Bird portrait

Have been unable to do much for a while, during which time I've splashed out on a DA*300mm to go with my K7. Still getting used to it, so here are a few simple ones to begin with.

dunnock 1
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/dunnock-1.jpg[/IMG]

dunnock 2
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/dunnock-2.jpg[/IMG]

great tit 1
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/greattit1.jpg[/IMG]

great tit 2
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/greattit2.jpg[/IMG]

Looking at these I would hazzard a guess that apart from cropping & re-sizing they are straight from the camera with little or no post processing: I think a bit of tweaking to the levels and perhaps a tad of sharpening would bring them to life.

Do you ever get down to Fairburn Vern? there are a couple of spots there where with the right light you could really make that lens sing. Drop me a PM if your interested in meeting up down there.

Not a bad start but you are going to love that DA*300 - fabulous lense !

You're right, Spider, straight from the camera. I'll see what I can do with them, but I was pretty impressed with how they came out. I've a few flight shots to come. I'm happy to read any constructive comments - I've a thick skin and am aware most of you know a heck of a lot more about photography than I do! I was at Fairburn last Sunday hoping for a good kingfisher shot. Had good views for a while but it never came close enough for a clear shot. I'd be happy to meet up sometime.

Frogfish, any tips on the lens would be gratefully received! Impressions so far suggest fantastic in good light but struggles a bit to focus when the subject doesn't stand out clearly. Then again that could just be me not knowing how to use it properly yet! I'll post one or two shots to show what I mean.

Mallard flight shots - again, v little pp and good light.
1
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/mallardinflightBS.jpg[/IMG]

2
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/mallard5crop.jpg[/IMG]

3
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/mallard6crop.jpg[/IMG]

4
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/mallard2.jpg[/IMG]

5
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/mallard4.jpg[/IMG]

This should have been placed in the joke thread
You need more than luck to get them close enough to even consider pointing a 500mm lens at them, divine intervention may help if your on speaking terms with the almighty

Heres one of my DIRE efforts with a 500mm and some HEAVY cropping.

PS; drop me a PM the next time your thinking of going down.

Hi Vern.

Firstly I see you are using the K7. I love mine and take them both out (K7 & K5) when I go birding - however I keep the *300 on the K5 as you want the shutter speed as fast as possible to freeze fast wing beats (which is where the high ISO ability of the K5 comes into play), and Mallards are very fast !

On the K5 I use TAv mode as this allows you to set both the shutter speed AND the aperture you want though on the K7 I may use Tv mode since if you lock focus the aperture doesn't matter if your shutter-speed is too slow ... it will be blurred anyway from subject movement. Just make sure to set your maximum ISO values through the menu first.

In those shots above it seems you were using AV mode which selected 1/1,000 for the Mallard shot I checked. Too slow. For BIF I shoot at least 1/1,500 and preferably 1/2.000 (though a little slower is OK for slower wing-beat birds) usually f8 though that will come down to even f4 as the light fades, and for the K7 ISO's up to 800 (you could stretch to 1,600) max, on the K5 up to 5,000.

Give it a try ... hope it works for you !

They seem to have radar and usually I can't get closer than 30-40 yds but for this one I did get within 20 yds (taken with 55-300 - wish I had had the *300 at that time)

Here are the dunnocks after a bit of tweaking. Don't know if it's too much, too little or just right! What do you think?
1
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/dunnock-1a.jpg[/IMG]

2
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/dunnock-2a.jpg[/IMG]

The bird looks sharper in the tweaked pics but the background has gone a bit noisy, which I find often happens after sharpening a picture with an OOF or single colour background, especially after some noise reduction. Two ways round this are to either sharpen the picture on a duplicate layer, than erase the background from that layer, so the original background shows through, or apply noise reduction to another layer after sharpening, and erase the bird from that layer the so the original layer with the sharpened bird shows through.

I really like the second mallard in flight shot, though perhaps could also do with a tweak?

Thanks for that - I thought the same about the background, but wasn't sure how to cure it. Haven't done much with layers, so will have a go - all part of the learning curve!

I like the Dunnock shots a lot

If you have shot these in raw then adobe camera raw (acr) would solve your noise issue if you have it, neat image is free for the demo version - and if you have pse4 onwards (I am not sure if earlier versions did this) you can open a jpeg in acr in the open as option

Nice lens

Here are three I took using Frogfish's tips about settings. I think I should have turned down the ISO a bit in the sun, but adjusted it after. The avocet doesn't have quite enough depth of field, I think, but I'm really pleased with the second gull.

avocet
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/avocet3ad2.jpg[/IMG]

black-headed gull 1
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/black-headedgull1ad.jpg[/IMG]

and 2
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/black-headedgull2ad.jpg[/IMG]

Being honest,using the DA*300,they should really be sharper straight out of the camera!.There are hints of it's capabilities in the second mallard shot,am I right in thinking you were shooting at F5.6 or there abouts?......with a little more depth of field this would have been a very good shot!.....good luck with the stunning "300".....Ken

[IMG]http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af43/kenp6/IMGP8925.jpg[/IMG]

bullfinch...no sharpening!

[IMG]http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af43/kenp6/IMGP8925-1.jpg[/IMG]

Uncropped version!