Outdoor Ontario
Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: Anonymous on September 22, 2009, 06:26:48 AM
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Hanging around
(http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/WingsofFuryPhotography/Songbirds/WhiteBreastedNuthatch.jpg)
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Nice pose of him checking you out.
Looks like he's looking to see if you brought any seed with you :)
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Looks like he's looking to see if you brought any seed with you :)
Like this? :P
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2797978587_0038bb4527_o.jpg)
Andy
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Okay... too perfect!
So is the first one is a White-breasted Nuthatch and the second a Red-breasted Nuthatch?
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Yup, white-breasted and red-breasted.
Atilla, nice shot. None of my shots of a WB have turned out because when the sun hits that chest it creates havoc with the exposure.
Tom.
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None of my shots of a WB have turned out because when the sun hits that chest it creates havoc with the exposure.
That's what exposure compensation is for. The camera's meter makes certain assumptions about what's important to you and what's not, and expose accordingly. If you have a dark background and a white subject, the camera would often guess wrong. So you need to dial down the exposure. If the contrast is still too high after the white is taken care of, it's possible to use fill flash to lighten the shadow. Be careful though, while it helps a lot if the fill ratio is just right, the picture will look really odd if the fill is overdone.
Andy
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Thanks for the tips. I actually shoot in fully manual mode most of the time even though the camera has all the bells and whistles so its my crusty old grey matter that's messing up and not the camera. And I do use fill flash usually when shooting people outdoors but using it on birds scares the crap out of them so I avoid it. The biggest problem is that the RB's will sit and pose for you while demanding seed, the couple of WB's that I've seen are quite skittish and don't sit still very long. So I try my best to bracket the exposure and keep focusing. Just haven't taken an acceptable shot yet.
Oh well.
Tom.
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[...] I do use fill flash usually when shooting people outdoors but using it on birds scares the crap out of them so I avoid it.
It often depends on the size of the bird and your distance. I find that bigger birds like herons would completely ignore it. For smaller birds, if the initial distance is big enough (with a long enough lens e.g.), they might look at you initially but often won't leave. And after a while, they too will get used to it and ignore it. This Greater Yellowlegs was done with fill flash:
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3942663781_84c4d5aaac_o.jpg)
There were a bunch of them on a sand bar. This one ventured away from the group, got into a big puddle of water and then went back to the group. I was following it from across the water all the way. It looked at me from time to time initially. But eventually it just ignored me.
The biggest problem is that the RB's will sit and pose for you while demanding seed, the couple of WB's that I've seen are quite skittish and don't sit still very long. So I try my best to bracket the exposure and keep focusing. Just haven't taken an acceptable shot yet.
Hmm... The red-breasted nuthatch photo above might give the impression that the bird's staying still, but that's very far from reality, for that instance at least. One just have to set continuous focus tracking and then hit the motor drive big time regardless :)
Andy
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Yes Andy...exactly like that. :D
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Andy, nice photo!
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Andy, nice photo!
Thanks! Since I have very limited possibility of hitting the road in search of special birds, I try to make the best of whatever is in front of me :)
Andy