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Some of the local feathered wildlife likes my balcony when it rains, including this kookaburra. This one seems to have come out ok.

Comments, please, especially ways to improve the camera work.


D70, 80-400VR at 400mm, 1/30th, F/5.6, EV-0.7, crouching and propped against my knee.

1/30th at 400mm (600mm really) - you've got to be kidding

Maybe it's time I put my Luddite mind to rest and give modern technology a chance...

Cheers
Steffen.

Well done skippy, great shot.

No advice from me, you don't need it!!

1/30 @ 400!!

I'm with Steffen, that's amazing. I can barely even do 1/30 @ 50! But I think that's more to do with my basic technique sucking than anything else

The VR is extremely good, no doubt about it - but it requires skill to get a result like this at 1/30 and 400mm. I have the 80-400 and still learning.

I suppose I should admit I was crouching with my elbows propped on my knee...

Any advice on improving it?

Great shot

skippy wrote:Any advice on improving it?

Cropped a bit tight maybe? Would like to see all of the feathers on top.

Nice image and lovely OOF and eye contact Skippy. Welcome to the I love my 80-400VR brigade.
cheers
marco

There be nowt more that can be done with this superb capture

That Kookaburra is not laughing! Wonderful capture.

I had a suggestion for a light fill flash to bring out a bit more detail around the eye, and moving the crop at the top out to catch all the head feathers would be better too. Unfortunately the crop point at the top of the head isn't a crop point, it's the image boundary, so I can't do anything with it. Can't fake the fill flash either, cause that would require a bit of Photoshop knowledge...

Ok here's your next purchase the Better Beamer flash extender to use with the80-400. Trust me I'll spend your money for you.
cheers
marco

G'day,

This is a pearler, classic aussie icon... I also use the 80-400 and find it to be a terrific lens especially for the money...

Only thing you might want to try with that lens is stopping down a smidge, say F7.1 - F8... Might get a smidge sharper image... DISCLAIMER! Not that I pretend to be able to pick it but seems a common suggestion that it's sharper when stopped down a smidge.

I noticed that you were F5.6 but EV-0.7, so I assume you could afford to go to F8 and reduce the negative EV... Judging by the background you woudn't have any worries with background details not blurring out enough, so you could afford the longer DOF going from F5.6 to F8.

nice image of a wet kooka.

you have done well with the 1/30th sec exposure. you didnt specify the iso you used, I wouldnt be too afraid to go to iso 400 for these shots if you didnt already.

I think I can see a tiny blur on the tip of the beak but not too bad.

Exposure looks right, a little fill would probably help.
Kookas can be tricky to expose correctly in bright light. You find that the white feathers above the eyes often significantly brighter than the rest of the bird.
If you are using fill on kookas you typically need -1.3 EV to avoid blowing the highlights above the head.
Steve

Thanks guys, this is what I was after.
It was an overcast day, so the highlights weren't really a problem.

ISO was probably pretty high, I have a bad habit of forgetting to check it. Will take a look later when I have access to the image.

Good call re stopping it down. I've seen references to lenses being sharper at mid-range apertures, but never actually taken test shots to see what difference it makes. Bit more depth of field certainly wouldn't have hurt - the background is far enough away that it will still be out of focus.

Better Beamer is intriguing, but I think I'd be better off figuring out how to use the SB800 I already have first.

I just saw this now. I love it. Very well done.