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Bird Watchers

ggiese said:
I wonder what you're doing/not doing...

I have had to learn how to steady the camera to keep from creating blurred images. I have a Monfrotto tripod with a Neewer Gimbal Head - and the combo of the two makes a pretty solid platform to steady the shots. I also always shoot in manual mode so that I can better adjust the settings to lock in the best possible image that reaches the sensor. Too light and especially too dark and it really does significantly impact the final picture.

Also - post-processing is huge (I'd say better than 50% of the final product). I'm using the latest version of Lightroom, which gives me a lot of ability to lightly tweak the image in a lot of different ways - especially in cropping and clarity by removing a good portion of aberrations and noise. (I've been studying techniques of Ansel Adams - the master of post-processing).
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Angel Adams, now There is a man.
 
For those curious, here’s the setup - Nikon D800 (full frame) on the left, Canon 70D (crop sensor) on the right. Im using the 200-500 f5.6E on the Nikon, and the 50-250mm VR lens on the Canon. Both are on Monfrotto Befree tripods. The Canon is on a Monfrotto ball head, while the Nikon is on a Neewer Gimbal Head. Both do a great job of keeping the camera stable while shooting. I had to modify the Neewer head a tad - it ships with a very sticky grease - based on YouTube videos I disassembled it, cleaned it thoroughly and applied a clear silicone grease instead. It’s much smoother now.

Not really endorsing anything (other than to say use quality equipment), but these setups are working very well for me. And nearly all of it was purchased at a fraction of retail by carefully researching and watching auction sites (Just recently purchased two 70D bodies in very good condition off of Everything But The House - EBTH.com for $150 each). Hope it helps.

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thinde said:
They usually travel in large flocks and have no problem wiping out any feeder they happen upon. I cringe when I realize they're back.......
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So far only 5 come by daily - but I expect those numbers to climb as we inch nearer to spring. Seems they start to heavily flock at that time... :mad:
 
Starlings are year round here, right now it's almost all Sparrows and Starlings and a few Grackles. One welcome addition seems to be year round Cardinals. I don't remember ever seeing a Cardinal when I was a kid, then a few years ago they started showing up in the spring, now they are still around into January. Saw more than one each male and female over the weekend, hope they move in for good.
 
ChuckJr said:
Starlings are year round here, right now it's almost all Sparrows and Starlings and a few Grackles. One welcome addition seems to be year round Cardinals. I don't remember ever seeing a Cardinal when I was a kid, then a few years ago they started showing up in the spring, now they are still around into January. Saw more than one each male and female over the weekend, hope they move in for good.
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Where is "round here"?
 
Testing out a new lens I picked up this week on my Canon 70D (100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM). Despite it being a fairly windy day when I took these shots - a little soft, but so far so good! At least I've really cut back on the amount of Chromatic Aberration!

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