Blue Jay Opening Sunflower Seeds

I was kind of surprised to see a Blue Jay at all since they have all gone back into the woods a couple weeks ago. But this one wasn't shy and he was after those big sunflower seeds. He opened them just like a chickadee does, holding them with his toes on a limb, then doing the woody woodpecker on them. He managed, but a chickadee can do them faster.

I used the Better Beamer on a 550ex and the Bigma at about 30 feet.

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hey Mitch, glad to see you starting to use the beamer. I guess it ain't easy, but looks like a good start.

Mitch. Great captures and I'm glad to see some pics with the beamer. Looks like I need to add this to my BHPhoto wish list.

Thanks Peter and Bill. The beamer does seem to work good but I want to dial it in better. I think it's putting too much light on the subject making the whole picture too contrasy with all those shadows in there.

WOW! You can really see the effect of the Beamer! I never take mine out. I should do so.

Thanks Don. I think I have it dialed in now. It works fine as the main light source, but I wanted to use it for fill flash since there is generally enough light, but from the back and into my face. So using Gary's directions, I have practiced with the FEC using the wheel on the back. I've found that it's easier to dial in light with that and to leave the regular EV settings at zero. It works good.

Boy that sure boost the color Mitch

Nice in a tough area.

Thanks Gary. Yes, flash always seems to bring the colors out. I was able to use ISO 100, and that really helped.

Terrific series, Mitch. And the color is stunning. Excellent all around.

Now aren't you glad you didn't sell the 550 to me! I am finding that I am attaching the 430EX and the Beamer almost automatically these days. I hesitated for a moment before heading from the car this afternoon (Least Sandpiper & Semipalmated Plover) but put it on anyway and ended up using it in a backlit situation, for extra light when things got overcast and for fill.

I am still getting a bit of white eye at times so I will probably go bracket. Are you still having that problem or have you worked around it?

Again terrific images, Mitch.

Tough shots to take and you did well on these Mitch.

Thanks Ed. Yes, I still get white eye and I just fix it at the final stage of post processing by using a small hard edged brush with black paint and just paint it out. It works fine and takes a second to do. A lot cheaper and faster than monkeying with a bracket.

While I carry the flash and now the broken down beamer in my case, flash for me will always be a last resort type of thing. It's ungainly to use, the beamer is hard to keep aimed, like glasses always sliding down your nose, and it's far to heavy and fragile to carry around in the woods.

Thanks Reyno. Yes, tough. It was like shooting a bug up in the inside wires of a black umbrella from 10 feet away. Since I was testing the flash and beamer and I hadn't seen a Jay in a week or so, I figured why not.

Nicely done Mitch, I dont think any bird comes close to the chickadees for opening sunflower seeds.

Thanks Trevor. Yup, those little guys have the knack. But, to be fair, this guy wasn't going for the little black oil seeds, but those huge striped suckers, so it took him awhile.

Not sure how he did it though, I was watching the whole thing, and he would pick up 3 or 4 of them then go back to his branch and work on them, one at a time. I guess he just kept the others in his cheek.

Too cool, love the colors and the light, not to mention the action!

John

canonloader wrote in post #3238889
Thanks Ed. Yes, I still get white eye and I just fix it at the final stage of post processing by using a small hard edged brush with black paint and just paint it out. It works fine and takes a second to do. A lot cheaper and faster than monkeying with a bracket.

While I carry the flash and now the broken down beamer in my case, flash for me will always be a last resort type of thing. It's ungainly to use, the beamer is hard to keep aimed, like glasses always sliding down your nose, and it's far to heavy and fragile to carry around in the woods.

My problem is that I am not that artistic. If I try to fix in post-processing, I end up with a square eye!

I know what you mean about carrying all that stuff around. So far I have generally stayed to wider paths and trails but there would be no way to get the camera, flash and Beamer on a tripod through a brushy area without the risk of major damage.