Birding on the Bayview extension

[mr.sharp-photo]

the past week has been great to get views of red tailed hawks and kestrels.
photographers beware: not many spots to safely stand and park your car.

from today: RTH in flight.


Red tailed hawk by mr.sharp-photo, on Flickr



Red tailed hawk by mr.sharp-photo, on Flickr

[Khalli]

Great captures - thanx for sharing

[Palo]

WOW!!! Nice contrast and sharpness. Congrats

[mr.sharp-photo]

WOW!!! Nice contrast and sharpness. Congrats

thanks.

i slowly positioned myself so the sun would be at 2 o'clock when the bird was at 11 o'clock.  i noticed it light hopping while looking for food.  so i waited, adjusted my shutter speed accordingly and shot away.

[BoboBird]

Cool shots. Nice and sharp.

[MEGHAN]

Nice job as usual Richard!

Meghan

[Palo]

WOW!!! Nice contrast and sharpness. Congrats

thanks.

i slowly positioned myself so the sun would be at 2 o'clock when the bird was at 11 o'clock.  i noticed it light hopping while looking for food.  so i waited, adjusted my shutter speed accordingly and shot away.

Thanks for the tip mr.sharp, I do have to invest more time studying exactly how the angles of the sun affects your shots. I started photography last Fall and have just been "winging it".

[Fire0725]

Mr. Sharp - pls pls pls can you take me with you! I want to see a saw-whet (and I know you've had luck with that given the Flickr photos!)... and I'd love to get this close to some big birds of prey!! Will you consider having a walk about sometime soon for newbies such as myself!?

[Andygod]

Great pictures, I can usually get close when it is snowing, but as soon as the sun comes out I must be like the plague and they all avoid me.

[mr.sharp-photo]

Mr. Sharp - pls pls pls can you take me with you! I want to see a saw-whet (and I know you've had luck with that given the Flickr photos!)... and I'd love to get this close to some big birds of prey!! Will you consider having a walk about sometime soon for newbies such as myself!?

buy me lunch and don't murder me or be overly crazy and you have a deal!

i bird on Tues, Fri, Sat and Sunday (not all of those days...i go once a week now). so DM me when you can go and we'll see if it works.

i use a 400 mm lens, so i'm not close. but the beauty of Toronto is bird habituation. it isn't like in, for example, keswick, where you make eye contact with a RTH that's 200 feet away and it flies. I've watched a RTH take apart a vole from 20 feet away. now, that is rare, but this RTH in this photo was across 4 lanes of traffic. so...60 feet away?

the other secret, as I told someone else on here, is to avoid eye contact. at least, that's what i do. prey doesn't like to feel threatened or become hunted. you stare at it or make prolonged eye contact, it is out of there. and a zoom lens looks like a giant eye, so don't expect to point your lens at a bird and have it smile and pose. take a few quick snaps and lower your lens.

Thanks for the tip mr.sharp, I do have to invest more time studying exactly how the angles of the sun affects your shots. I started photography last Fall and have just been "winging it".

i've been taking bird photos for around 5 years. you learn as you go. for example, i saw that this hawk was landing on light posts, looking for food, and then flying to the next light post. it was noon and the sun was bright. so i knew that i was going to have issues with shadows and potential back lighting. so i moved further down the path to get a good angle. i waited until the hawk turned so i could get some catch light and less shadow and i shot. i posted 2 of the 30 pictures i took. out of the 30, i'd suggest that 7 were very good but unexciting. the rest were deleted.

i also knew to change my settings. the hawk looked ready to fly. so my ISO went to 1000 and the shutter speed up to 1/2000. hence the sharpness.

[Palo]

Wow, thx again mr.sharp for yet another tip!  I have been shooting with 1/1000 shutter speed on my 300mm @ ISO 400 in full sunlight, thinking that it was fast enough... Yes, slow lens.  As usual, I didn't want to add noise with the higher ISO, but it's time for some more experimenting. Very appreciated.

[mr.sharp-photo]

Wow, thx again mr.sharp for yet another tip!  I have been shooting with 1/1000 shutter speed on my 300mm @ ISO 400 in full sunlight, thinking that it was fast enough... Yes, slow lens.  As usual, I didn't want to add noise with the higher ISO, but it's time for some more experimenting. Very appreciated.

it is a fine balance.
first, remember that the better your camera, the less noise you get at higher ISO.  so using low model Nikons versus the d700 or other full frame Nikons may result in more noise.
i'd suggest that on a sunny day, you can kick the ISO up 1-2 settings.
if i am taking hummingbird photos, i have the ISO at 1000. that's usually my highest full-sunlight setting.
f-stop also matters, depending on what you're trying to do. but most lenses have a sweet spot at f-8. do some research on your lens to see what your sweet spot is.

but if you are trying to take an in-flight shot or take a picture of something really far, you need that fast shutter speed. otherwise, the picture won't be sharp or as sharp as you like it.

this time of year, i suggest that you try to take in-flight shots of ducks or canada geese or swans. that will allow you to get comfy with your settings. then, when you see a less-common subject (owl, hawk), if you don't panic, you can adjust the settings accordingly.

[Fire0725]

Do you like McDonald's? I  won't murder you and I'm not crazy - promise!

I'll try to get out there likely during or after march break - I'm in Durham Region so a bit of a trek, but clearly well worth it! thanks!!

[BoboBird]

I raise that - Chinese in one of those places around the Richmond Hill/Hwy 7, then a quick drive down Bayview ?

If closer to the place - nothing better around those parts that I know so just a Tims or McD or similar.

[Palo]

Wow, thx again mr.sharp for yet another tip!  I have been shooting with 1/1000 shutter speed on my 300mm @ ISO 400 in full sunlight, thinking that it was fast enough... Yes, slow lens.  As usual, I didn't want to add noise with the higher ISO, but it's time for some more experimenting. Very appreciated.

it is a fine balance.
first, remember that the better your camera, the less noise you get at higher ISO.  so using low model Nikons versus the d700 or other full frame Nikons may result in more noise.
i'd suggest that on a sunny day, you can kick the ISO up 1-2 settings.
if i am taking hummingbird photos, i have the ISO at 1000. that's usually my highest full-sunlight setting.
f-stop also matters, depending on what you're trying to do. but most lenses have a sweet spot at f-8. do some research on your lens to see what your sweet spot is.

but if you are trying to take an in-flight shot or take a picture of something really far, you need that fast shutter speed. otherwise, the picture won't be sharp or as sharp as you like it.

this time of year, i suggest that you try to take in-flight shots of ducks or canada geese or swans. that will allow you to get comfy with your settings. then, when you see a less-common subject (owl, hawk), if you don't panic, you can adjust the settings accordingly.

Mr. sharp, you're a very generous person and believe me, it's very appreciated by the newcomers on this board, like myself who can really benefit from your tips.  You should, one day lead a walk-a-bout of your favourite place... if it's a Wednesday, I'll be there.

Because I've just started, I went for the Nikon D5100 and it's pretty good with the ISO. But of coarse, not like a full-frame and switching through the parameters are slower.  I'll have to stick with it for the rest of the year and keep learning.  At least, my lens are FX, so when I make the switch, it would not be too painful.  Speaking of which, I've also noticed that my len's sweet spot is f-8 at the long end.  Thanks again mr. sharp.

Oh, really enjoyed your web site!  Cheers