Post your Bird Portraits

Will in Tejas wrote in post #18731404
Rufous hummingbird from fall 2016

stunning. a beautiful bird

Will in Tejas wrote in post #18731703
Merlin (juvy) enjoying a breakfast of tree swallow. Out in an agricultural field.

Caught well in every dimension.
lovely photo.
did it take the Swallow in flight?
Fascinating.

avondale87 wrote in post #18731706
stunning. a beautiful bird


Caught well in every dimension.
lovely photo.
did it take the Swallow in flight?
Fascinating.

Thank you on both counts. I do not know if it took the swallow in flight but I would be willing to bet it did.

bidkev wrote in post #18731687
Arrived at the nest just in time to see the Osprey flying away. . . . I returned within 20 minutes and he'd already caught and devoured his bit of a big fish which for the bird's size, I can't believe he manged to carry.! . . .

The nest is 31 metres high and due to his position and the surrounding trees, the only way that I could get a clear shot was to stand beneath and shoot vertically, requiring me to tilt my head back as far as I could which resulted in much discomfort and the lens waving fairly wildly.

The osprey was thinking "No matter how much that guy below me stretches his neck and wiggles his catch around, he'll never manage to swallow it!"

Sibil wrote in post #18731743

Will in Tejas wrote in post #18731404
Rufous hummingbird from fall 2016

These are both beautiful.
Will you get a double commendation (I commented previously), but when I saw Sibil's post and yours mentioned fall 2016 I gather they change colours, whilst maintaining a different beauty.
They would no doubt blend with scenery more.

Lovely birds indeed. Adds to their intrigue.

MatthewK wrote in post #18536665
Female Cardinal in really dull, low light that's typical this time of year.

I have this as a vertical crop on my computer, but horizontal here on POTN because the uploader destroys the IQ in vertical orientation

clipper_from_oz wrote in post #18536969
Your spot on regarding the uploader destroying the IQ....I have exactly same issue and the higher the sensors get (pixel density wise) the worse it gets when downsizing and trying to hold high IQ. Basically so much info is getting discarded when downsampling occurs . I never noticed it back in my 20d/40d days and only barely noticed it in the 5dMk2 days but now with the sensors the way they are trying to reduce 8,000 pixels to 1200 on the long side just cannot condense without noticeable loss of IQ. And Im also noticing the uploader is somehow losing extra IQ especially when I compare the original 1200 PS downsampled image on my HDD against the final uploaded image via the uploader (as displayed in POTN ). Ive also tried downsampling/sizing using the uploader instead of PS algorithm but still cannot match the better 1200 IQ I get when doing in PS and viewing locally based.

Also re Vertical orientation vs Horizontal and how the uploader handles this IQ wise Ive never really compared the two so quite interested in your observation as I just thought it degraded both ways and left it at that. Maybe time ti revisit this whole thing to work out best way to improve IQ via the POTN uploader if thats at all possible

rgds

I have also found this issue of poor IQ after uploading vertical images onto POTN. But surely it's because of the 1600px limit on the long side. If it's a vertical image the width of a 3:2 crop (for example) will be 1067px. Then it's uploaded to the same screen width as a horizontal 1600px wide image, so will be enlarged without increasing detail. If the size limit could be 1600px (or whatever size) wide, regardless of height, I think the IQ would be more uniform.

bidkev wrote in post #18731687
.
Arrived at the nest just in time to see the Osprey flying away. I went for a walk in the mangroves assuming he'd gone fishing and would be back shortly. I returned within 20 minutes and he'd already caught and devoured his bit of a big fish which for the bird's size, I can't believe he manged to carry.! I believe that ospreys eat the head first before feeding the young.

The nest is 31 metres high and due to his position and the surrounding trees, the only way that I could get a clear shot was to stand beneath and shoot vertically, requiring me to tilt my head back as far as I could which resulted in much discomfort and the lens waving fairly wildly. I managed, through PP, to salvage only these 3 shots out of 67 taken. I'm guessing that OIS doen't work at it's best when the camera is held in this position?

Kevin these are wonderful, despite your limited success.
Curious if you had camera or lens or both image stabiliser active?
I would imagine the camera can handle near vertical shots.
I've never taken any real notice with my EM5, but just point it anywhere and haven't noticed a drop in performance.
Is that where the touted 5 axis stabilisation comes into its own?
I could fully appreciate yes.

Had you thought on that?

I share your neck pain. Try surveying for a day! LOL

clipper_from_oz wrote in post #18731354
Local Sulphur Crested Galah -Apollo Bay....


This is probably the closest I have got to a decent background for these guys given they are almost always above me and mainly in amongst lots of eucalyptus leaves when I have shot them in the past . This time I was lucky enough look down on them whilst having a beer on a mates balcony one afternoon. Good thing we were on to our first beers as I would have been lucky to even find my camera let alone get the right exposure etc if he had come along a bit later. Suffice to say not much wildlife gets shot from this balcony

Hosted photo: posted by clipper_from_oz in
./showthread.php?p=187​31354&i=i176315184
forum: Birds

Sensational shot, clipper. Really nice portrait.

docg wrote in post #18731373
Hooded Merganser

Hosted photo: posted by docg in
./showthread.php?p=187​31373&i=i252157782
forum: Birds

I still haven't got a nice shot of a hoodie. What I'd give to get a beauty like that.

Will in Tejas wrote in post #18731404
Found a folder of unattended to photos

Rufous hummingbird from fall 2016

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-qpH57NQ-X2.jpg&lb=1&s=A on Smugmug

Sensational shot, Bill.

belas wrote in post #18731454
Little owl at sunrise

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …514/in/datepost​ed-public/
Athene noctua, Κουκουβάγια, Little Owl by belas62 on Flickr

Great portrait shot of the burrowing owl.

navydoc wrote in post #18731470
His new favorite perch.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/29q7​uLJ Hist favorite perch by Gene, on Flickr

Absolutely beautiful.

bidkev wrote in post #18731687
.
Arrived at the nest just in time to see the Osprey flying away. I went for a walk in the mangroves assuming he'd gone fishing and would be back shortly. I returned within 20 minutes and he'd already caught and devoured his bit of a big fish which for the bird's size, I can't believe he manged to carry.! I believe that ospreys eat the head first before feeding the young.

The nest is 31 metres high and due to his position and the surrounding trees, the only way that I could get a clear shot was to stand beneath and shoot vertically, requiring me to tilt my head back as far as I could which resulted in much discomfort and the lens waving fairly wildly. I managed, through PP, to salvage only these 3 shots out of 67 taken. I'm guessing that OIS doen't work at it's best when the camera is held in this position?

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2aKe​JW6 Osprey Feeding (5) by Kevin Dickinson, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2c8Z​Ner Osprey Feeding (4) by Kevin Dickinson, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2aKe​RuX Osprey Feeding (3) by Kevin Dickinson, on Flickr

You invited yourself to the dinner table. Were you offered any sushi? Great series, Kevin.

Will in Tejas wrote in post #18731703
Merlin (juvy) enjoying a breakfast of tree swallow. Out in an agricultural field.

Hosted photo: posted by Bill in Texas in
./showthread.php?p=187​31703&i=i215245662
forum: Birds

Excellent shot.

fotoi wrote in post #18731704
...

Hosted photo: posted by fotoi in
./showthread.php?p=187​31704&i=i65390836
forum: Birds

Nicely done shot, fotoi.