More birdies

[Ed Rotberg]

Since I was asked to post more in another thread, All I can say is: You asked for it!

= Ed =

More Sandhill Cranes
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Sandhill%20Duo%202.jpg
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Sandhill%20Glow.jpg
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Sandhill%20Silhouettes.jpg

Some Anna's Hummingbirds - Natural light only!
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Annas%20Portrait.jpg
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Annas%201_5-8.jpg
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Annas%204_5-15.jpg

Great Blue Heron
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Great%20Blue%20Heron.jpg

Hooded Mergansers
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Hooded%20Merganser.jpg

Road Runner (captive)
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Road%20Runner.jpg

Harris' Hawk (captive)
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Harris%20Hawk.jpg
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Harris'%20Hawk%20in%20flight.jpg

[stoneylonesome]

WOW! Truly fantastic photos

[Maz]

I want to be Ed!!! Great stuff!

Maz
http://www.homesteadsforsale.com

[tommykjensen]

Wow, stunning !

[EoSD30fReAk]

WOW that first hummingbird is wonderful :cool:

the second picture of the Sandhill Cranes is very nice with the sun shining on them.

i have to say that i'm a little jealous of your pictures:D ;)

[chrishunt]

How to you, and others, manage to capture such random moving animals with such clarity? These photos are great. I have so many squirrels by my house, but they move to quickly to take a picture!

How do you do it?

-Chris

[Ed Rotberg]

How to you, and others, manage to capture such random moving animals with such clarity? These photos are great. I have so many squirrels by my house, but they move to quickly to take a picture!

How do you do it?

-Chris

Chris,

There are a few things. First, on the technical side, keep your shutter speed as high as you can. Use a high ISO and open your lens up as much as wide as possible. This is where it pays to have good glass that stays sharp even wide open. The longer the lens the more shutter speed you need. Also, monopods and tripods can help, but without the right tripod head, they're not much use for birds in flight. You need to have high shutter speeds to avoid camera shake and to freeze action.

Secondly, know your subjects. Research them or just plan to watch them a lot before you try to photograph them. This is not always possible, sometimes you don't have that opportunity. However, whenever you can, the more you can learn about your subject's habits, the better chance you have to get great photos.

Thirdly, be patient. Be prepared to wait hours to get a single photo. The humming bird photos took me weeks to gt the setup right with enough light, and then hours waiting for the right shots (and a lot of wrong ones :)) Sometimes there isn't much of a wait and you're shooting constantly. When you are stalking move very slowly - small steps. Avoid direct eye contact as much as possible. Crawling can get you close to other birds and animals that get intimidated by a human standing up - but only if you crawl very slowly and stop often. I crawled on my belly , very slowly to get close enough to take this full framed image of a Killdeer guarding an egg. There is no cropping here. (I actually have a whole sequence of the Killdeer feigning a broken wing to draw me away from the egg, and then shots as I got progressive closer. I stopped when she got to be full frame).

http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Killdeer%20guards%202.jpg

= Ed =

[RockOne]

Just incredible. That hummingbird is simply beautiful. :-)

[KO_300D]

As a fan of wildlife shots I have to say these are definitely inspiring!

Stunning - all of them.

I particularly like the 'expression' of the blue heron. Kinda like he's taking the kids to the park and is stood there watching them playing.

[RbnDave]

These shots are amazing. Thanks for the tips.

Can I ask what lenses you're using?

[Ed Rotberg]

These shots are amazing. Thanks for the tips.

Can I ask what lenses you're using?
Dave,

Each and every shot on this page was taken with my 400mm f/5.6L. I use this lens for nearly 100% of my birds photography and a large percentage of other wildlife. The 70-200 f/2.8L IS also gets used for other wildlife. Someday I WILL get the 500mm f/4 IS. I will have it I tell you!!! ;)

= Ed =

[ssim]

Simply breathtaking. The hummers are brilliant. I wished I had the patience to wait it out for shots like these.

[boomer1959]

HOLY COW these are beautifull shots. :D

[sparker1]

Fantastic shots. You are definitely among the elite bird photographers, an inspiration to us all.

[TARPONTIM]

ABSOUTLY AWESOME PHOTOS. What Lenses were you using and what camera Thanks for the Treat. Tim

[pcasciola]

WOW!!! These are all really good. I especially like the close up of the hawk and the 3rd hummingbird shot. Well done. That 400 f/5.6 can really work well in the right hands.

[Ed Rotberg]

ABSOUTLY AWESOME PHOTOS. What Lenses were you using and what camera Thanks for the Treat. Tim Tim,

Thanks for the kind words. As stated above, all photos on this page were taken with the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L lens. The Hummingbirds, the Hooded Mergansers and the Killdeer were taken with a 10D, the others with a 20D. A side note is that the hummingbirds also required extension tubes due to the long minimum focusing distance of the 400 f/5.6L lens.

= Ed =

[PhotosGuy]

Excellent shots, Ed! Don't stop posting now! ;-)

[Scottes]

I'm reduced to typing for a while - I swallowed my tongue when I saw the hummingbird.

Very nice shots, Ed.

[cricket]

Again, I was fortunate enough to come upon one of your postings!

So AWESOME!

When does the coffee table book come out? :cool:

[dialdn]

You are my hero.

[Ed Rotberg]

Thanks all for all of the very kind words.

[exfilmcat]

Eye Candy! Thanks

[Mills]

GREAT! The Bird shooters are on a Roll Today! The HB's are wonderful.

[rssfhs]

Your amazing photos have convinced me about the quality of the Canon 400mm f5.6! I just placed my order for one and am looking forward to its arrival. Thanks!

[scottbergerphoto]

Awesome shots.

[tckadventures]

WOW!!! cant say anything else I am awestruck and thanx for telling us just how difficult it is to take these beautiful shots. The wait is worth it.

[weemannie]

Those hummingbird shots are truly stunning. :D :D

[Lotto]

Cheers for the Anna's Hummingbirds!

[witchy]

These photos are stunning. I would love to be able to take shots like you do..Beautiful!

[Alan B]

Amazing shots :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Truely awesome :D

[HJMinard]

When I get too excited about my own shots, I will look at Ed's and be humbled. Back to the drawing board ...

Wonderful images, Ed!

[cfcRebel]

I'm glad someone brought this thread back because I joined the forum after this thread was posted.

The shots make me speechless! Hands down!http://initial-d.com/forums/images/smilies/worship.gif

[paulhillion]

Ed, thank you so much for posting these shots, they're truly wonderful shots, I especially love the head shot of the Harris' Hawk!

I've been out nearly every evening (and a lot of early mornings) practising my wildbird photography and the more I use the 400 L f/5.6 lens the more I grow to love it, even coupled with a 1.4x extender the quality is fantastic. One tip I would give to anyone wanting to try their hand at bird photography is to invest in a bean-bag. I bought one a couple of weeks a go and it's used now all the time, I got one that's designed to sit on a car window, very useful if like me you sometimes use your car as a hide.

Best wishes,

Paul

[Ed Rotberg]

Wow, you guys brought this old thread back. I'm flattered! :o:o

Ed, thank you so much for posting these shots, they're truly wonderful shots, I especially love the head shot of the Harris' Hawk!

I've been out nearly every evening (and a lot of early mornings) practising my wildbird photography and the more I use the 400 L f/5.6 lens the more I grow to love it, even coupled with a 1.4x extender the quality is fantastic. One tip I would give to anyone wanting to try their hand at bird photography is to invest in a bean-bag. I bought one a couple of weeks a go and it's used now all the time, I got one that's designed to sit on a car window, very useful if like me you sometimes use your car as a hide.

Best wishes,

Paul

Paul, this is a great tip - along with the implied tip of using your car/truck as a blind! Birds (and most other wildlife) will view the silohuette and shape of the human form as a threat, where a vehicle is not viewed as such. Shooting from a car can let you get a LOT closer to your subject (assuming a road will take you there or you are 4-wheeling), than you might be able to get on foot.

That's how I got this photo of a wild turkey that was in my neighbor's yard. I could have walkd over there, but I got in my car (it's pretty quiet - a hybrid) and shot from the window. Sadly the lighting was really harsh, so it's not a terrific photo, but I did get close! :)
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Wild%20Turkey.jpg

As for the bean bag, if you sew at all, you can make one yourself pretty cheaply. Even if you don't sew much, you can use a small pillow with a zipper and remove the stuffing and fill it with - beans! Just pick a small, hard bean, and you should be set. Bean bags are great!

One last photo of a wacky Steller's Jay.
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Stellers%20Jay%202.jpg

Thanks again for all of the kind words gang!
= Ed =

[Jim_T]

Great shots.. Like others, I'm really impressed at the closeup of the hummingbird.. Just the head and shoulders.. Wow..

[CyberDyneSystems]

So glad this thread was reveived.. as I can not belive I missed these.
Fantastic work Ed.. just amazing .. :shock:

[barnkat]

Am new here, was looking around...Totally Awesome shots! Thanks for posting them!

[scott stokes]

WOW awsome shots,the hummers are some of the best i ever have seen.

[rklepper]

Great shots. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Mitcon]

These are just brilliant ED, I just noticed one of your other posts and enjoyed your captures so much I just had to look at this set also. Truely beautiful work, outstanding.

[wolverinesr1]

somehow saying these are amazing just dont sum up how great these are.so i wont try.definitely thanks for sharing these

[rssfhs]

That's how I got this photo of a wild turkey that was in my neighbor's yard. I could have walkd over there, but I got in my car (it's pretty quiet - a hybrid) and shot from the window. Sadly the lighting was really harsh, so it's not a terrific photo, but I did get close! :)
http://www.edrotberg.org/images/Wild%20Turkey.jpg
= Ed =

The link seems to be broken, so I will post a turkey shot of mine which I took with the same lens (Canon 400 L f/5.6) minus the beanbag:

[Ed Rotberg]

The link seems to be broken, so I will post a turkey shot of mine which I took with the same lens (Canon 400 L f/5.6) minus the beanbag:
Nice photo rssfhs! Definitely better than mine anyhow :) FWIW, the link wasn't broken, the file was just missing. I had a server crash about a month ago, trying to get a mirror drive working. It took out my main drive and the mirror. The full backup was quite a bit older, so I lost a lot of work - but none of my original RAW files, thank goodness. They are on a different computer and backed up to both another hard drive and DVD. I'm still trying to figure out just which images I need to go back and re-process.

Anyhow, that one has been restored now.

Thanks again.

= Ed =

[scrumpy]

Again, I was fortunate enough to come upon one of your postings!

So AWESOME!

When does the coffee table book come out? :cool:

Book me in when the book comes out! Just awesome.

[xuxu1]

Great shots Ed. Like all of them.

Guess i´ll have to get one of those 400L /5.6 sooner or later ;)

Regards
ED

[GTogs]

Absolutely Awesome shots! Thanks for sharing!

[tiefelj]

Book me in when the book comes out! Just awesome.
Only if Ed autographs each book for POTN members. :)

Jake

[busbyea]

STUNNING Shots ! Truly amazing quality !

[DCM Canon]

I am blown away! A true inspiration! Thanks so much for sharing.

[DigiDi]

Excellent photos!

[Gary Fairhead]

These photographs are very special. They are all exceptional. The first Sandhill Cranes shot floored me. The hummers are exquisite, the hawk close up and in flight shot are magnificent. But I keep going back to the Roadrunner. What a beautiful bird this is when you get up close, The detail in the photo is incredible.......ringed eye, hair like feathers above(black) and below (white) and then the pattern on head and neck.....wow.

[Ballen Photo]

Ed, Your birding skills are IMPECCABLE! My jaw hit the floor when I saw the headshot of the Hummer, and each succesive shot thereafter prevented me from picking it up. WOW! :shock:
I'm glad this thread was revived. :D :cool: :D
-Bruce

[Wazza]

Also glad to see such an old thread, sharing some absolutely astonishing photos. Well worth the wait, in getting those beauties. I don't think I could keep still enough for more than three minutes.