Some small birds...

[Otavio]

Hi. Just got my Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro. Did some bird shots this morning and decided to share them with you. It is my first set of pictures with this new lens. The original intention was to shot some seagulls or frigates during flight, but they decided not showing themselves up this morning, so I saw some small birds and thought "Why not??". Thanks for viewing and C&C welcomed, as always...Cheers!

1 - A Sparrow


2 - A young cattle tyrant


3 - Cattle tyrant


4 - Masked water tyrant


5 - Masked water tyrant


6 - Cattle tyrant


7 - A Golden-chevroned Tanager


8 - Mr and Mrs Saffron Finch!


9 - Cattle tyrant

[Bobobird]

Otavio - good to see you get into birds. They will be a challenging, frustrating but enjoyable pursuit.

Nice set of first shots - 2 observations

Be careful about blowing the sky or whites on the birds.
The bright borders are pulling attention away from the birds.

[Otavio]

Hi Bobo. Yes, lately I have been shooting many subjects other than birds (even collapsed bridges!) with D5100 due to the lack of lens long enough for birds. Actually I did post some bird threads in the past, but using the Kodak Z990. I think this 70-300mm will give me more bird opportunities from now on (I hope so )

Thanks for your feedback!

[Panama Hat & Camera]

Otavio,
First, congratulations on your new Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro. It is a very good lens.
The pictures are good, but I would expect a bit more of a DSLR with a 300mm lens (450 mm FFE). It looks like the weather was cloudy and this caused a contrast attenuation, with colours a little washed and images no much sharpened.
Anyway, the photos are much better than I could do with my superzoom cameras under similar conditions.
Thanks for sharing.
Antonio.

[LeoLeo]

Hi Otavio,

But only #6, #3 and #2 are working for me, in this sequence. Even so, there is a slightly lack of focus in them, or a bit of lack post process, maybe both.

Try to avoid similar tones (#7 and #5) or so much "aggresive background" (#4, in this one focus looks on branches not on bird)

But you have a new toy, and you should put it to work , and give us more colours, at lest to me ... while I can shoot only pirates...err I mean Sparrows this time of year, mostly.

As my personal observation, don't use UV filters when you shoot towards sun, or a very bright area, tempt to over expose background.

"fly Robin, fly", and thanks for posting,
Leo

[Otavio]

Thanks Antônio and Leo, for watching and commenting. Regards.

[Panama Hat & Camera]

Otavio,
I have no doubt that your new lens is very good. I think the light has not helped in some of them. Pictures 1, 2, 3 and 6 are the best. Photos 4, 5, 7 and 8 were hampered by long distance (photo 5 also by the background). The photo 9 had everything to look like the photos 2, 3 and 6, but is not so sharp as the others.
Antonio.

[Otavio]

Antônio,

I fully agree with your analisis. Birds on 4,5,7 and 8 were really too far, even for the 300mm (450 FFE). Besides being far, they are too small!!

Regards...