Black oil, red birds (pics included)

[Steve Foss]

Ahhh, the snow is on the ground, the black oil sunflower is in the feeders, the deer are in the yard, and the winter birds have come to stay.

Here is the partial cast of winter characters from the top of Finn Hill. Nothing special. All portraits of perched birds with no action, nothing to make the pulses of magazine photo editors race, but repetitions on the theme of male rednecks in a town with lots of rednecks.

Common redpoll

Canon 1D MkIIn, Canon 400 f2.8L (non-IS), Canon 1.4 TC, Gitzo tripod, studioball head, iso100, 1/800, f4

Pine grosbeak

Canon 20D, Canon 100-400L IS, handheld at 400mm, iso400, 1/320 at f5.6

Purple finch

Canon 20D, Canon 100-400L IS handheld at 400mm, iso400, 1/400 at f5.6

[Deitz Dittrich]

cant say I have ever seen one of them... probably becuase I dont pay attention!.. Are those all the same type bird.. that top one looks way different..

[Steve Foss]

DD, you can find them all around your old schooling grounds in northern Minnesota in winter, and sometimes points south.

I forgot to add the names of the species in image no. 2 and 3, but just did that. Sorry!

[Dbl]

Has Steve been borrowing from CPS again or did you just have a major upgrade in equipment? All really nice shots, but you know how much I would love to get my hands on the lens used in #1. The bokeh with that thing is insane! The dark backgrounds in #2 and #3 make the subject really stand out.

[Jim Almquist]

Great shots Steve love all the detail on the Grosbeck. Santa must have come early for Steve

[Steve Foss]

Thanks guys.

No, so far, santa is still bearing the initials C P S. Until I have a santa who can shell out the $10,000 plus for that body/lens, it'll just have to be this way.

As well as insanely sharp images and wonderful bokeh, the 400L f2.8 requires great focus technique, because depth of focus at that f-stop can be razor thin, especially at close range. Took me awhile to get the hang of it when I first borrowed that lens. Well, took about five minutes; just seemed like awhile.

[Swimmer]

Great shots Steve. How did you get the light right on the Purple Finch? The luminosity (word?) of the lower tail feathers is cool. Were you able to meter for that part of the bird? IF so, how? I use the AEB (auto exposure bracketing for you poor non-Canoneers -- it takes one "normal" exposure, one underexposure, and one overexposure in quick succession)...but I'm sure there are other more professional methods (spot metering?). PS: I squeezed in some time with the 100-400L this weekend...this is going to be fun.

[Steve Foss]

Hey Swimmer: It was a light overcast day, so there were no hot spots to worry about. The 20D doesn't have spot metering. Center-weighted metering is as close at it gets, and that's what I generally use, and did in this case. And center weight metering in this case seemed to meter for the mid tones. Very little noise in the shadows and the highlights are not blown out. You also might notice that the portion of the tail you commented on seems to almost exactly match an 18 percent gray card (an old-fashioned tool to meter for mid tones).

I've used camera bodies with true spot metering, and you have to be VERY careful, because if the bird is big enough in the frame, you might unintentionally spot meter for a white portion and underexpose the mid and shadow tones, or meter for a dark portion and blow out the highlights. There are definitely times when the spot metering comes in handy, but I wouldn't use it often.

I also don't use the auto bracketing feature if I'm confident of the situation. In fact, I only have used it a couple of times. That's because I want to get as many fps as possible to make sure I get the subject in that perfect pose, and if some of those fps are taken up with under and overexposed images, I feel like I've wasted an opportunity.

One situation where the auto bracketing is great is landscapes, where, even with filters, sometimes the range in exposure between the highlights and shadows defies the ability of a single image to capture both. You can take the three images and combine elements of each in photoshop to even out the exposure. Of course, only if it's from a tripod with NO movement at all, or the images won't match when they're overlaid.

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

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One situation where the auto bracketing is great is landscapes, where, even with filters, sometimes the range in exposure between the highlights and shadows defies the ability of a single image to capture both. You can take the three images and combine elements of each in photoshop to even out the exposure. Of course, only if it's from a tripod with NO movement at all, or the images won't match when they're overlaid.

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A few thoughts for you Steve... HDR and Photomatix, unless you prefer what CS2 can do.

[Steve Foss]

Buzz, I actually don't do any of the REALLY fancy stuff Photoshop CS2 allows. My spouse, who has been a computer graphic designer for 25 years, is a total Photoshop assassin, so if I'm combining images I hand it over to her.

[Swimmer]

No wonder CS2 is so easy for you! I'm still trying to understand layering, but I think I figured out how to size my photos at least.

Steve et al, one more metering question. I usually use just the center red "dot" and not the whole range of "dots". With birding, you think more of a center weighting is appropriate, right?

[Steve Foss]

The dots (squares) represent focus points, not metering. I almost always use the center focus point, lock focus and recompose if I'm in one-shot mode. In Al servo, I also use the center point most of the time. If I know I'm going to be composing vertically and the subject is at the top or bottom of the vertical frame, I'll switch focus points.

It's not a matter of bird photography necessarily that decides which metering mode I use. If the subject is darker or lighter than its background, I definitely use center-weighted metering, because the subject must be properly exposed. This is true with people, animals, cars, birds, etc. Center weighted just is the one I leave it set to and one I use the most.

[Swimmer]

Duh, as you can tell, I confuse myself sometimes...obviously, the red "dots" are for focusing. The metering is set elsewhere. I checked and I am set at center weighted metering. Thanks Steve, I will try and ask more intelligent questions next time.