Saga of my Nuthatch!

Briony

Briony

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3,869
Name
Nicki.
Edit My Images
Yes
Had a quick outing this morning light flaming awful but gave me a chance to play and learn a bit about more the settings.

IMG_9973.jpg
 
What is the exif data on this photo??
 
Should be there not hidden it :shrug:

File Name IMG_9973.CR2
Camera Model Canon EOS 7D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.2.1
Shooting Date/Time 01/04/2011 08:39:09
Shooting Mode Shutter-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/100
Av( Aperture Value ) 4.0
Metering Mode Spot Metering
Exposure Compensation +1/3
ISO Speed 800
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF70-200mm f/4L USM
Focal Length 200.0mm
Image Size 5184x3456
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Shade
AF Mode AI Servo AF
AF area select mode Manual selection
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 5
Contrast 2
Saturation 2
Color tone 1
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:confused:tandard
Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:confused:tandard
Peripheral illumination correction Enable
File Size 26009KB
Drive Mode High-speed continuous shooting
 
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Hi Nicki i would try a little bit of PP on this it looks underexposed and has a green colourcast.
 
Hi Nicki, you are going to have probs with these shots from the outset. The bird is backlit to start with, I might have been tempted to have used centre weighted average metering or even ETTL. It is also worth considering imo not to try and bring as much detail out in the bird as you can, as this serves to blow the bg out even more, but try to keep it to how you remember seeing the subject. If these were taken in Jpeg Nicki could you post up one straight out of the camera at 1024? I have had a little play Nicki but to be honest you Cannot add too much contrast, colour etc to something which is not really there to begin with.

IMG_9973.jpg
 
menthel said:
Is this a huge crop? The piccy looks soft because of it.
Click to expand...

Nope 33%

glynh said:
Hi Nicki i would try a little bit of PP on this it looks underexposed and has a green colourcast.
Click to expand...

Oh well, I cannot say I noticed that :shrug:

u8myufo said:
Hi Nicki, you are going to have probs with these shots from the outset. The bird is backlit to start with, I might have been tempted to have used centre weighted average metering or even ETTL. It is also worth considering imo not to try and bring as much detail out in the bird as you can, as this serves to blow the bg out even more, but try to keep it to how you remember seeing the subject. If these were taken in Jpeg Nicki could you post up one straight out of the camera at 1024? I have had a little play Nicki but to be honest you Cannot add too much contrast, colour etc to something which is not really there to begin with.

IMG_9973.jpg
Click to expand...


Done nought to it as from out the camera just sharpened it slightly, need a lesson in PP as promised :shrug:

If I understood a bit more about metering then I would have changed it.

You keep on about 1024 :thinking: easy when you know how and as I said I don't know how to:shrug:
 
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Briony said:
Nope 33%



Oh well, I cannot say I noticed that :shrug:




Done nought to it as from out the camera just sharpened it slightly, need a lesson in PP as promised :shrug:

If I understood a bit more about metering then I would have changed it.

You keep on about 1024 :thinking: easy when you know how and as I said I don't know how to:shrug:
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That is fine Nicki no probs with that, you might want to try using a different picture setting in camera and experiment with pushing the contrast and saturation levels a bit with whichever setting you use. I could have given you private lessons :naughty::naughty: But you were too busy seducing me with lemon drizzle cakes and all things edible :D


Well assuming you resize your pictures for posting on TP as this one is 799 on the longest side, just make it 1024 ;)

Put the kettle on and I will see you on Thursday all being well, perhaps I could go into anything you are unsure of in a little bit more detail. Canon owners only :LOL:
 
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u8myufo said:
That is fine Nicki no probs with that, you might want to try using a different picture setting in camera and experiment with pushing the contrast and saturation levels a bit with whichever setting you use. I could have given you private lessons :naughty::naughty: But you were too busy seducing me with lemon drizzle cakes and all things edible :D


Well assuming you resize your pictures for posting on TP as this one is 799 on the longest side, just make it 1024 ;)

Put the kettle on and I will see you on Thursday all being well, perhaps I could go into anything you are unsure of in a little bit more detail. Canon owners only :LOL:
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Thought that is why you were calling in :shrug:

Soz not here Thursday
 
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Great shot Nicki (y)
Good pose, The backlighting doesn't bother me because it's soft and natural.
 
sturs said:
You need better light, a Nuthatch is always moving around. 1/100s at F4 is not going to give you much chance of getting a sharp pic. Also agree with Rich, try using metering rather than spot.

If you want to keep them still for a sec on so try peanut butter :)
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Mine are unfortunately in the woods, as we own them:D and use them for shooting so will always be darker.

Tried using peanut butter and sticking the nuts in there and this has in fact slowed them down a bit but they are still fast little blighters :LOL: still practice makes perfect:shrug:

Was told to use spot metering :thinking: also so will have to try and make that change now and pray for the sunnier weather next week.

My camera skills are somewhat limited so it is trial and error on my part. Still trying to learn of others (when I get the chance :help:)
 
Your white balance looks off to me !! As you're shooting RAW you can rescue it a bit. A shutter speed of 1/100 is a MASSIVE no no. You're way too slow for bird photography, it should be 1/500 at least with a 200mm focal length, but, faster is better with birds as they're so flighty. Also, step your lens down a bit to F7.1 or thereabouts as the Nutties body looks in focus but its head isn't as your depth of field looks too shallow.....
Also stick with spot metering, its a given for bird photography as you had previously been advised.....
 
h14nha said:
Your white balance looks off to me !! As you're shooting RAW you can rescue it a bit. A shutter speed of 1/100 is a MASSIVE no no. You're way too slow for bird photography, it should be 1/500 at least with a 200mm focal length, but, faster is better with birds as they're so flighty. Also, step your lens down a bit to F7.1 or thereabouts as the Nutties body looks in focus but its head isn't as your depth of field looks too shallow.....
Also stick with spot metering, its a given for bird photography as you had previously been advised.....
Click to expand...

Thanks as I said photography is going to be a personal thing where no one can agree :shrug: on settings etc.

Have you tried photographing Nutties,? and seen how fast they move and a fast shutter speed is only going to give me blurred shots is it not?

I was practising with different settings so yes shutter speed of 100 is not the right one but hey gave me a reasonaable shot, better than my previous ones:thinking:

Metering - ah well this is for me to find out so will have to do some more reading up on this one.

Still fortunate enought to be able to practice on a daily basis:D and dependable on the light as in woods.

White balance - still learning P & P so that wil come in time.

Thank you for the comments will take little snippets on board and one day I will get it right and be able to please everybody.(y)
 
Did you do the edit Nicky? I think I prefer the original.

If it's nice on good friday, maybe we can go out together and help each other :)
 
Tori said:
Did you do the edit Nicky? I think I prefer the original.

If it's nice on good friday, maybe we can go out together and help each other :)
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Yep I did the original :D

Good Friday 22nd :thinking: Yep, you are on (y)

If you break up before that, then come over, pick a nice day,will finish lambing by next week end or soon after.
 
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Set your White Balance to Auto. That way if the bird is hopping in and out of the sun/shade there's one less thing to worry about. Spot metering will focus just on the bird. Remember, your not doing landscapes where you want the camera to worry about all of the picture, you just want it to concentrate on the bird. Thats why bird photographer use spot metering.
A faster shutter speed will freeze the action and give you sharper shots. The slower the shutter speed, the more blur you will get. 1/100 sec sounds fast, hey it is fast, but not in the world of bird photography. Even 1/1000 sec will freeze a birds body but will give you blurry wings if the bird takes off.
I've posted my favourite Nuthatch shot to qualify the advice I've given you. This was taken with a 7d/100-400mm combo. This was ISO 800, F7.1, shutter speed 1/1000 sec.
Regards,
Ian

http://flic.kr/p/9iUyK4
 
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h14nha said:
Set your White Balance to Auto. That way if the bird is hopping in and out of the sun/shade there's one less thing to worry about. Spot metering will focus just on the bird. Remember, your not doing landscapes where you want the camera to worry about all of the picture, you just want it to concentrate on the bird. Thats why bird photographer use spot metering.
A faster shutter speed will freeze the action and give you sharper shots. The slower the shutter speed, the more blur you will get. 1/100 sec sounds fast, hey it is fast, but not in the world of bird photography. Even 1/1000 sec will freeze a birds body but will give you blurry wings if the bird takes off.
I've posted my favourite Nuthatch shot to qualify the advice I've given you. This was taken with a 7d/100-400mm combo. This was ISO 800, F7.1, shutter speed 1/1000 sec.
Regards,
Ian

5453490545
[/QUOTE

Thank you. (y)
cant see piccy though :shrug:
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