Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos

[NikonUser]

After a dismal attempt at bird photography this morning I thought I'd go over some of my unprocessed shots...

Both taken with D70, 500 f4, Sb800

ISO800, 1/500. F8



ISO400, 1/400, F5


Comments Welcome

Paul

[avkomp]

nice shots.

the first one would have been a great pic if the OOF stuff on the RHS hadnt got in the way of the tail. am I seeing a bit of red eye??


Sweet light in #2. Nicely exposed. think it would have been even better if the cockatoo was facing the other way or even if the head turn was the other way.
Still, thats the fun thing about bird photography: they go where and when they want and sit how they want.

nicer than anything I currently have of these guys.

Steve

[mudder]

A 500F4, hooley dooley... I feel inadequate now

Must admit, the first thing that grabbed by eye was the bird's eyes, particularly in the second shot, as Steve mentioned is this a bit of red eye? How far from the subject were you?

The pose of the first is terrific, bugger about the greenery getting in your way, but them's the breaks with animal stuff huh...

Gee the second one seems sharp, from a compositional POV I much prefer the second, although the pose is nicer in the first, seems really well exposed too...

[NikonUser]

Thanks for the comments

The birds were probably 6-8 metres away at a guess. There were three of them in the same tree.

The greenery was a little dissapointing in the first shot... but like you said I can't choose where they land! Sometimes I wish I could fly these things by remote control so they go where I want them.

Went out again this afternoon searching for birds but had no luck at all. I think my recent aquisition of the 1.4x TC for the 500 means birds just stay 1.4x further away.

Paul