Post your Bird Portraits (2)

Lame-Duck wrote in post #19494059
Stunning shot, Cog! I like his rope perch. This is quite an appealing capture.

Beautiful, Rob!

Beautiful wood duck shot, fotoi!

Both very nice shot of the Caracaras, Joe!

Excellent close-up shot of this brazen seagull, Lastblackdog!

Thank you.

cross posted from Aussie bird thread

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
they love the Silver Wattles, but are high up and get amongst the foliage
This was one of about 5 feeding when suddenly they all flew about in the tree then settled

Photo from avondale87's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1202238)

Photo from avondale87's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1202239)

An environmental shot of a great blue heron in a pond at Palma Sola Botanical Park in Bradenton, Fl.

Dano_nav wrote in post #19496222
Two portraits of a Bluebird that is moving in...

Very nice shots of the Bluebird!

Lame-Duck wrote in post #19496282
Sharp-shinned Hawk
(It seemed too small for a Cooper's Hawk)

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forum: Birds

Great capture! That's a tough one to identify.

paul katinas wrote in post #19496289
Black Crowned Night Herons
Young Night Herons waiting to be fed.
Happy trails.

Nice captures of the young ones!

Capn Jack wrote in post #19496301
Turkey vulture has a fish

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …/album-72177720304199905/
JAK_2655] by Jack Silver on Flickr

I guess they like seafood too. Fine shot!

greenjeans wrote in post #19496366
White Throated Sparrow.

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forum: Birds

Nicely done!

Archibald wrote in post #19496368
Little Blue Heron portrait.

Beautiful close-up!

K9Kirk wrote in post #19496377
A great blue heron at the Palma Sola Botanical Park in Bradenton this morning.

K9Kirk wrote in post #19496516
An environmental shot of a great blue heron in a pond at Palma Sola Botanical Park in Bradenton, Fl.

Two great scenes!

realairlight wrote in post #19496381
mute swan

Nice portraits!

Peter2516 wrote in post #19496391

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forum: Birds

Beautiful shot of the Owl!

sogs wrote in post #19496560
Very nice shots of the Bluebird!

Great capture! That's a tough one to identify.

Nice captures of the young ones!

I guess they like seafood too. Fine shot!

Nicely done!

Beautiful close-up!

Two great scenes!

Nice portraits!

Beautiful shot of the Owl!

Thanks, sogs!

BE

IMAGE LINK: https://markowens.zenf​olio.com/img/s/v-10/p1467100893-6.jpg

ozulrike wrote in post #19496326
Beautiful and great soft reflections!

Thank you!

wxjef wrote in post #19496268
I think I'm about to dump this set up. Camera doesn't seem to want to focus properly even in pretty large birds. Almost seems as if 200mm is as much as things can handle.

Everything with the Sigma 150-600 was just trash no matter what I did, even off a tripod at over 1/1000 sec with is turned off and one shot. Time to walk away from the lens for a while...

I used to have this setup. Keep in mind, with the 80D's crop factor, when the lens is at "600mm" it's actually an effective length of over 900mm! That is not an easy length to hand hold for anyone. However, it is possible with the right settings and practice.

To get good results from the Sigma 150-600mm, here's a few tips I used to get good results:

First of all you need to stop down to f/8-f/11. My copy of that lens was soft at f/6.3 no matter what. It's just a characteristic of the lens (one of the reasons for its relatively low price).
Secondly, you need to have stabilization ON if you're hand holding. Always. And, it helps if you have the shutter speed at 1/1250 or faster, preferably 1/2000 or faster if possible. That means letting the ISO go as high as neccessary to achieve the fast shutter speed and then deal with the noise in post processing.
Lastly, if using a tripod, that's when to turn the stabilization OFF. I rarely use a tripod, but when I did with that lens for stuff like moon shots or telephoto landscapes, I had to turn the stabilization OFF or it would cause blurred images. Other than when using a tripod, I left the stabilization ON all the time when hand holding.

Hand Holding - Stabilization ON
Tripod - Stabilization OFF

Don't take this personally, most of us have been where you're at right now, but in situations like you're having, 99% of the time it's user error that can be overcome with education and practice of correct technique. Good luck and have fun out there!

sogs wrote in post #19496560
Very nice shots of the Bluebird!

Great capture! That's a tough one to identify.

Nice captures of the young ones!

I guess they like seafood too. Fine shot!

Nicely done!

Beautiful close-up!

Two great scenes!

Nice portraits!

Beautiful shot of the Owl!

Thanks for your kind words!

Curious look from a Gambel's Quail...

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19496602
Curious look from a Gambel's Quail...

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So beautiful!

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19496602
Curious look from a Gambel's Quail...

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19496602
Curious look from a Gambel's Quail...

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forum: Birds

Nice one!

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19496602
Curious look from a Gambel's Quail...

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forum: Birds

Nice image- focused well.