Back to the park.

[MN Shutterbug]

I figured I'd better get out and practice a bit more with my new camera, considering I've only had it in use a little over an hour so far. Also, when I get to the bog, and if I have the opportunity of the decade, I don't want to blow it because I was too slow at changing settings or whatever. A person just never know when opportunity is going to come knocking. I need to be prepared.

Once again, our popular little chickadee. Considering most people liked the shot in the snow last time, I had to try and duplicate it, but sharper. I got 3 that I like, just don't know which I like best.

I was quite surprised to see chipping sparrows at the feeders this time. I've only seen them in the spring and fall, during migration. Again, 3 that I like, but can't decide which is the best.

These were all shot at partial metering and +2/3 EC.

Opinions are very welcome.

[fishinchicks]

I like your second sparrow shot. The snow isn't blown out in that one, and I like his posture.

Have fun playing with your new toy. I am pretty jealous!

[mmeyer]

X,

All very nice shots. I like the #3 Chickadee. I know you usually don't want to shoot something facing away from you but it has a lot more detail in it. Plus, at first glance I thought he was hovering an inch off the snow.

I like #1 Sparrow the best because I liked the grass in the foreground.

All are sharp and well done.

Thanks for sharing.

[MN Shutterbug]

Thanks, folks.

Mike, after you pointing it out, I have to agree with your assessment of the chickadee. I'm still unsure about the sparrow though. I cleaned up the sunflower seed hulls in the chickadee shot, and I think it looks cleaner, literally.

[Steve Foss]

Hey XT, you're getting some good practice in there.

I like the first chickadee pose best but the third chickadee exposure better. I'd have gone a bit underexposed to keep the chickadee's cheek whites from blowing out in the bright sun in that first shot. But chickadees, or goldeneyes (like in the eagle thread going on right now) are among the biggest challenges in birding photography under direct sun. Mature bald eagles, magpies, any other birds that have blacks and whites on the same body. So much contrast!

I definitely like the second sparrow best. Great alert extended pose. It's an American tree sparrow BTW, not a chipper.

Very nice work.

[finnbay]

You're really giving that camera a workout! Good poses. the second sparrow is my favorite.

[buzzsaw]

Good start X. Since you "asked" for CC. I personally would have dialed in my fill flash to get all of the details in the black around the eye.

[MN Shutterbug]

Thanks, guys.

Steve, I appreciate the ID. I saw the brown stripe on the head and immediately thought chipper. I shot at plus 2/3 to keep the whole scene from going too dark. I guess, with partial metering, I might have been OK at no compensation. At least it's only about a dime size spot on the cheek that's blown.

Buzz, I never even considered flash. I've never even used the flash on this camera yet. The range is only about 15 ft. with a 55mm lens, so I doubt it would have done any good with the 400. This bird had to have been at least twice that far away. However, I'm always open to ideas, and will give it a shot next time. Thanks for the tip.

[buzzsaw]

yeah, you'd want something like the 550 EX or 580 EX II I'm guessing... more $$$ to spend on our hobbies. It's amazing how many people shots that people take in the middle of the day with high sun and they never think about using fill flash (dialed back of course) to lighten up the shadows in the face.

[MN Shutterbug]

I can definitely see the necessity of fill flash on people, especially when they're wearing a baseball cap. However, in the case of a chickadee, wouldn't the flash, even dialed back, increase the chances of blowing the highlights even more? After all, you can't instruct the flash to work just on the shadows.

[Steve Foss]

XT, the onboard flash on the 30D is OK for close-in stuff, but does not offer a lot of adjustment capability and, as buzz said, you'll want external flash for the types of situations you are discussing.

The 580EX II is top of the Canon line, the 550EX an older version of the 580. If you've got the jing, by all means pick up a 580. If not, the 430 is the next step down and has plenty of power for the type of fill flash nature applications you're talking about. If you get into that aspect of nature bird/animal/flash photography, you can add the better beamer for very little money, which narrows, strengthens and extends the flash beam. Even without the beamer, the 430 will give you plenty of muscle to get out at least 30 feet as fill. And if you go with the 580, you'll be all the way on top.

As to your chickadee/flash question, you can use a combination of EC on the camera and EC on the flash to even things out. It's a matter of trail and error.

As an easy example, if I'm shooting a portrait of a person against a bright sky, as a starting point I'll dial the camera's EC to -1 to knock down that background (-1 alone would underexpose the face), but then will adjust flash EC to +1, giving nice light to the face that won't reach the background and will result in an even exposure. But in that situation those are just starting points to be altered based on what is shown on the LCD and histogram.

That's just a human portrait example, for sure, but gives you an idea that barely scratches the surface of the capability of "lifelike" flash photography, and doesn't even begin to consider multiple "slave" flash units.

The key in using flash for wildlife applications is to adjust things so the flash only fills shadows a bit, adding detail to them as though you had low-angle mellow light. That can be a pretty complex topic, about which whole articles and book chapters have been written.

And I'm not the guy to instruct on that. While I've used a lot of flash on outdoor human portraiture and can discuss that with some knowledge, I almost never use flash for nature photography. Just a personal preference, and some top-echelon nature shooters are flash folks.

[MN Shutterbug]

Steve, thanks for the crash course in flash photography. I'll definitely file it in my head for possible future use. It makes a lot of sense where the subject stands out from the background and you want the the subject affected, but it just doesn't compute if the subject matter has black and white on the same plane, next to each other. I figure if it affects the highlights, it'll affect the shadows.

Well, my wife needs my warm bod in bed,

Night.

[Steve Foss]

XT, the example I gave also works when the bride has a nice tan and is wearing a white dress. Just something a person has to experiment with over time with lots of looking at the histogram during the test shots.

See ya (well, type with ya) in the morning.