Post your Bird Portraits

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18180000
Hi Ed,

I have never heard of barbet before... I tried googling it and got the French Water dog! Never heard of them either! I tried 'barbet photos', 'barbet photography' and 'barbet natural light'

Please explain what you mean by barbet

Thank you

https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/Prong-billed_barbet

There are new world and old world barbets. These old world barbets are related to toucans, they are in the same family. I never heard of them either until we saw this one (not a setup, we just found it) and our guide identified it for us. I looked it up in Garrigues and Dean's Birds of Costa Rica, the local bible, which I brought with me on the trip. Semnormis frantzii

I spent a lot of time on the trip with my head buried in that book. I learned a lot and found many species I had never heard of and got to see some of them in person!

Ed

edmidlifecrisis wrote in post #18179980
Hi Dave: That shot was natural light (the barbet). I used flash once or twice but it was rare. I brought my Better Beamer fully intending to use it but left part of it at home so it was useless!!! There were a few times where it would have been helpful.

No one in my small group nor the guide really used flash with the major exception being the hummingbird and bat flight photos which were setups with 5 flashes. Everything else was natural light with maybe one or two exceptions. I just checked the barbet photo EXIF and it confirms flash was off. All my hummingbird perching photos (there are a LOT of them) were natural light outdoors only.

Ed

Thanks Ed.
I'm heading there in January and am wondering what equipment to take. I know a lot of shots will be under jungle canopy, but you certainly managed to get amazing shots without flash.

edmidlifecrisis wrote in post #18180002
https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/Prong-billed_barbet

OK, thank you!

Barbets come in a number of flavors !
Here are a couple from my last trip to South Africa

Crested Barbet

Gregsiem wrote in post #18180012
Barbets come in a number of flavors !
Here are a couple from my last trip to South Africa

Crested Barbet

Black Collared Barbet

White Eared Barbet

Wow! Love them!!!

Thanks for posting!

shooz wrote in post #18180003
Thanks Ed.
I'm heading there in January and am wondering what equipment to take. I know a lot of shots will be under jungle canopy, but you certainly managed to get amazing shots without flash.

Send me a PM and I can tell you about our trip, maybe it will be helpful. If you do bring a Beamer make sure you take ALL the parts!!!!! Duh!

European crested tit

IMAGE LINK: http://s1072.photobuck​et.com …1107_zpsaw0hvzm​d.jpg.html

Pondrader wrote in post #18179993
In the past Ive had more than a few tell me I needed flash, I just can't get into it.

Nice shot! Flash for wildlife rarely if ever looks good imo.

edmidlifecrisis wrote in post #18180022
Send me a PM and I can tell you about our trip, maybe it will be helpful. If you do bring a Beamer make sure you take ALL the parts!!!!! Duh!

I have both the Beamer and the new MagMod - the MagMod is easier to use, and the parts stay together
If you have any questions about it let me know! It's a good piece of kit, and not too heavy.

Keltab wrote in post #18180158
I have both the Beamer and the new MagMod - the MagMod is easier to use, and the parts stay together
If you have any questions about it let me know! It's a good piece of kit, and not too heavy.

Thanks, that's good info, as I don't know anybody who has used one.

Keltab wrote in post #18180158
I have both the Beamer and the new MagMod - the MagMod is easier to use, and the parts stay together
If you have any questions about it let me know! It's a good piece of kit, and not too heavy.

Thanks, I will look into it!!

Here is another portrait, cross posted from the Tamron 150-600 (version 1) pic thread. Spent a whole day hauling gear around the mountainside for this one!!!

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/NSEL​5G

Keltab: Is it the MagBeam? They make a bunch of stuff.

The Girl

edmidlifecrisis wrote in post #18180204
Keltab: Is it the MagBeam? They make a bunch of stuff.

Yeah - MagBeam... I got the Wildlife kit when it was on Kickstarter. I've used it quite a few times, and it is simple and quick. I'm not much of a flash guy usually, but when I need it for a distance shot, it works really well.

On their site go to Modifiers, and look for the Wildlife Kit. It includes the MagGrip and the MagBeam Fresnel Extender.
The MagBeam is so much faster for setup, and easy to keep clean. Sounds odd, but I like that about it.