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and these guys were going crazy over the Euodia Elleryana flowers which ends up making them drunk

Grabbed the Sigma 180 and attached Tamron 2x which puts everything in manual. I think they came out OK. Could be tempted to get a decent 2x as I feel the results are better than with my Tamron 70-300 Zoom. That will do until the 80-400VR

All shot at 1/200s @ f/5.6

are you sure it was the birds that were drunk... the first 2 are upside down

I wish I had photo ops like that outside my window

Mark

These are one of our prettier native birds and you've got great captures here. Of the three the last one isn't as good as the others - it's softer and the background top right pulls my eye away from the image

Number two works for me. It is like he has been "caught in the act" The focus is sharp on the face. Nice work

Hi Slider,

the second one for me, the bird is nice and sharp, head well lit up, great photo.

As Peter said, the leaves on the left detract from that one.

cheers,

André

Keith, Selective planting and forward planning. No not really, just happened to plant it there years ago and now reap the benffits

Thanks Peter and Mal. They sure are very colourful birds and full of character. Little acrobats

Thanks Andre, wasn't ignoring you. The posts crossed in cyber space

the second shot is the nicest of the 3 and is a good shot of a lorrikeet
well lit, good eye contact, good behavioural capture. Might be worth darkening the top right, perhaps with some of the nice soft green like the rest of the image.

1 and 3 would benefit from some fill flash. especially true with backlit subjects. the OOF leaves in 3 and bright spot take my eyes from the subject

Steve

Thanks Steve, I was in a bit of a rush just wanting to see how the lens performed with the 2x. Might try with the SB800 as well in the morning.

While that Euodia keeps flowering the loris will be there

if using the sb800 you should try -1ev for fill to start with.
you will find some whiter ones need less -1.3 even as much as -2
but you will soon find out which ones they are.
I use the show flahsing blown highlights on the review screen if I think it may blow to confirm it, or use the histogram.
the oil in most birds feathers responds well to fill flash causing the colours to really pop.

an example recently was a kooka.
they are kinda dull off white, but quite a few of them have a very white reflective area above the eye and this area will blow for sure @ -1 fill.
digital is free though so you can mess around and have fun.

Steve

avkomp wrote:if using the sb800 you should try -1ev for fill to start with.
you will find some whiter ones need less -1.3 even as much as -2
but you will soon find out which ones they are.
I use the show flahsing blown highlights on the review screen if I think it may blow to confirm it, or use the histogram.
the oil in most birds feathers responds well to fill flash causing the colours to really pop.

an example recently was a kooka.
they are kinda dull off white, but quite a few of them have a very white reflective area above the eye and this area will blow for sure @ -1 fill.
digital is free though so you can mess around and have fun.

Steve

Thanks Steve. I really appreciate the advice. I'll give that a go.

Mark that Pink Euodia is a favorite of the Ulysees butterfly up north. Nice shots.

Nice shots Mark and I can't really add to what the guys have said already about the leaves and the softness.

Are they close enough for you to use the lightsphere when you try the flash shots? Should work really well and not blow the colours. Get it wrong (as I have, especially with the Better Beamer) and the little buggers flouresce something awful.

Simon, whether you use the beamer or not shouldnt make a difference (unless you are a fair distance from the subject) if you are using ttl because the camera will measure the light coming off the subject and control the flash accordingly, with the beamer it usually just means that because the light from the flash is concentrated where you want it, that the sb800 just gets to work a little easier. (another advantage of having a beamer)

never considered using the lightshere on close birds would be though.
might have to get one for a test! probably be handy to have anyhow.


Steve

Firsty, these birds are real characters. I used to have one as a pet here in NZ and it spent more time upside down than right-side-up. In fact, the little guy used to lie on his back on the floor in the lounge and juggle things with his feet

Definitely prefer #2 Slider.
As others have commented, fill-flash would have really helped the other two and would have possibly helped with the sharpness a little too.
I'll post a similar pic I took recently with FF in this thread, if thats ok with you?

Rob.

robboh wrote:Firsty, these birds are real characters. I used to have one as a pet here in NZ and it spent more time upside down than right-side-up. In fact, the little guy used to lie on his back on the floor in the lounge and juggle things with his feet

Definitely prefer #2 Slider.
As others have commented, fill-flash would have really helped the other two and would have possibly helped with the sharpness a little too.
I'll post a similar pic I took recently with FF in this thread, if thats ok with you?
Rob.

No problem Rob.

Simon, I didn't think of the Lightsphere, brain must be going soft.

A couple from this morning with the SB800.

IMHO they do appear more colourful and sharper then yesterday's efforts

Heres that fill-flash pic I mentioned.
A little blown out on the head reflections (though I should be able to recover those with a bit of playing), but it was real close.
70-200VR with 2x Kenko Pro300 DG TC.

Very nice Rob. I used the also flash this morning. Definately the way to go

Slider wrote:Very nice Rob. I used the also flash this morning. Definately the way to go

Thanks dude. The eye is a bit soft though . I cant decide it its due to a little camera shake (dont think so), or if it was due to being right on min-focus-distance, or it was the good ol D70 AF making itself known again.

The flash definitely makes a difference doesnt it!! Like the first of your second set.

You Ozzies are so lucky to have nice colourful birds like these. All we usually get in town are sparrows, thrushes, mynors, blackbirds, the occasional tui and VERY occasionally waxeyes.