Incoming

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great capture!..nice job Scott!

This shot makes a cardinal look like a bird of prey. Very cool.

very dynamic; how long did you have to wait to get this shot? 6/6

Niklas - I thought so too. I considered doing some photoshop work with it and have it picking up some prey, but decided against it.

 

 

Joe - All damn day.

 

Excellent capture scott,regards, RK!

ORIGINAL POSE EN EL AIRE DEL AVE , UNOS TONOS DE COLOR MUY BUENOS , UN SALUDO

Hi! You?ve an amazing portfolio. I do like it a lot. About your question in my picture I?m from Brazil and that trap is the most effective trap I?ve ever seen. No pain, I guess. :) Thanks!

Scott, you're going to hate me for this, but I don't think it is sharp enough. It was a great idea, but I reckon you can improve on this.

 

I think it is really worthwhile persisting with bird action shots. My folio is beginning to look a bit boring due to the number of photos of birds just sitting there. You on the other hand, are stretching yourself and trying new things with your bird subjects.

I agree about it not being sharp enough. Usually 1/1000 like this is, is fast enough to not have any blur from a cardinal. I've got some sharp ones with no blur shot at 1/640. It is nice to get bird action shots, but sometimes I do wonder if it really is worthwhile. I was serious in my comment above. It did take me all day to get this shot. As far as your portfolio looking boring, I guess it's just how you look at it. You have a great variety of different birds, but I only have a few different species. As far as I'm concerned, it's not any more boring than mine.

Have you tried high-speed flash?

 

I have read that flash can be used to provide much faster effective shutter speeds than 1/1000sec. If for example, you fire a Nikon SB600 flash at 1/64th of full output, the flash only remains illuminated for 1/25000sec. If conditions are dark enough, this becomes your effective shutter speed. To get a reasonably bright image, you either need to use a really high ISO setting or you need to use multiple flash heads.

 

I have seen high speed flash applied to flight shots. The results are phenomenal. I wish I could send you a link to some bird photos taken like this, but the only ones I've seen were in books.

 

I'm sure you already know all of the above. I only mentioned high speed flash because I find it interesting and I thought that you might too.

 

A good photographer once said something like "there is no relationship between the quality of a photograph and the difficulty that the photographer had in taking it". I often wish that I did not completely agree.

I actually bought two additional flashes to the one I already had, mainly for shooting birds. I'm pretty sure I used two for this shot. Of course about all they did was help a little with the shadows. I was thinking I would be able to make some good shots at dusk using 3 flashes, but everything looks fake and it's obvious a flash was used in dim light. Maybe I just need to be taught the proper technique, or maybe 3 flashes aren't enough. Usually I'd be able to figure it out by now, but I haven't had much luck.

Very bright, colorful and Alive!

 

well done, I do like the blurring of the wings, but I don't think it would be possible to have the wings blurred without having the cardinal blurred ever-so-slightly.

 

cg

 

Scott i,ve been trying everything in the book to get a humming birds wings from blurring, it,s a challange. fast shutter speed with flash in early morning light seems to get the best results for me in action bird photos. you did a really great job on this shot, it,s something to be proud of.

sincerly Joe B.

woww. what a superb landing dear Scott :)

 

Biliana

 

PS.

 

Thank you dear Scott for your comment on my Drops :) they are sharper :) but now I am using 3 flash unites around my kitchen sink :) two slave flashes aside and the one built-in on the Canon D350!