MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Hello,

This is my first post in this section. Don't know why it took me so long to figure out I should be posting here. Shot this with my Nikon D5200 and Tamron 150-600 a couple of years ago on a beach where I live.

Thanks to David Graham here on the Hog, I found out about Photogene, an editing app for the iPad. That's what i used for the PP on this image. This was my first attempt at any PP other than what was available on the Photos on my iPad - very basic!

Thoughts and suggestions welcome - well, maybe! Seriously, BIF are some of my favorite subjects and I do want to learn.

(Download)

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Mike, Welcome to the BIF/BOW section. Pretty pretty darn good for a first post!!!! Oyster catchers are pretty common along the southern Jersey shore. What aperture did you use for this shot? Remember, DOF is limited with these long lenses. In this case the camera seems to have focussed on the near wing leaving the eye just slightly out of focus. a little more DOF would have helped. i often use f/8 as that seems to be enough at the distance we are usually shooting BIF's,

Ed

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Thanks so much for the encouraging words, Ed. I was hoping you would chime in on this for me.

I didn't notice the DoF/focus issue until you called it to my attention. According to the EXIF, I shot this using SS priority:
1/3,200 sec
f 6.3 (therein lies my problem!) - that plus I probably could not hold focus on his eye -I normally use spot focus
ISO 720
600mm (35mm = 900mm equivalent)
can't tell from the exif if I used Auto WB - probably NOT
Exposure Bias is listed as -.666666666, so I must have use an EC of -.7

Recently, I have started using Manual at around 1/2,500 sec w/an f stop of 8 or 11 and Auto ISO. That way, I can switch quickly between a bird just sitting quietly and one that suddenly comes into view flying. Still working on the EC for those shots. The last couple of weeks, I have been shooting in an area with 4 species of birds nesting together - black-crowned and yellow-crowned night herons, great or snowy egrets, and glossy ibis. Now there's a hair-puller situation! Oh, and I shoot hand-held, and am now shooting mostly with my D7200. If they had announced the D500 a bit earlier, I would have probably gotten that instead. For now, I am married to my 7200.

Any pointers you can give me on that mess will be very much appreciated and mean I don't need Rogaine!

Thanks again,
"Mike"

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

Good shot Mike. You really nailed him.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Thank you. That bugger was really low - almost did not see him in time

Madman Loc: Gulf Coast, Florida USA

Pretty good, I'd say! You have every reason to be proud of this photo.

I would suggest, as others have, increasing depth of field to get both wingtips sharper in focus. However, some motion blur of those wingtip to show action is acceptable also. If possible, a bit more noise reduction would be okay also.

Keep up the great work and the sharing.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Thanks for your comments. I have beenchanging my approach to shooting BIF. in the past, I would use SS mode and set my speed based on the birds I was shooting. Of course, when I cranked up my SS, the camera adjusted f stop and ISO. Thanks to one of Steve Perry's youtube videos, I have very recently started to set my SS and f stop and set for Auto ISO. That has been working out much better. The OC shot I posted was taken about 2 years ago long before I started to figure it all out.

Question - when you suggested a bit more noise reduction were you referring to PP? That (PP) is something I have only started to do in the last couple of days. A work in progress - that's me!

Fotoserj Loc: St calixte Qc Ca

Spent a full afternoon in Corpus Christi in 015 and located a single one wich a bypasser scared away from us before we could setup

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

We have loads of them here. I'm attaching a portrait of a mom with 2 chicks to hopefully put a smile on your face.

MTG44 Loc: Corryton, Tennessee

Very good!

Madman Loc: Gulf Coast, Florida USA

To reply to your question first, noise reduction can be done internally by the camera or externally by your editing software in the computer. I don't know about your specific camera, but on my Nikon D7100 the selection is in the Shooting Menu. Others on this site have disagreed with me, but I leave the High ISO Noise Reduction set to High at all times. I see no problem doing that because it only operates when necessary. If that is insufficient, I use the noise reduction included in Fastone Image Viewer.

I don't disagree with most of your shooting technique. I do not like using the Auto ISO except in rare instances. I find it likes to go all the way to the max that you have set far too quickly and often. Lately, I have been using ISO 500 for bird shots in daylight but I may raise that to 1000 for birds in flight, especially the smaller, faster birds. I use the higher ISOs because of weakness in my shoulders that makes it difficult to hold the camera with the 150-600mm lens in position for more that a few seconds. By the way, I treat all birds as birds in flight because they can transition from perched to full speed flight faster than I can blink (or change settings). I try to keep shutter speed to about 1/1000sec, aperture to f8 - f11. I shoot a lot of large birds (eagles) so a fairly large depth of field is required to keep the entire bird sharp. An added benefit, is it makes focusing less critical. I will use single spot continuous focus on a perched bird, 21 point on a flying bird.

Hope this helps you.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Thanks for that detailed response. It has helped a lot.

Funny you said you treat all birds as BIF. That's what I have started doing only very recently. I was losing too many shots because the feather dusters would just take off on me. One second they would be posing nicely for me and then POOF! off they would go. Hence the reason for my adoption of Steve Perry's technique of using setting the SS for a BIF and an appropriate aperture andletting the camera decide on the ISO (auto ISO) about a week ago. My big problem with shooting on straight SS mode was that the camera just did not get the DoF right. I'd have 2 medium size birds a couple of feet apart - one a bit more forward than the other - and one would be spot on in focus and the other would be nauseatingly OOF. Switching between aperture and SS caused too many lost shots. Then I revisited Steve Perry's suggestion and decided to try it out. So far, it has made a big difference. A review and comparison of the EXIF data on the shots I took 2 weeks ago and the ones I took since I adopted Steve's suggestion were very telling. It was interesting to note that the ISOs remained fairly low even when I set my SS at 1/2500 with an f stop of 8 or 11. I was VERY surprised at the ISOs the camera chose.Steve's idea made a big difference in resolving my DoF problem. Because the lighting conditions are constantly changing, I use auto WB when shooting at this particular location. Normally, I set the WB myself.

Interesting to hear your take on focus points when shooting birds. I also use single point on sitting birds, but 9 point on BIF. I'll try changing to 21 point this AM. I also find that matrix metering works pretty well with most of my subjects at this particular location. Also, thanks for the tip/reminder on the in camera noise reduction for my D7200.I'll take a look at my setting before I start shooting today. Seems to me I have it set at "normal". I have no idea if my D5200 has that feature. I shot the OC with the D5200 long before I had the D7200.

I am now shooting mostly with a D7200 with the Tamron 150-600. Sometimes I whip out the D5200 with the 80-400 on it. I tend not to change lenses in the field, so this seems to work best for me. Features very similar to your D7100. In a few minutes I head out for my morning visit with "my birds". It looks as though it will be fairly bright so I'll try stopping down to f11 or a bit smaller. My bird subjects at the one location are glossy ibis, yellow-crowned and black-crowned night herons, as well as the newest tenants of the rookery - the great egret. They are all nesting rather close together. That's the bad news. The good news is that the situation affords me great opportunities to test and refine my shooting techniques. Oh, just to complicate things a teensy bit more are the occassional visits from the Forster terns - in flight, of course.

Fortunately, I am able to handhold the D700 with the 150-600 for decent periods of time without too much discomfort. Of course, my shoulders do complain a bit when I get back home.

Thanks again,
"Mike"

Fotoserj Loc: St calixte Qc Ca

Sure does thanks