my first new holland honeyeater

[avkomp]

I went out to photograph these guys today and other than this shot didnt have much luck.

I quite like the exposure on the bird but unsure of whether the whole shot works because the background is quite busy. opinions??

I would have liked more room at the tail but this is full frame except for a little cropped off the right.
he wouldnt land where I had the tripod set up and this is a little closer than I was planning on.

Steve

[NJ]

looks great to me!
its so sharp and the exposure is spot on!

[Big V]

Steve, this is a nice shot and dont worry about the background, because that is where the bird was. I do not find the branches distracting due to the yellow in the bird drawing your eye up to its eye...

[Oneputt]

To hell with the background, I like this. The expression in the eye of the bird is priceless.

[avkomp]

The expression in the eye of the bird is priceless.

not sure what you mean here?

Steve

[BBJ]

WOW Steve damn thats a nice picture of a birdy. Background is ok as well the bird make it stands out so i would leave it and yeh great bloody shot.

[ABG]

That is one sharp as a tack image Steve. Why not work on the background in PP? Just don't ask me how. Or has theenergypolice scared you off this path?

[Oneputt]

Steve I meant that the bird looks shocked. The eye is so sharp.

[avkomp]

oneputt:
you often see them jump when the flash goes off. sometimes you only get one shot off before they fly away.

I guess the sb-800 has high WTF? value to animals.

Steve

[Oneputt]

I think that the WTF is probably right

[gstark]

Steve,

I'd leave the background as it is; it's just fine, and furthermore, the feel it has, with the basically parrallel lines, I think helps this image.

[NikonUser]

Great shot!!

I know how jumpy these guys can be! This one is nice and sharp and the DOF is great.

I personally find the background a little distracting... If you had that pose without all the clutter it would be almost perfect (except for the space around the tail as you mentioned)

Paul

[kipper]

Steve, I don't think the background complements the bird that well. I'd be looking to get the shot with more greens/yellows/browns and of course OOF with just the perch that the bird is sitting on tack sharp. But that is just me.

[NikonUser]

May I ask for some camera settings? EXIF seems to be stripped?

Paul

[avkomp]

Steve, I don't think the background complements the bird that well. I'd be looking to get the shot with more greens/yellows/browns and of course OOF with just the perch that the bird is sitting on tack sharp. But that is just me.

I felt the same also. I tried, but they wouldnt go where I wanted/needed them to go.
I plan to return and see if I can find a spot where they might cooperate.

the exif has been stripped because I use an action for the border which pastes the original into a new image. hence no exif

80-400mm @ 400mm
1/60 sec, f/16
Mode: Av
Metering: Center-weighted average
ISO: 200
AF mode: AF-S
White balance: SUNNY
Flash: NORMAL ttl @-2EV
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: NONE
Contrast: Normal

I made this shot worse by using f16. normally try to keep around f8 so the backgrounds are well OOF. Still not sure how it moved and why I didnt notice. luckily VR saved this shot for me (note that it was handheld @ 1/60th and 400mm.) corrected fstop after this shot though

I had the tripod setup where I hoped and this guy landed to the left of where I needed, a swing to the left wouldnt give me a shot so I took the cam off the tripod and moved left for the shot.



Steve

[kipper]

Yeah, it'd be really nice to get this bird on a background that had some peach/orange colors in it?

Also I think the shot is a bit too tight, it needs room to the left/bottom aswell as even more room for the bird to look into. The angle is also a bit steep.

[greencardigan]

handheld @ 1/60th and 400mm

Crikey!
Excuse me while I drool on the keyboard.

Now I just have to wait for that tax check.

[avkomp]

angle is also a bit steep.

not sure why it looks like that,
I believe it was just above eye level ( a foot or so.)

Is tight in the frame for the reasons already mentioned. much closer than planned, no time to rezoom. was going to crop as portrait only but didnt look right with the background.

want a cleaner background but this is my very first shutter press on one of these.

[Finch]

Nice shot, Steve.

A bit tight and I agree that it would have been nice to have all of tail in shot, but overall a nice shot. Nice colours, very sharp and the sticks in background are not distrurbing to me at all, especially since they all face the same direction.

Well captured shot of a bird that is difficult to photograph.

Cheers

Michael