some familiar rod

[s_wrx]

heh.. just when harlequin said the blue-throated bee eaters WERE the fav birds of may...

i present them now on 1st june! ;p

but first, i must thank both my sifus, especially PE for literally showing me the way... and Fred too! for teaching me all that i need to know..

however, i do apologise for the over-exposure in all of the pictures, been dabbling with the manual mode on my camera, hoping to put it to good use.. :embrass:

invitation for comments and criticisms please!

1. argh! miss the poop in this one! ;p

2. tracking my meal... hmm...

3. look ma! i've got a twig growing on my head!

 

[Garion]

Hey Mich! Very good attempts there! Well done! :thumbsup: I like the pose of the bee-eater in the 2nd pic.

Just some technical comments...maybe you could open up your aperture a bit more (i.e. lower f-stop value) to blur out the background more. I find it just a tad distracting. You got the exposure spot on though, and good composition. What was the equipment used btw? Just curious. Did Fred get his new "toy" yet? Or u are the one who got it. ;p

Thanks for sharing and do keep shooting!

 

[Falcon]

Nice shots. I like this kind of background. Not too distracting yet show a sense of environment. How near are you and what focal length did u use?

 

[Harlequin]

wow....whatever i quote people remember...heh heh....
good shots there !

 

[s_wrx]

Garion, Falcon and Harlequin, thanks for your comments!

my set up was simple.. just a dslr and a 300mm f4 with 1.4X TC...

Garion, thanks for your advice! but doing that will make you lose the details on the bird no? :think:

Falcon, not very near though... about 6-7 m or so.. focal length was ~420mm..

Harlequin, yeah you're a famous personality now with your pro equipment and birdie shots!

 

[Fred]

Just some technical comments...maybe you could open up your aperture a bit more (i.e. lower f-stop value) to blur out the background more. I find it just a tad distracting.

Just being kay poh ... opening up aperture may not always give you a blur background. You'll also loose DOF by opening up, hence have to find the balance.

 

[chngpe01]

Handheld or monopod? strong arms huh? ask Ah Boy time to buy you a tripod, wimberly flash bracket and a host of accessories liao. ;p .

My only comment is a tad contrasty and harsh. Pretty decent details and sharp(not the best though). How to improve? ask Ah Boy loh.

Considering the spartan equipment, this is good, but can do better (I am confident of that). Hope I am not too harsh, I believe it is good for the learning curve.

Cheers

 

[t_tsen]

Hi there,
s_wrx - i'm a newbie here, and i want very very much to shoot this beautiful bird. where do you go to shoot this? and at what time?

i've asked this qns here in clubsnap but no one answers, do you mind telling me where the location is?

Many thanks for reading.

Regards,
tsen

 

[Garion]

Garion, thanks for your advice! but doing that will make you lose the details on the bird no? :think:

Well it depends, as Fred had said, you have to find the right balance such that DOF is sufficient enough for the bird to be in focus, yet shallow enough so that distracting background elements can be blurred out sufficiently for the main subject to stand out.

One way to overcome this problem without having to 'open up' the aperture would be to try a variety of positioning with relation to the background, i.e. try to choose a background that has the least distractions in it, or one that has uniform colour to provide a clean backdrop. Quite challenging to do so in the field, and takes some practice and skill to do it.

 

[Harlequin]

Harlequin, yeah you're a famous personality now with your pro equipment and birdie shots!

Me not famous lah....just a regular nut case on the loose with camera gears.

 

[Crysania]

I like the background... looks like some chinese painting. =)

 

[skfoo]

Good try girl girl.

One thing about white in the background is they tend to draw attention away from the subject. Alternatively, move to another position for a cleaner or less distracting backgound and wait for the bird to land again.

If the lalang grass is too near to the bird, open up the aperture may not help in this situation but to use longer lens (or 2XTC) to reduce the DOF further. There is always the DOF button in front of the camera to check for DOF before the bird lands and to see how the background will appear in the final image.

Unless the shutter speed is very high, handheld 300mm+1.4TC is not recommended. A tripod is good but if you can't find one, use the sifu's (and might as well used his 500mm+1.4TC, wimberly head, wimberly flash bracket, Gitzo tripod etc etc).

In the field, we should try to reduce as much guess work as possible. DOF button, blinking highlight, histogram on the LCD screen are there to help us reduced guess work. That's why I believe digital SLR (with its 1.5X cropped factor) is a boom to nature photography.

 

[s_wrx]

a thank you to crysania for your comments!

chngpe01: cannot lah.. ah boy tell me to brush up my skills first.. nah, you're not harsh! as you said, it's really good that i get such advice during the learning process... how else can i learn from my sifu? spartan? NEVER... your lens was the best thing that ever happened to me! otherwise everything also sensor dust... ;p

t_tsen: really sorry.. but i'm not at any liberty to comment on the location.. thanks for your understanding!

Garion: yes, i agree.. it takes alot of practice and skill, in which i'm definitely lacking of... :sweat:

 

[s_wrx]

woah! thanks for all of your comments skfoo! it makes my catching up much easier to bear...

i don't have longer lens lah.. unless you don't mind sponsoring... kekek.. btw, was using a 300 f4.. a 2x tc will kill my chances in getting even shots like these...

wah... use sifu's? cannot lah.. the 300 already is his.. ;p i'm grateful as it is.. if use all of his equipment, it'll be pushing the line too far...