My first GBH

This is my first good capture of a GBH. I was fishing on the outer banks of N.C. last month and this bird was hanging around the camp ground. I didn't have my tri-pod so it's hand held. 350d, 75-300mm at 300mm,f 5.6, 1/320sec, ISO 400. I'm still working on my post work so any advise is welcome.

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Nice capture, he posed well for you. Hand held is tough with the slower tele-zooms. Consider at least getting a monopod to keep great opportunities like this one nice and sharp. The branch is definitely a "hot spot", so play with the exposure/brightness/co​ntrast a bit in PS. I'd also crank up the sharpness under the detail tab on this one quite a bit. Overall, a really nice shot!

Bob took the words right out of my mouth!

Really nice pose...but sharpness and exposure could improve it.

Actually I didn't know that the 300 would have difficulty with handholding...I hope that IS will help that. Anyone know?

I would love to see more of your photos!

Nice pose and environment in this image. The nits have already been mentionned. If not already then consider shooting in RAW format. Post processing can pull lots of detail out of RAW compared to JPEG ...has much greater latitude on exposures.

Nicely posed capture.

Margie wrote in post #2403613
Actually I didn't know that the 300 would have difficulty with handholding...I hope that IS will help that. Anyone know?

IS always helps, but definitely isn't a substitute for a good tripod. Best trick I know to compensate for not being able to mount the camera is to crank up the ISO a bit and find a "sweet spot" where you can get some speed out of the lens, minimize shake, but not add too much noise. The "sweet spot" is going to be diffferent on every camera/lens combination. On my rig, for example, I can get reasonably good speeds on my 1DSMII with the 100-400 4.5-5.6 L mounted on it by running at ISO 400-600, but noise isn't bad at all. If I get up to ISO 800-1000 - then noise becomes an issue. I usually try to keep my shutter speed around 1/500th or better off the Monopod, or 1/1000th or better off hand held.

Canon_Bob wrote in post #2405894
IS always helps, but definitely isn't a substitute for a good tripod. Best trick I know to compensate for not being able to mount the camera is to crank up the ISO a bit and find a "sweet spot" where you can get some speed out of the lens, minimize shake, but not add too much noise. The "sweet spot" is going to be diffferent on every camera/lens combination. On my rig, for example, I can get reasonably good speeds on my 1DSMII with the 100-400 4.5-5.6 L mounted on it by running at ISO 400-600, but noise isn't bad at all. If I get up to ISO 800-1000 - then noise becomes an issue. I usually try to keep my shutter speed around 1/500th or better off the Monopod, or 1/1000th or better off hand held.

Thank you! I will try and find out what that spot is for my combination. I have a good tripod and a monopod, but find it difficult to use with birds. I am used to stationary objects! I will have to practice and try though. Any hints that you could give me, I would really appreciate.

fireturk1 wrote in post #2401598
This is my first good capture of a GBH. I was fishing on the outer banks of N.C. last month and this bird was hanging around the camp ground. I didn't have my tri-pod so it's hand held. 350d, 75-300mm at 300mm,f 5.6, 1/320sec, ISO 400. I'm still working on my post work so any advise is welcome.

Nice pose of a relaxed bird. I agree with the other camments feom above about sharpness.

Margie wrote in post #2403613
Actually I didn't know that the 300 would have difficulty with handholding...I hope that IS will help that. Anyone know?

Margie,

Yes a good tripod mounted shot is going to offer the absolute lowest camera shake, but tripod mounted shots will seriously reduce the number of captures you get. Big waders (shorebirds) may stand in one plece for a while, as indeed will a perched raptor, but most songbirds behave in a manic manner and don't stand still for more than a second or two.

I have both e 70-300 IS, and the 300L (which also has IS) and I find I can expose at 1/125 hand held and get very acceptable results, results that I couldn't get with my earlier 75-300 non-IS.

Hope this helps.

Phreddie wrote in post #2407834
Margie,

Yes a good tripod mounted shot is going to offer the absolute lowest camera shake, but tripod mounted shots will seriously reduce the number of captures you get. Big waders (shorebirds) may stand in one plece for a while, as indeed will a perched raptor, but most songbirds behave in a manic manner and don't stand still for more than a second or two.

I have both e 70-300 IS, and the 300L (which also has IS) and I find I can expose at 1/125 hand held and get very acceptable results, results that I couldn't get with my earlier 75-300 non-IS.

Hope this helps.

Thank you ! That helps alot. I was finding that to be true that songbird are too active to get them with a tri or monopod. I guess I will just have to keep practicing.

Thanks for all the comments! The pic looked a whole lot different on my screen then what showed up on here. I have been told to calabrate my monitor and see if that fixes the colors and bright spots, Any truth to this? I have some more shots of the GBH I will post as soon as I get this straight.

I went back and tried some things in PS. I'm still learning, but I think it's better. I think the branch looks a little fake, but like I said I'm still trying to figure this out. Thanks for looking.