I am not a fisherman my self, but I like visiting places where they gather. One of my favorite places in Adelaide is a track by the Torrents river. One lovely afternoon we went there for a bike ride, and here are the results :)
White Faced Heron is waiting for something.
Great Egret observes everything from above.
What can can I say, I like taking portraits whenever birds allow this :)
I like portraits very much too. Yours show the colour on the face very well. It's a breeding colour, isn't it?
It must be.
Laurius
Beautiful shots Laurius. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
Lovely shots Laurius...are you using some pretty good gear? Love the face colours on the great Egret
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I'm using Canon EOS 1100D with a 55-250 mm lens that came with the camera. Nothing fancy. Bigger lens would be nice, though :)
Thanks everyone.
Laurius
I am curious then, they are so lovely and sharp..do you do any post production with them? I use the 1000D and these days have so much trouble with my eyes and hand holding and the 75 -300 doesn't have IS. Does yours?
Sunshine Coast Queensland
My lens has IS. This might be helping a bit. And I always try to keep shutter speed at 1/1000. That's about it. I add auto contrast and/or auto color processing with Picasa, or my wife does some color and contrast adjustments with Photoshop, especially when photos are taken at higher ISO speeds, as colors get quite dull then.
Other than this, I just take a lot of pictures of a single bird. I also get a lot of blurry shots especially when the lighting is not so good. Probably only about 10% or even less of my my pictures are good ones. But what can you do, that's the part of photo hunting :)
Laurius
Love them all, especially the gorgeous breeding colours of the Egret. Well done.
Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
The colours of the Egret are amazing, I never got that close to one. It I a great idea to go to a spot, where fisherman are! Love your photos, M-L
M-L
Good shots. Very nice detail and light. The egret looks great.
Cheers, Owen.
Striking photos Laurius, sharp, interesting and colourful.
You said you "always try to keep shutter speed at 1/1000" what are your other settings? I have a Canon 600D with IS lens but have trouble getting really sharp photos.
Jeanne
Brisbane QLD
Believe it or not I am experiencing the same problem :) I'm not really an expert. I just started birding half year ago. I don't really have that much sharp and successful shots compared to photos I take.
But anyway, I suppose, all the little details sum up to get the best result. Fast shutter speed is just one of them. I usually select shutter priority mode with the fastest setting I can for the specific lighting and use center focus to get better control of it. That's all about the settings i guess. Good lighting is very essential. These photos were taken on the sunny day in the afternoon. The most important I think is distance. The closer you get to the bird, the less you have to zoom, the less is the impact of the hand movement. Those photos were taken from about 5 meters. But that's the toughest part :) That's why I like places where fishermen are. Birds are not that afraid of humans :)
Laurius
All Good common sense advice there Laurius. Sometimes it is good to go somewhere where there are easy pickings to practise getting good sharp shots and exposures. If nothing else it restores your confidence and makes for enjoyable reviewing :')
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Thanks for the photographic advice, I have been experimenting a bit more and trying to think outside the square I was in!
Jeanne
Brisbane QLD
Laurius and Jeanne, I once got this great shot of this pelican
This gave me a huge boost at the time and it got lots of favourable responses which gave me confidence LOL
I didn't actually say that the larger scene was off a flock of pelicans crowding around the boat ramp and fish gutting table next to the inlet ;')
Again it is good to be at an opportune place where the birds will make it easy for you!
Sunshine Coast Queensland
That's for sure. Everybody sees only the picture, not the background :) Truly awesome shot.
Laurius