Satisfaction in Bird Photography!

[NickCantle]

Well, quite a turn around really. A combination of patience, happiness, a little bit of good light and some hungry birds has now in fact restored my faith in both myself and equipment. Through reading a few posts about the 50-500mm, I noticed that it's supposedly sharper at f/8 and sharper still a focal length just less than fully extended, so I used f/8 @ 400mm. Now bear in mind that it is still quite murky outside at the moment, so I just had to dabble between ISO 640 and 800, but I've done my best to get rid of the noise- successfully I think.

Here are today's results and I am definitely more pleased with them. The colours are nice, they're sharp and detailed and best of all, I feel much more confident about my ability to capture these wonderful birds. I know that garden birds are only a starting point and that I will seriously have to knuckle down and be quiet to capture more timid birds, but I look forward to the challenge.

Considering that these were taken from behind a rather dusty double-glazed window, I am pleased with how sharp they are. I sincerely hope you liked them as I thoroughly enjoyed capturing them.

The Blue tit was taking advantage of the stick that I had nestled in amongst the low bushes;





The Chaffinch was being inquisitive as usual!;



The Dunnock was sunning itself on the wall, waiting for the Blue Tits to get off of the seed tray;



The Robins bouncing about being posers just made my day





Then it started snowing!;



Click this one and sharpen it up- odd perspective of the bird, but the detail is quite interesting;




I hope you like the images, and I will keep persevering, keep trying, keep up the patience and just enjoy my time being privileged enough to have these birds and my kit.

Thanks for the enthusiasm and encouragement in my 'Disappointment in Bird Photography' thread, it worked.

Thanks again,

Nick

[ellen h]

Very good shots there Nick!!
Its great when it all comes together is'nt it?
ellen

[diggleken]

Hurrah! Well done Nick, I knew you would crack it! Nice pics.
You might just get sucked more into birds now????
Cheers
Ken

[tameblackbirds]

Really lovely shots and through glass too brill

[PMG]

Lovely series - welcome to bird photography - we will soon have you an old hand at this - fungi? Wot fungi? Pah

[DavyG]

Very nice shots Nick.

Great to see you're getting the hang of the Bigma.

Dave

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by DavyG

Very nice shots Nick.

Great to see you're getting the hang of the Bigma.

Dave

I ought to be, I've had it for nigh on a year

[ron1863]

Lovely shots Nick, especially through the window, I expect to see more bird shots from you now.

[squishy]

thats really great nick!

[Ollie]

For being taken through glass Nick these are exceptionally good shots, full of detail and all nicely focused.

It's surprising how getting a few decent shots under your belt can restore that confidence in yourself and your equipment.

It's never easy getting shots of small birds no matter how long or good a lens we may have but with a lot of patience and some good luck we do manage a few.

I had a similar sort of thing only a while back regarding getting shots of birds in flight. Not small birds but geese and ducks. I had tried several times recently and put my failures down to my lack of ability. I knew my equipment was good enough.

Then we got a couple of decent days Friday and Saturday where the sun actually shone and I got around twenty in flight shots that I was happy with.
It was all down to lighting conditions and shutter speeds not my lack of ability. My confidence was restored.

Anyway a great set of images you have posted Nick and I look forward to seeing many more from you.

Roger