Backyard Birds

I am trying to get back to taking some photographs after some time away. I recently bought a 7D to go with the Bigma and am slowly getting used to it but it is becoming increasingly clear just how much I do not know (or understand) LOL.

Anyway here are some picture of birds that I happened to see on the weekend in my back yard. The first (the Red Cardinals), I have not been able to get pictures of before so I was very happy to see them come calling.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Hello John, a nice set here, #3 is the best imho. They all are a tad soft, either from a slow speed, which you should be able to shot faster with all that sun sining or movement from the birds, od both. Those Starlings can be especially hard to expose on, the black and green and blue are hard to get together. The 7D can be difficult at first but once you get the hang of it, you will love it, a great body. Lets see some more!

Thanks.

They weren't particularly slow shutter speeds, I looked at the meta data on the originals, most are around 14.2 meter away, shutter speeds varied from 1/350 to 1/1000. I have been letting the iso run in auto, a lot of these are iso 1000. I did notice that it was pattern metering not spot so I will probably change that.

The Bigma that I have is the OS version, and because I have only had the new body for a week, I have yet to try to see if I can get a beter focus using the micro adjust. I have not had that ability before. This body is a beast compared to the T2i that I am coming from.

Oh, yeah they were all at 500 mm so the lens does tend to be a little soft at max length.