Flashy shots!

[glsammy]

I went to Sherwood Forest today, with no real intention of using my camera much as the conditions were very poor being extremely cloudy and dark. Even at ISO 1600 I was getting silly shutter speeds making normal shots impossible.
Just for a change I decided to use the built in flash, with some surprising, (to me anyway!) results.
I was able to get quite close to the birds, which obviously helped no end.
here's some of the shots I managed to get,





This next one is very weird, part of the bird is crisp and sharp, but what about those ears its grown?







The real surprise to me was how often I got open wing shots. I wasn't trying to do this, it's just the way it worked out.

For those interested I was shooting in manual mode, with a shutter speed of 1/200sec usually F8.0, although the Nuthatch was F6.3, ISO 800.

I'll have another session soon, I quite like the wing effect.

[Gill Catton]

yes I like the wing effect too - more please!

[colincurry]

Graham

I like your shots very much. The movement is beautifully captured.

Cordless Dave and I went to Titchwell the Sunday before last when it turned out very cold, windy and dark. The birds were too far off for really good shots. The closest one was a pied wagtail that came very near and was hopping about all over the place. I took a series of shots and the shutter speed was affected by the conditions - I can't remember the ISO but it clearly wasn't high enough. The shots turned out to be quite interesting. There was blurred movement from the wings. On a couple of shots, the bird was hopping about so much that it appears to have lost a leg that was in motion. There is one shot of the static bird all in focus. I also took one of a herd of flying lapwings. The background is very blurred and so are the birds, but to a much lesser degree. The effect is quite pleasing and dramatic. I seem to remember Kev Lewis commending this approach some time ago to indicate speed - my shot was more by accident than design.

Colin

[naturelover]

graham they are lovely,my favorite one has to be the close up of the blue tit,i do think they are beautiful little birds,such a pretty face.

[big bill]

cracking shots Graham its surprising what can be achieved with the pop up flash the images are clear and sharp and the flash has frozen the wings in flight great well done wait for the next lot of pics

[The Black Rabbit]

I always seem to admire a "different shot" more than a "bog standard (these days) close-up, frozen, somewhat dull, digiscoped shot", showing no action, or movement or surroundings.
I like these very much.
Thanks for sharing them Graham.
Doug

[Blackbrook Eye]

It is very surprising how flash produces such fast reflexes in birds, particularly the tits, I have even resorted to using high speed flash and fast shutter speeds to freeze the action but even this allows some degree of movement as the picture shows. This was taken at 1,000th sec. using a Sigma 500 flash unit set to FP, I kept it because it is a typical shot of a Coal Tit waving goodbye.

[Brocker]

Lovely shots Graham. The flash has made all the difference and because there is action. It gives each individual image character. Well done. Beautifully captured

[Ollie]

Certainly a change from the norm Graham, I like them. The flash as certainly given another aspect to the shots and a very pleasing one at that
Roger

[Tormentil]

Nice shots Graham.

Presumably the birds just think its lightning ??

[Pops]

A bit of flash can work wonders on a dull day.
Lovely collection of action shots.

[JeffH]

Some interesting and fun shots there Graham
Is it just me or is the bird in the 3rd shot (with the 'ears') doing a Batman impression

Jeff

[matt_xyz]

nice shots Graham. I've also been experimenting with flash with bird shots, although mainly fill flash. I've been using high speed flash on my Speedlight and also a Better Beamer flash extender which can send the flash for miles I've been getting a few too many eye reflections though (the bird equivalent of red-eye) and need to raise the flash more above the camera. It's interesting to see that your shots don't seem to have this problem.

I'm now convinced that a bit of fill flash, if done well, can turn a poor bird image on a low light day into a good image. But the tricky bit is doing it well (i.e. not overdoing it and not getting eye reflections). If I can master this it means I won't be so reliant on sunshine!

Matt

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

nice shots Graham. I've also been experimenting with flash with bird shots, although mainly fill flash. I've been using high speed flash on my Speedlight and also a Better Beamer flash extender which can send the flash for miles I've been getting a few too many eye reflections though (the bird equivalent of red-eye) and need to raise the flash more above the camera. It's interesting to see that your shots don't seem to have this problem.

I'm now convinced that a bit of fill flash, if done well, can turn a poor bird image on a low light day into a good image. But the tricky bit is doing it well (i.e. not overdoing it and not getting eye reflections). If I can master this it means I won't be so reliant on sunshine!

Matt

Interesting Matt. When I used flash on AV mode, i.e. fill in flash, red eye or should I say blue eye, was everywhere. When I went to manual, and ignored the metering, the problem virtually disappeared. I was supplying way less flash than the camera thought I needed.
Didn't work on Squirrel shots though!



Of course, there's always photoshop!

[mrs fish]

Love the pics especially batbird