lynng Loc: Marietta Ga.

I'm getting better with the forum members help.
I shot this in sports mode with manual focus through a window. fifty feet from subject.

Two birds. One checking the other one out.

ggiaphotos Loc: Iowa

Good capture, guess you gotta make sure the other one doesn't get too much food

lynng Loc: Marietta Ga.

I have to get a better lens than the 200mm on my 60D.
This is a tough capture. Thank you.

lynng Loc: Marietta Ga.

that was the reason that i posted. I thought it was cute.
My FB friends don't appreciate the work without a professional camera & lens. this can be habit forming.
my wife is already wondering what I do for hours at a time

ggiaphotos Loc: Iowa

Ya, it comes with bigger and bigger wish lists. The more you do, the more you want to do, the more equipment you want, the it starts all over again. Enjoy

llindstrand Loc: Seattle Metro

I like your image and it is done quite well considering the distance. Also I did a little PP on it and have some comments to improve if you are interested. Thanks for posting. They are some birds we don't see in this part of the country.
Swede

lynng Loc: Marietta Ga.

Yes, Always interested! My problem is the having to use all of the 200mm. I'm croping a finger nail out of the total shot.

lynng Loc: Marietta Ga.

Also, what is PP? I am new here.

jk48 Loc: Camarillo, California

I know how hard birds are...I have been working at it for two years..let me just say I appreciate the shot..

but, I have learned by asking a wonderful bird photographer who knows what to do..

Sharp eye, sharp beak..sometimes it takes a tripod, a long lens and alot of patience on your part..

Birds are hard..even feeder birds..and through a window even tougher...you lose sharp eye, sharp beak..aim your viewer so that it is focused at the head of at least one bird..you won't always get them both..but one sharp one does the trick..

llindstrand Loc: Seattle Metro

That might be part of the problem. I didn't know you were cropping that much. You also have quite a bit of digital noise part of it can come from the above. Also it depends on what your camera settings are especially the ISO. If it is too high you will get a lot of noise. I try to shoot everything in the ISO 100 or 200 range. After 400 the pictures get noisy or grainy.

On your picture, I edited it in Photoshop with the tab to decrease shadows and increase highlights. That clears up the picture considerably. I then brightened it up slightly and cleaned up as much noise as possible. Here are the results.If you have any more questions I will be happy to answer them.

When I posted the image first, it came out darker than on my monitor. I brightened it up a little more and re-posted. I think that looks better.
Swede

lynng Loc: Marietta Ga.

The dark issue was my fault. Picasa edit looked closer to you'rs. I like what you did with it. To take an 18 meg raw shot & immediatly crop to between 500KB & 1mg. THEN start to edit it. Any thoughts on a 28 to 400mm zoom?
This would reduce the major cropping. I bought it at Costco & can return it(Canon 60D with EFS 18-200MM 1:.3.5/5.6)
Any thoughts on the 60D? Do you know anything about the new model that just came out?
Thanks for your edit & suggestions.

llindstrand Loc: Seattle Metro

I have used a Canon 50D for about three years now and really like it. I have a EFS 70 to 300 lens that and an EFS 17-85. I always had the wrong lens in the camera. So when they came out with the 18 to 200 this year, I purchased it and have basically retired the other two lenses. The only problem with the lens is that it has some creep that one has to watch for. All my recent pictures that I have posted are taken with it. I also have an EFS60 macro lens which I use periodically. However, I am not a fan of partial flower images that one takes with it and for me, I would not put it on a priority list. Some others who like that kind of picture like it, so you have to be your own judge.

The 60D is much like the 50D but has a smaller frame. Also I think the live view is moveable on the 60D which it is not on the 50D. I think you will be happy with it.

Since you sound like you are just starting out, I'll give you some of the things that I use that help. I shoot all images in RAW at the highest setting. This year I have gone to shooting most images in the HDR mode that is three different exposures. Sometimes I combine them in a true HDR image but not always. Especially flowers, I have found out that out of three images I can get one that is exposed so that it can be edited to make a good final image. I also shoot AV mode and ISO 100 predominately. I am also a fan of ND filters in bright sunlight and graduated ND filters for sunsets. I hope this helps--if you have any other questions, please let me know.
Swede