a fairly good job as its ok to have a bit of blur to the wings, although I can see where you my have a time focussing. Keep at it, you will catch them.

[Scott Stephen]

I just recently got the 70-200 lens, and I am really loving it. Very sharp and bright, though obviously a little bulky. The one thing I am finding is that 200mm is not really all that long, even on my 1.6 crop. Apparently a lot of people think so too, because when you look at B&H website on the 1.4 teleonverter, you will see that (no kidding) over half the customers reviewing the TC say they have the 70-200 lens.
I may need to pick a 1.4 TC soon, especially for the hummingbirds!

[jeeperman]

Scott, I use a 70-400 and believe me, when shooting birds it is still not very long.

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks Dave. I'll try a little post-production work on the first one.

Hi Scott,

You might be interested in my P52 post today, it (quite coincidentally) deals with PP for bird feeder pics.

I'd like/love a 70-200/2.8 (for the bright aperture), but with an 18-200 and a 70-300 already in my bag, it is a difficult and expensive purchase to justify. I'd be better served for the bidies, by a Sigma 150-500mm.

Cheers,