Some Birds from today...

Hey all...I know these aren't quite perfect...but, they are my try. Sparrow...and Male Cardinal.

I hope you enjoy them...as much as I did taking the pics, and walking around. Both are hand-held, cloudy, rather dark day, but it was a day off, for something fun. I'll see if one of the woodpeckers came out alright, and add it later, if one is good. I'm still learning, and trying...and sometimes, my efforts pay off.

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Not much interest in these? Any ideas for improvement? I know they don't compete in the same league as the big guns around...so, some thoughts would be nice?

Like you, I am trying to learn from the "big guns" on the forum. For these pictures I would comment that on the first the cut off tail hurts it and if the light and focus were more to the eye it would help. In the cardinal picture the feeder seems more the subject than the bird. Just the thoughts of another neophite.

Rock

Thanks Rock. It's quite hard for me to get close to these...the BH was in our neighbors yard...as we don't have a feeder here. Almost 20-25 feet away.

As for the sparrow...the tail is there, but not so sharp. I might have to start using the tripod...but the one I have is not so sturdy. Might have to find another...that supports the 5D and 400.

Thanks again.

The 5D is a no crop camera, so you either have to get closer or crop the shot. Since the 5D is so sharp, you should be able to crop the cardinal some more and turn a snapshot into a more interesting picture of the bird himself.

Post Processing is the bigger part of shooting birds. So much so that I now have 2 books for just CS2.

Yeah, cropping is a big factor. Especially when it's 20-25 ft away. I have one, with a profile...so, let me paste that one up in a few.

Thanks Mitch. CS2 is another crazy tool...gotta love it.

Here's the close up. Need to get better at hand-holding...and using a tripod. Need a more sturdy one...but, it's all good. Fun for me...which I don't get much time to have...working crazy hours.

That is the same as the second shot...just cropped.

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Nice shots and sorry I missed your original posts. The weekends here generate so much activity that you can post and within an hour or so you're on page 2 headed for page 3. Try the noise filter on your editing software, run your Cardinal crop through it and see if it will remove some of the noise. I like the shot. How do you like the 5d?

Your efforst paid off as you did well on these captures.

I like the sparrow. The second one is nice too but that birdfeeder sure is ugly. For me it ruins the pic. I understand it's your neighbour's?

Thanks wlaramie...yes, this was cropped from the edited jpeg. I will work with the RAW file a little later. I have gotten used to the 5D...used to have a 20D which I sold to get it. It's nice...and I love FF...so, it works best for me.

Thanks Reyno, much appreciated.

Yes, Montreal, neighbors' BH...and it's been there since he was a kid...and is now in his late 70's, early 80's. Long time...

Appreciate the comments.