Coupla photos from me....

[Zeeke]

Taken with sigma 70-200 and better beamer

Comments welcome

Tim

[NikonUser]

G'day Tim,

I think these are a little busy for my tastes. Almost looks like you're poking the lens through a bunch of bushes/hedge to take the photos. Toomany twigs and other clutter in the way/near the bird.

That of course is just my humble opinion.

Having said that though I like the pose of the bird in the first shot (I think it reacted to your pre-flash!)

The second one is pretty good but you're a little too high above it... I like to be at eye level with the birds if at all possible. Also there's the twig infront of the tail (not too bad though).

The last one. Well I reckon this would be fantastic if it wasn't for the twigs and other clutter.

All three seem very sharp and pretty well exposed.
Keep 'em comming

Looks like you have a nice variety of birds where you are.

Paul

[Zeeke]

Yup Paul, im surrounded by scrub... plenty of birdlife. and where i take pics of them, is pretty swampy so i cant get good shots without twigs as much as i like.. Oneputt suggested i take to some branches with a pair of garden snips.. but ive been too lazy.. .. ill try and take some of ur tips on next time... not easy when im doing it handheld at times and cant get low enuf with a clean shot

Cheers for the comments

Tim

[mudder]

G'day mate,

I'm not a birder so I can't really offer any informed opinion, but like the pose you've caught the subject in, in image #1 although the bird seems to be looking out of the frame... #4 seems a really nice sharp, detailed shot...

Spose it's always hard with nature/wildlife subjects as they don't tend to sit in the most convenient locations huh...

[Steffen]

Oneputt suggested i take to some branches with a pair of garden snips..

Then again, there's probably a reason they sit in the thicket. If you clear out a photo stage, who knows whether they'll ever decend on the "twig of fame"...

I reckon, if you tone down the sharpening you may lose a little sharpness (duh!) but the background will recede into, err... the background, and the bird may pop out more. I often find that too much sharpening ruins the background blur and the 3-dimensionality. Subjects can start looking like cardboard cut-outs in front of a flat backdrop.

Your shots are fine though. I've tried this myself and know what you're up against.

Cheers
Steffen.

[shutterbug]

Very nice

1st one is my favorite.

[PiroStitch]

I think the 2nd one needs to be cropped a bit so that you get rid of the branches....and that is one helluva an evil bird!

Ditto about the comments about the branches being a distraction but nothign much you can do really unless you want to spend hours on end cloning them out.