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Junco and a Black Cap Chickadee

Jim Almquist

By Jim Almquist
in Bird Watching

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Jim Almquist Grand Master

Jim Almquist

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Thank for the kind words. It was really a test of sorts for me to see how the setup would works but it will need some tweaking. I am not sure if it is because of the tube and having the lens set to 5.6 but the focus area became very thin and because of how close I was to the subject it did not allow me time to recompose the shot and you would have a sharp mid-section and the head was slightly out of focus. I also need to use the flash and then I will be able to go to a higher aperture but still not sure how that will work with the blind. All good fun grin

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Steve Foss Grand Master

Steve Foss

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Jim, the closer the subject is to the camera, the shallower the DOF (at consistent aperture). So at six feet at f5.6, the DOF is thin as a razor, which unless the bird is in the right type of profile, won't allow you to focus on wings and get sharp faces/eyes.

And locking focus on the eye and recomposing is often very, very hard because the birds move so quickly, particularly that close.

I had my best luck in those situations in a blind, so the birds were more comfortable and not in a hurry to get into the feeder and out again. I also set up a single natural perch (fairly small so there weren't many perching options) and prefocused on the branch. When a bird landed, my ballhead was set just right so I could swing to grab the eye and recompose and rip off a burst before the bird moved. I use one-shot focus mode to do this.

More often than not, at least one or two in the burst was sharp on the face. It also helps to put the perch on the other side of the feeder so when the birds land they are facing you/the feeder.

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Birdsong Mentor

Birdsong

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Uh-oh. Saw my first junco of the season today. Guess it's here (the 'w' word nobody seem to want to hear besides me). Unfortunately, the number of perfect soft green bgs like these will be harder and harder to come by.

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Steve Foss Grand Master

Steve Foss

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Quote:
It also helps to put the perch on the other side of the feeder so when the birds land they are facing you/the feeder.

Good point ! I have mine to the right and the left. Next setup things will have to change a little bit.

If they are to the right AND the left, you have one too many perches up for photographic purposes. If there's more than one, you're too busy chasing birds from one perch to another with your camera/lens to nail down great images.

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Jim Almquist Grand Master

Jim Almquist

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Steve the way I have it setup is to tie the perch to the bottom of both feeders and aim down the middle to minimize how much I have to move the lens. When I have some free time I want to set things up so the birds have to move a little farther away from the apple tree so they will be inclined to stop at the perch before hopping in the feeder. Thanks for the tips and hope the people that are now just seeing the Juncos get some nice weather so they can get out and shoot some. I had a male Goldfinch hanging around yesterday confused

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