The Sparrows Have Arrived!

pugnacious33 · Nov 22, 2008

Winter officially begins for me when these guys show up at my feeders. Can't wait for the finches.

Took this one late yesterday evening at ISO 800, 400mm 5.6

Took these around noon today.

Ecas32 · Nov 22, 2008

dang dude!! i like 2&3 alot.
how do you get the backround that dark but keep the subject bright?

Markw · Nov 23, 2008

I am no expert, but by looking at the eye of the birds, s/he uses a flash. The flash hits the subject then the next thing, say a tree, is so far off, tat the flash doesnt reach. This makes the bacrground really dark. Just my guess. I probably explained it wrong, as I usually do, but its that general concept.

Mark

pugnacious33 · Nov 23, 2008

You're right and wrong at the same time Mark. Flash can be used the way you describe, but I didn't use flash at all here. All three pics were taken from the same position on the same feeder. I placed it in a perfect location, so that the background (dark evergreen trees) remain in the shade, but the feeder recieves nice sunlight from late morning to early afternoon. That is a time that I normally don't shoot because of the bright light, but for birds it works because you want them evenly lit to show detail. As you can see how much nicer the last two pics look, as opposed to the first which was taken in very low light conditions. The trick in the last two is exposing for the bird because the dark background will really throw off a meter reading. I've never tried using fill flash for birds at my feeder, but I may experiment with it. My thinking is that it will scare the birds off, so i'll get fewer pics.

LaFoto · Nov 23, 2008

Lovely detail in the feathers, mostly so in the last! I so like sparrows, they're among my favourite birds. Such cheeky little fellows (often), quite "tame" around humans, and nicely shaped (kind of round, not so prolonged as blackbirds, for example).

Clever choice of location for your feeder, the black background really helps for the birds alone to stand out. (Maybe you also like my_photo in the thread on my little friend from back in May? I tried flash photography on him, but it DID scare him away).

pugnacious33 · Nov 23, 2008

Thanks Lafoto, you're right about sparrows, they are a photographer's dream, if for no other reason that they'll land on a feeder when i'm only about 10 feet away. I also like the green BG in your photo.

Battou · Nov 23, 2008

First one is a little soft, the second two are great.

The great thing about sparrows, they are not an easy bird to shoot, but they make up for it amply by shere pressence and oppertunities given. I have so many photos of sparrows I don't bother scanning them any more. They are always there and always fun to play around with as far as shooting goes. I even have one that I was playing around with shooting a bird with a 50mm prime, I got it you have a hard time finding him but I did get one :lol:

I too use a 400mm 5.6, I find the Sparrows to be a great little guy for honing ones ninja skills, I like walking up as close as possible wile they are doing their thing. I've got them baithing, roaming, loafing and other things. If my week was not going to be so busy I would scan a couple for you but I am bogged down, I do have a couple for ya though.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133932

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129404

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=139343