Humber River Trail Oct 17

[Ally]

What a lovely day, and full of life

[Ally]

Lots of sparrows, some finches, and one or two quite busy kinglets

[Ally]

Did I tell you they were busy?

[Ally]

cuteness overload

[Ally]

Some will position themselves better when they saw me (the thrush was behind the leaves a minute ago)

[Ally]

I can't say that about the others. My boss was talking to me on the phone when I spotted that winter wren. must be a first in my realm, I still took the shot, and I think my boss heard it. I am not 100% sure its a winter wren, it's a wren.

[Ally]

Don't want to start another thread. Almost all the shots today were taken under AV.

[Shortsighted]

Wow, you sure were busy. Around here everything is dead. You're spotting lots of RCK and still seeing Hermit thrushes. That’s great.The first cat shot is terrific because it so perfectly frames the feline as a bird hunter. A composition worthy of a painting for cat people. Your GBH shot, as silhouette, looks like something that would work well stamped onto a coin, or say a Bird Watcher’s medal. Your wren has a prominent tail, for a wren, and rusty wings so it might be a Carolina Wren. A Winter wren has almost no tail at all. As if the cat got it. If it wasn’t for you this forum would be moribund. Not much enthusiasm on tap. That’s why I warned my son that he might be disappointed with all his efforts to save the site from its demise upon the withdrawing of the might Andy from the helm. No one has even responded to his tentative format despite his requesting some feedback. 'Par' for the course, I imagine.

[Ally]

Wow, you sure were busy. Around here everything is dead. You're spotting lots of RCK and still seeing Hermit thrushes. That’s great.The first cat shot is terrific because it so perfectly frames the feline as a bird hunter. A composition worthy of a painting for cat people. Your GBH shot, as silhouette, looks like something that would work well stamped onto a coin, or say a Bird Watcher’s medal. Your wren has a prominent tail, for a wren, and rusty wings so it might be a Carolina Wren. A Winter wren has almost no tail at all. As if the cat got it. If it wasn’t for you this forum would be moribund. Not much enthusiasm on tap. That’s why I warned my son that he might be disappointed with all his efforts to save the site from its demise upon the withdrawing of the might Andy from the helm. No one has even responded to his tentative format despite his requesting some feedback. 'Par' for the course, I imagine.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. He is your son?! That's marvellous. We do have readers, so just imagine we are on the stage, and I enjoy so much learning from all of you.

[Shortsighted]

Looks like there are finally a few assessments coming through that should fine tune the new format.
Things may turn out well after all. I might be the only one who fails to figure out how to navigate the
new version since my computer skills are minimal.

I see that you are continuing to shoot non-avian subjects. Are you doing all this with the monster zoom?
In case you bring your kit lens with you on the trail I suggest that you also bring a DIY background to get
rid of background clutter when doing macro work.

In most macro circumstances the background is far enough behind the plane-of-focus that it is captured as a complete blur, or as bokeh. When this is not the case, and the background is just a little behind the POF then it can be an annoying distraction in your photo. If you are using a tripod and stopping down your lens to expand the effective focus field the background will be even more noticeable. Bring along a backdrop of your own, such as a dark card and a stick to support. Then you might be able to eliminate the annoying background altogether. A light-weight aluminum rod with an alligator clip taped to one end can be stuck into the ground (sometimes) and the “BYO background” secured by that clip. The card can be angled so that it does not reflect mother-light. Using a matte textured card (minimum albedo) helps in that regard. It is not always desirable to eliminate the background. Sometimes the background can be effective even when it is only slightly out-of-focus. Can you think of a scenario where that might actually be the best approach?
If you elect to use ‘choked’ flash to illuminate your macro subject then a skewed non-reflective back-gobo will likely not show-up at all and deliver a black backdrop. Even without resorting to using a rear gobo the use of flash on a natural background that is far enough away will also be so severely under-exposed as to offer a black backdrop.

[Ally]

Sometimes I blurr background to create some colour for the pic. But I debate with myself 10 times a day whether I bring extra lens to the field to change, I haven't done it. But I enjoy point and shoot, and I don't mind use anything I can find to stabilize or sit myself down on muddy ground so I can place the camera on my knee to get better shot and angle. Additional backdrop can be a nice idea, but for now I want to train my eyes better to find best possible background on the field for the subject, one less thing to carry as well :lol:  :lol:  One day, I may ask you to teach me how to process the pics, after I learn how to take photos, that likely will take another 10 years :roll:  :roll:

[Dinusaur]

Ally, I have the same problem as you do; I only carry one long lens. Changing a lens in the middle of a trail is cumbersome. That's why when I am out in the trail I have only one objective - take photos of faunas and ignore floras. Yes, I know I am missing out a large part of nature. I have Nikon 105 mm macro lens - I have used only once this year to take photos of lichens growing on trees on the sidewalk. Every time my wife and I took walk along the neighborhood I was stuck by their beauty, so one day I got my macro lens out and took few photos of it, hand holding of course which is a no no when it comes to macro photography.

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[Shortsighted]

Archers must contend with a cumbersome bow, perhaps not as awkward as a medieval
long-bow now that there are compound bows, but not something that invites one to
take along anything else. The archer does need arrows and they are also awkward and
therefore they utilize a quiver secured to the waist and hip. I'm sure there are quiver-like
rigs to hold a 500mm lens while you use a much shorter lens for a particular macro find.
As I now recall, I remember seeing someone with such a carrying attachment when I was
out at Sam Smith a few years back. He was short and therefore the 500mm quiver was
quite a holster, almost as long as his legs. He looked like a tough old guy, like a prospector
used to carrying 60 lbs of rock samples on his back. You're a photographer -Demigod, Dinu,
it should be nothing for you to holster a 500mm on your hip while you shoot with your 105mm.
That extra 5mm just seems pretentious to me, don't you think?

[Shortsighted]

Ally, I forgot to mention that your finch is actually a related species: Pine Siskin.
I have not seen one in quite a while.
Nice close shot too.