Cardinal Close up

[gpardo64]

(Please read the whole story of this shot down in a separate post).

Finally and after 2 weeks I got something from him. Now I understand why Ron spent 2 years to get his shot (his shot is much better).

I think you need something longer to get a really close up. I max out my 55-200 and after cropping I got this, which is not that close:

 

[photonewbie86]

better than the one that I have lol I don't dare post it blurry as all hell lol nice shot all around

 

[LaFoto]

Good focus. Cardinals are very pretty birds. We don't have them over here.

(And Photonewbie, your photo of a Cardinal might be like my ONE AND ONLY photo of a kingfisher, taken on the one and only time I've ever seen one ... and that photo sure as hell shows my excitement, attempt to be fast, more so since we were going past where that bird was on a boat... blue, blurry, shaken blob ... that was all I got out of it.)

 

[web designer]

looks like he's been dipped in orange paint - nice shot

 

[PerfectlyFlawed]

My states (Arizona) Bird...I don't see many of those around here though ...probably because I'm further north? I don't know lol

Nice shot though

 

[gpardo64]

better than the one that I have lol I don't dare post it blurry as all hell lol nice shot all around

(and that photo sure as hell shows my excitement, attempt to be fast, more so since we were going past where that bird was on a boat... blue, blurry, shaken blob ... that was all I got out of it.)

You may want to post them here.

My states (Arizona) Bird...I don't see many of those around here though ...probably because I'm further north? I don't know lol

I am not sure, I live in Georgia and we are blessed to have some of them around here.

If you are still reading .... let me describe the story about this shot:

This little Cardinal decided to stick around in my backyard and after seeing his wonderful and saturated red color I thought, what if I have a pic from him? That was 2 weeks ago.

So how can I get closer to him? My wife ruled out a bird feeder because based on her not only birds will come but also squirrels, pigeons, our dog.... and it could become really dirty. I noticed that my little red friend liked to fly down to our grass in the afternoons seeking for bugs but as soon I opened the door to take him a shot he was already gone. At this point it was already a week with no luck.

So after work, I decided to wait for him sitting in my backyard with the camera ready. After one or two days the little guy got familiar with me and some how "trust" me and decided to show up in the trees and once to fly down to my grass. Bingo! I took around 10 shots, ran to my computer to upload them, and proudly invited my wife to see my master pieces; but unfortunately they were too far, too blurry....too bad. What a nice little red dot I got.

Two days ago I remembered my parents at home used to spread bits of bread in a window and a bunch of pigeons used to come and visit them. Does it work with Cardinals? So I tried and after two days it worked with some other birds …. my dog but my red little friend. However yesterday morning my friend found them. I couldn't believe it! I was about 3 or 4 foot from him.

If you still are reading .... this may interest you, I got my tripod, installed my camera outside, set it up to be triggered wirelessly and closed the door. The Cardinal came and bingo!, the camera didn’t trigger because I was too far from it and the remote control didn’t reach it. Crap. So I didn’t have any other option that open the door take my camera and wait for him, hopefully I thought, he still “trust” me and I will come; the little guy came back, he was really hungry.

At this point, I have him in front of me about 3 or 4 feet with a 55-200 max out and CLICK!. My little guy flew away because the sound of the camera was too loud and scared him. This is too much …… So I recalled reading that my D5000 had a silent mode but I didn’t have any idea how to set it up. 5 min ….10 min …. browsing the camera menu without any luck; at this moment a learnt the difference between a pro and a beginner. I ran upstairs to grab the manual to figure that out. In the mean time my friend was eating bread outside, which was good.

With the camera in silent mode and my friend eating more bread I started to take pictures. This time and just to make sure, I checked in the LCD screen, zooming out to see the quality of the pics. I noticed a few of them were good but still most of them were blurry. I notice that my AF (focus mode) was set in single point and decided to change it to dynamic area and bingo!. (This time is true). The pics were really good. Let me show another one:

If you still are reading …. thanks!, I hope you have enjoyed it as I enjoyed the whole process in the last two weeks.

 

[myfotoguy]

Congratulations! I totally enjoyed the story, and love the rewarding result. Great job, and an action shot!

You might enjoy my experience with a young rabbitt... http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/nature-wildlife/202120-close-visitor.html (hope you don't mind me sharing that in your thread).

 

[LaFoto]

I sure enjoyed your story! Very nice read. And I hear you as to your frustrations.
And that blooper-pic of the only kingfisher I ever saw (and TRIED to) photograph(ed) in all my life while being on a boat going past is on TPF somewhere... I might find it for you.
There's also the "LaFoto and the Birds"-Saga on here somewhere, in four parts, I think. Hang on, I'll go look... The_Kingfisher is here.

You can search for the "saga", you go to "Search", then click on "Advanced Search", then say "Search all THREADS started by", enter LaFoto and the words "bird" and "saga" ... and that should give you a result. Just in case you're curious...!?!?!

 

[gpardo64]

You might enjoy my experience with a young rabbitt... http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/nature-wildlife/202120-close-visitor.html (hope you don't mind me sharing that in your thread).

You story is really welcome. I saw you lived more or less the same story when taking pics to that rabbit

There's also the "LaFoto and the Birds"-Saga on here somewhere, in four parts, I think. Hang on, I'll go look... The_Kingfisher is here.

A Kingfisher...that belongs to the big leagues!. I saw your pic which I think is priceless for you.:thumbup:

 

[Ron Evers]

You did real good & I thoroughly enjoyed your story.
My wife tells me I am not patient enough as I cannot sit for long waiting for the photo shoot. I see too many other things that need to be done.

 

[icassell]

My states (Arizona) Bird...I don't see many of those around here though ...probably because I'm further north? I don't know lol

Nice shot though

Actually, our state bird is the Cactus Wren

Anyway, I've lived in AZ for 10 years and I saw my first Cardinal out here a couple of months ago (Boyce Thompson Arboretum) and I saw one this morning. I used to see lots of them when I was growing up in Connecticut.

Nice image, BTW. Small birds can be very difficult even with a longer lens. You still need some craft to get close enough.

 

[D-B-J]

nice story and two great shots!