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Went for a wander down the back this afternoon, 70-200 with 2x tc and sb800 with better beamer (warning, better beamers have a habit of making your sb800 smoke and smell like burnt plastic if accidently aimed at the sun.. even for less then a second!! my sb800 now has a track line right across the front where it says NIKON)

Anyways... found the birds.. unfortunately they wouldnt get out in the open.. first pic i captured it as it was taking off, unfortunately the bird isnt sharp, but the water droplets behind it are..

Next couple are the same bird.. it just wouldnt come out in the open... very frustrating







And here's one from a few days ago... sorry theres noise.. no flash used and extreme lowlight



Comments welcome, im sorry they are crap

Tim

Welcome to my frustrating world!!

Happens to me EVERY time I go out.

A tip for the BB: Take the lens off the front when you're walking around and not shooting (unless of course you need to be ready for action quick). I am always very aware of where the sun is and where my BB is pointed if it's mounted on the flash.

The last pic is quite nice in composition. I don't find the noise at all objectionable.... however the lack of details on his breast is what bothers me. Nice looking bird though.

Keep trying, eventually the birds will co-operate... maybe....

Paul

Tim - there just seems to be days when things don't go right!

I think we all have crap photo days, just most of us aren't brave enough to show them!

You may be able to save the last one from the noise - have you tried doing a lasso select of the in-focus areas, feather the selection, create a new layer via copy, deselect visibility of the new layer, gaussian blur the background by a very small amount, re-enable the copied layer visibility?

The noise doesn't seem to obvious in the in focus areas, mainly just he background. Might be worth a try.

NikonUser wrote:
A tip for the BB: Take the lens off the front when you're walking around and not shooting (unless of course you need to be ready for action quick). I am always very aware of where the sun is and where my BB is pointed if it's mounted on the flash.

I've never used one of these, but as I understand it they're a fresnel lens at the end of some extension arms. Could you cut a flap of black plastic cardboard attached with a hinge of say black tape at the side? You could then fold it back around when you needed to use it, and when it's covering the fresnel lens it should prevent highly focussed light from reaching the flash head.

Could be a crap idea, in fact... probably is

daniel_r wrote:

NikonUser wrote:
A tip for the BB: Take the lens off the front when you're walking around and not shooting (unless of course you need to be ready for action quick). I am always very aware of where the sun is and where my BB is pointed if it's mounted on the flash.

I've never used one of these, but as I understand it they're a fresnel lens at the end of some extension arms. Could you cut a flap of black plastic cardboard attached with a hinge of say black tape at the side? You could then fold it back around when you needed to use it, and when it's covering the fresnel lens it should prevent highly focussed light from reaching the flash head.

Could be a crap idea, in fact... probably is

That could actually work quite well if done properly!

If it was secured well enough at the hinge and you could use velcro or some such thing on the side of one of the arms to secure it when 'open'

they dont call them better burners for nothing.
plenty of flash heads been burned over the years. (not me though. been lucky) I have been mindful of not pointing towards the sun.
having said that, it can also burn the lens hood if you get the sun behind you at the right angle. my 80-400 hood carries the scars.

I try to take the fresnel lens off when walking around and keeping it in its cover and in a pocket.

Steve

avkomp wrote:they dont call them better burners for nothing.
plenty of flash heads been burned over the years. (not me though. been lucky) I have been mindful of not pointing towards the sun.
having said that, it can also burn the lens hood if you get the sun behind you at the right angle. my 80-400 hood carries the scars.

I try to take the fresnel lens off when walking around and keeping it in its cover and in a pocket.

Steve

They should put a flipping mechanism on the fresnel lens so you lower it whenever you need it and flip it up when walking around...

I now know this can be a good camping tool to start a fire

Yeah, i unfortunately keep the lens on all the time, mainly because where i take my bird photos is behind my house, so I just carry monopod, camera and flash setup.. alot of the birds are pretty flighty so i dont have time to setup quickly before they take off.. its not like I sit down in 1 spot for a few hours and hope something comes by, I just do it for an arvo walk

ahh well, my sb800 has battle scars.... thanks for the comments guys

Tim

Hey Tim - bloody good try in 'trying' circumstances I reckon !!!!! I'm useless at bird photos, so know how frustrating it really is! I actually really like the last shot- almost has as arty feel to it, so the fact that it isn't totally in focus doesn't bug me that much.....
keep it up munchkin
hugs
Rel