Backyard Birding

[blevine15]

I took advantage of the 18" of snow that we received last night and parked myself by my backyard feeders with 20D in hand. I was lucky enough to get the American Gold Finch in WInter plumage.

The Blue Jay was sitting outside my bedroom window yesterday.

[blevine15]

Sorry, I accidently set the wrong size on the Blue Jay

[Bodryn]

Both photos have such great clarity and detail. Which is why I'm now in the market for a better Canon. What settings did you use?

[blevine15]

I was using my Canon 20D with a Canon 100-400 lens, set at 400. ISO 100, I set the shutter speed to 400 and let the camera digure out the rest. I boosted the sharpness and saturation in Photoshop a little.

[boomer1959]

Awsome shots :D

[TammieO]

Great detail. I enjoyed the pics because we don't have the gold finch here and our jays tend to be duller and a little more grey.
Tammie

[RJSorensen]

Beautiful capture I must say. That lens looks like it is doing a excellent job for you. I am looking at getting one as well. Have you had it long . . .

[Ed Rotberg]

Wonderful light on the Goldfinch. Great detail.

= Ed =

[blevine15]

I got the 100-400 when I purchased my 20D in December. I love the lens, it is great for shooting birds. I recently purchased the Canon 2X TC to use with the 100-400 to get a longer reach. Unfortunately, I have yet to take a good picture with it. If anyone has any advice I would welcome it.

Thanks,

Bob

[sparker1]

Beautiful pictures. You and Ed give me something to aspire to.

[robertwgross]

I got the 100-400 when I purchased my 20D in December. I love the lens, it is great for shooting birds. I recently purchased the Canon 2X TC to use with the 100-400 to get a longer reach. Unfortunately, I have yet to take a good picture with it. If anyone has any advice I would welcome it.

I guess you know that you forget about autofocus when you put the 2X TC on there. That's OK. We had to manually focus for years before.

You might find you get better bird results by going to a 1.4X TC or none at all. Then, to make up for the focal length/range, you get quieter tread on your sneakers. You might do better by use of camouflage to get closer.

There was one small bird (a burrowing owl) that I tried to snap for about two days, using the 100-400 and two 1.4X TCs. Finally, after all that practice, I learned how to get closer to make the 100-400 work with a single 1.4X. I would watch the owl and remain motionless when it was looking my way. Then, when it would briefly look away, I would sneak my tripod 6 inches closer. Finally, when I got to only 18 feet away, I got him.

It also helps to spread SuperGlue on the area around where the bird lives.

---Bob Gross---

[blevine15]

Thanks for the advice. You are not the first to suggest that I put aside the 2X TC. I have seen some photos by Art Morris that are incredible where he used a 2X TC. I know that you loose the autofocus and two stops on the lens. As for getting closer to the birds, it is not always feasble when shooting shy water fowl. There are some Lomg Tail Ducks that Ihave been trying to photograph for weeks. I cant get close enough to capture reasonable detail.

As for comparing my work to Ed's, I am very flattered. I am not quite in that league. Ed's photos are what I aspire to achieve as well.

Regards,

Bob

[Ed Rotberg]

Thanks for the advice. You are not the first to suggest that I put aside the 2X TC. I have seen some photos by Art Morris that are incredible where he used a 2X TC. I know that you loose the autofocus and two stops on the lens. As for getting closer to the birds, it is not always feasble when shooting shy water fowl. There are some Lomg Tail Ducks that Ihave been trying to photograph for weeks. I cant get close enough to capture reasonable detail.

As for comparing my work to Ed's, I am very flattered. I am not quite in that league. Ed's photos are what I aspire to achieve as well.

Regards,

Bob

Hey cut it out guys! :o:o I'm still learning all this stuff myself :D

Bob: It's my understanding that both of the Canon extenders were primarily designed to work with the super-tele primes. That's why folks using them with 600's and 500's often get really good results. I've never tried the 2x myself, and I've had really wonderful results with the 1.4x on both my 70-200 and my 400 prime, so I'm not speaking from experience here. Just heresay.

BTW, the final straw in my deciding between the 400 prime and the 300 f/4L IS was the fact that the 1.4x worked so well with my 70-200, giving me 280 f/4 IS. Granted it's not as sharp wide open as the 300 would be but now I can get 560 with the 1.4 on my 400 (albeit without AF unless I tape pins or buy a 1 series :))

= Ed =

[cmM]

beautiful shots of beautiful birds!

[Bodryn]

I like Bob's superglue idea. Has somebody come up with a time release version of the stuff? Could put it on the bird feeder. ;) Then maybe I can get some bird photos to compete with these terrific captures.

[robertwgross]

This is backyard birds we are talking about, right?

Well, I put up a hummingbird feeder and filled it with regular sugar water. The hummingbirds come around, but they take a hit and they are gone too quickly, and I don't have time to get the shot. So, I mixed up the sugar water real weak. The hummers still stop to take a drink, but they have to stay there for 15 seconds or so to get enough, and that gives me enough time to get the shot.

I couldn't get enough woodpeckers to come around. So I sprayed the trunks of some trees with leftover hummingbird sugar water. That did not attract any birds, but it attracted the ants. Then a few days later that attracted the woodpeckers.

For my regular birdseed feeder, all I ever get are regular sparrows and finches. But they spill a lot, so the spilled seed is on the patio, and the pigeons come to clean that up. Once there are enough pigeons around, then a red-tailed hawk shows up. Then I get the shot.

---Bob Gross---

[Mills]

You know, I have looked at these 3 or 4 times without comment but the first one keeps me coming back. It is a great shot!

[blevine15]

Thanks to all for the flattery and encouragement.

Regards,

Bob