Got my "L" plates...

[foveonfan]

Hi, All!

Always wanted to do some bird photography in my own backyard. So I started learning (with "L" plates displayed) yesterday. This was one of the first results.

Set-Up: Manfrotto Superclamp holding stick onto lightstand. Old studio monobloc shooting through translucent brolly with exposure set to one stop under sunlight and radio transmitter on camera hotshoe with receiver on flash so no cable required, door closed and shot through kitchen window.

SD14 / 50 - 500mm, ISO200, 1/200s, F11 (flash F8), RAW, hand held.

Sincere regards, Jim Roelofs

May you too discover the light on your journey.

 

[tc95]

Very clean shot...

Jim,

I am very impressed how clean the subject is in this photo....great job..

Tony C.

 

[foveonfan]

Tony, thanks for the compliment!

Secret, I think is the ratio (one stop) between incident light (sun) and the fill light (flash). The position of light helps too. Sun is to left @ 45 degrees and the flash is to the right @ around 60 degrees and diffused through translucent brolly. You know the brollies? They look milky white and stick out the front of the flash, between it and the subject, diffusing the light nicely.

Sincere regards, Jim Roelofs

May you too discover the light on your journey.

 

[Guest .]

Hi All,

hey chaps .. do not laugh at me .... I first had to check what an "L-plate" is .... ... we do not have such a thing in Germany (although I noticed these plates frequently in the UK ... it simply did not spark in my mind, what it could mean!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-plate

Nice to be an internet-user .... ...
Jim, you did a very nice shot there!! Thanks for sharing it!

I am now very much looking forward to bird photography again .... now that the trees are naked....

I started last year with my own ambitions along these lines ...

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What you need most is patience. It's more difficult than the pictures look like. Since these nice darlings are very small and timid, you have to come relatively close to them even with very long focal lengthes. Most of the shots above were done before I got my 80-400mm EX OS. I used an old VIVITAR 400mm / 5.6. MF-focus of course. All shots are freehanded ... they do not wait for a tripod!

See you with nice pictures

Klaus

 

[foveonfan]

Hi, Klaus!

It is true that for me also a tripod is out of the question when photographing birds. I just love the idea that I can stay indoors, so I do not have to worry about their timidness.

I have the feeder platform and the branch set up just by the back door and shoot through a kitchen window. But, as you say, patience is the base requirement here!

Sincere regards, Jim Roelofs

May you also discover the light on your journey.

 

[foveonfan]

Sorry, Klaus, forgot to add: Great Pictures!

Sincere regards, JR

 

[Guest .]

Hi Jim,

Wow, a genial shot! A male sparrow! I just read out your the exif-data. Done at 500mm with aperture even slowed down to F:11. (and so recently taken!) :z02_respekt:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exif Sub IFD

* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/160 second = 0.00625 second
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 110/10 = F11
* ISO Speed Ratings = 200
* Original Date/Time = 2008:11:18 07:17:21
* Flash = Flash did not fire
* Focal Length = 500/1 mm = 500 mm
* Image Width = 800 pixels
* Image Height = 533 pixelsHi Jim,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well I like these little cheerful birds a lot. Last year, I observed a flock of them at a camping ground at the Costa Brava. Others go swimming, I take photos!!

I got myself a camping-chair, a photo-magazin, some breadcrumbs for the sparrows, a beer for me ... and my SD10. My lens was the 70-300mm DL.
So, you can imagine, how close I managed to aproach them.

GIRL:

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BOY:

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Well go on shooting Jim!! Forget about any "L-plates" ... your image results do not look like an L-plate!

See you with nice pictures

Klaus