First Bird shot (Collared Dove) - C&C most welcome and appreciated

Ok, my first bird shot. Took it earlier today. As you can see from the photo, it's a horrible grey, dull, overcast kind of a day, but i've been itching to get out, even just in the garden to see what was around, and saw this little guy on next door's tv ariel

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Nice shot Painter and welcome to the bird forum...be very careful as bird photography becomes quickly addicting and expensive as you always need longer lenses

Welcome to the bird forum...Very nice shot to start out with. Looking forward to your future postings.

You got the colours of the bird OK anyway and the sky is not your fault, nice image.

Dai

Nice shot considering the circumstances. You might want to try Av Mode to keep control over the aperture though.

nice first post and welcome.

Thanks for all your comments guys, I can certainly understand it becoming addictive..........act​ually it's one of the main reasons for me doing photography, birds and wildlife I mean.

With regards to shooting in AV mode, the reason I shot in TV mode was to get a faster shutter speed to compensate for the windy conditions,....I could just about see the tv ariel shifting slightly as i viewed through the viewfinder, otherwise I do usually use AV mode. Does that make sense, or am i talking nonsense?

Oh Dai, what part of South Wales are you from, i'm an ex-Welsh pat, living in Liverpool. I'm from Hirwaun/Aberdare originally?

Thanks again guys

ps, i understand i will lose AF if I used either the x1.4 or x2 TC with my 100-400L, is this correct? Not a problem, but i would like to get a little more reach without spending more on another big FL lens. Also, is there significant loss in IQ with these converters?

Well, there are other ways to up the shutter speed. I like AV Mode, because all lenses have their sweet spot. You have to test in all f/stops to find out what yours is, but say it's f/6.3. In Tv Mode, the camera can change the f/stop to one that isn't as sharp as 6.3. I don't ever want that to happen, so I use Av Mode and either use exposure compensation to get a little more shutter speed, use flash, or, I change the ISO to adjust it. Since you shot at ISO 100, there was a lot of leeway there for adjusting ISO to double shutter speed each time you upped the ISO a notch.

Thanks Canonloader, thats great advice, much appreciated.

welcome painter and a good shot from 100% ive noticed that at iso 100 and @1/125 so i would use auto iso on a dull day will be 800 and usable. (crappy uk weather)
so this will give a faster shutter speed.

Better than my first attempts but ease off the sharpening a bit as you can see a halo around the bird.

Thanks jpalmer and Eccles. Eccles, you're right about the sharpening, i need to hold back a tad on that. I've just found my 40D a tad soft, so i think i tend to overcomensate.

Hi Painter, im'e from Llanelli. As to losing auofocus have a look here
http://www.michaelfurt​man.com/taping_the_pin​s.htm
or type Canon+autofocus+tape pins in Google.

Dai

I believe that halo is from resizing in Elements. I have seen it before on jpg's resized with Elements. Can you test that?

DaiWelsh wrote in post #4272058
Hi Painter, im'e from Llanelli. As to losing auofocus have a look here
http://www.michaelfurt​man.com/taping_the_pin​s.htm
or type Canon+autofocus+tape pins in Google.

Dai

Thanks for the link Dai, that's great, and say hello to Wales for me, i should be back down there again before Christmas, looking forward to it, really miss the old homeland.