Washing line Visitor

[cargo]

A few months back this bird just appeared on the washing line right next to my window whilst I was washing up. I had never seen one before nor since. (Goldcrest) He seemed to be taking sips of water off the line.
I was happy to get some photos but on reviewing them later didn't think much of them. Came across them again last night and thought they were not to bad, hence uploading here for crit/feedback.

Gaz

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[Phil-D]

A cracking little bird Gary and not an easy bird to get 'clean' shots of.

Two and three are especially nice, not often we see shots of them with their crest up, well dome

 

[Box Brownie]

What a wonderful visitor to get so close.

Nice clean backgrounds with a I would have thought an uncommon perch. The one element I wish for is greater DoF, it is razor thin and though you have the head & eye(s) sharp apart from image #1 where the colouring and body feathers are good the best shots with the crest raised have the body oof. (NB - having critiqued the choice of aperture........I would have been delighted to have gotten these on what I surmise were grab shots)

Thanks for sharing

 

[den]

Hi , most as been said above,what i would say is that if the bird is knocking around your garden he is probably feeding of something,not the easisiest of birds to attract with food ,in fact there is not much they will take apart from mealworms(live ones ) ...I get them on the cotoneaster plus they have plenty of places to shelter from the weather ,probably the most important thing for them especialy in winter ...

 

[Elvis75]

Very nice and different all i ever see on my washing line is my good ladys under garments ha

 

[cargo]

A cracking little bird Gary and not an easy bird to get 'clean' shots of.

Two and three are especially nice, not often we see shots of them with their crest up, well dome

Thanks Phil. Was great to see this fellow and really pleased to get a photo.

What a wonderful visitor to get so close.

Nice clean backgrounds with a I would have thought an uncommon perch. The one element I wish for is greater DoF, it is razor thin and though you have the head & eye(s) sharp apart from image #1 where the colouring and body feathers are good the best shots with the crest raised have the body oof. (NB - having critiqued the choice of aperture........I would have been delighted to have gotten these on what I surmise were grab shots)

Thanks for sharing

Cheers the crit is most welcomed. I have others but I am totally unsure as to which are the better ones from the bunch. I will pollute the thread with them and if anyone as an opinion I would be grateful for the input as going forwards i'll be better informed.
Re the aperture I have chosen to shoot in shutter priority @ 1/400 th with this 200mm lens (hand held) as it doesn't have IS nor does the camera body and I struggle to get sharp images below that.
Maybe going forwards there's a better way. Yes grab shots, not set up in any way I was doing the dishes at the time, I had to shout the better half to slowly fetch the camera in.

Hi , most as been said above,what i would say is that if the bird is knocking around your garden he is probably feeding of something,not the easisiest of birds to attract with food ,in fact there is not much they will take apart from mealworms(live ones ) ...I get them on the cotoneaster plus they have plenty of places to shelter from the weather ,probably the most important thing for them especialy in winter ...

Thanks for the info Dennis. This was taken in June and I have never seen him/her since.

Very nice and different all i ever see on my washing line is my good lady's under garments ha

Hi John. I like the sound of your washing line. I don't mind calling round to take photos of it for ya, fully laden of course ;-)


Gaz

 

[cargo]

Apologies for all these and if it's against the rules feel free to remove. As I said above i'm not sure at all which of these is deemed to be better.Off comments above I am assuming that any with the crest up, that said some of the others had an appeal to my eye. Any help would be most welcomed.

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Again sorry for so many and it won't happen again.

Gaz

 

[killy]

Love the crest up

 

[cargo]

Love the crest up

Thanks for stopping by Mike.

I see you have captured one of these little fellows, via your Flickr stream. Seems I was double lucky getting the crest on show.

Gaz

 

[nc_killie]

Most has been said, but you will have to hang your clothes on more natural perches!

 

[Stuart Philpott]

what are ya techs Gaz? wicked little set post 'em mate don't apologise such lovely clean bkgs,always sommit though it's wildlife,i'm not a huge fan of the line like the rain drops though. Mate they are really cool ,the clever guys can help you more if you wack ya techs up I can't even find them my self ,but that's no biggy BB's

I agree on dof They are lovely Gaz the crest is really cool and we get what we are given,

seeya

 

[cargo]

;-) Like that john !

what are ya techs Gaz? wicked little set post 'em mate don't apologise such lovely clean bkgs,always sommit though it's wildlife,i'm not a huge fan of the line like the rain drops though. Mate they are really cool ,the clever guys can help you more if you wack ya techs up I can't even find them my self ,but that's no biggy BB's

I agree on dof They are lovely Gaz the crest is really cool and we get what we are given,

seeya

Hi Stu. I like your lingo/style of writing ! Thanks for the feedback it is very much appreciated.
Settings for the images were :

Canon 6D
Canon EF200mmL 2.8 lens

Manual but I usually shoot shutter priority set to 1/400 as the lens as no Image stabilization.
Shutter 1/400
F3.5
Iso 1250 or 800

These were taken through the Kitchen window with me stood about 3 ft back from it as the bird was so close,the lens only focuses down to 5ft.


Hope that's what you meant by techs ;-)

Gaz

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Cheers Gaz very kind I have issues with eng lang mate .So I guess i've got so old I just write how I talk now its' not good really I don't think many understand me But hey it is what it is, cheers for the kindness mate

Gaz yes by techs SS f and iso is exactly what I meant, plus camera make and model lens details always help/

Gaz don't be scared of pushing your iso for a faster Ss or more DOF . Buddy I'm learning too so not the best guy to help.But pushing the iso and getting the EXP right will give you more wriggle room in our brit light. I've been encouraged to do this by some gifted guys ,I believe in them and what they are steering me towards is definitely helping me along. ate I've never used a 6D but I'd imagine the iso perfomance is fairly good,but you really need to ETTR to get the best from this.

Mate it's really cool you have done so well through glass a few feet away,well done mate BB I thought was on to something remember dof get shallower the closer one is. It's something I fall foul of too buddy.

So much to learn huh mate

stu

 

[Byker28i]

Perfect descriptive name for the bird, great with the crest

 

[cargo]

So much to learn huh mate

Great info Stu. Thanks for your input I will en devour to remember the above points. Trouble is, when in the heat of the moment and all excited you seem to go into some other place, that said, thats what I like about the camera. It takes your full attention gets you away from all the mundane stuff we do day to day.

Gaz

Perfect descriptive name for the bird, great with the crest

Cheers Fella.

Gaz

 

[Stuart Philpott]

away from the mundane.......................... Amen

don't it just