Mr.Weaver

[TobyMac]

MrWeber by Tobias Weber, on Flickr


MrWeber2 by Tobias Weber, on Flickr


MrWeber3 by Tobias Weber, on Flickr

[Donald]

Tobias

Although I think #3 has more humour and would, most likely, attract more attention because of that, I think this one is the better image. It still retains an element of humour. It also tells us a story of the life of the bird. And, most importantly in my view, it is a much better composition and the lighting is better.

[JohnC]

Nice shots. Amazing what birds get up to. Most people underestimate what goes on with wildlife,in their own ways they work as hard,if not harder, than we do relatively speaking.

[TobyMac]

Thanks and yeah I watch this guy build at least 4 nests every spring, he spends about 2 weeks building one house and then the Female Weaver comes and rips it down if she doesn't like it, poor guy.

[Bobobird]

Very nice captures. The thing males (or females) do for .... you know what.

[TobyMac]

Yeah I feel so sorry for the poor guy every year, to add to his distress of building the perfect house he has my dad running after him for ripping the leaves of the palm trees in the garden to shreds.

[JohnC]

Thanks and yeah I watch this guy build at least 4 nests every spring, he spends about 2 weeks building one house and then the Female Weaver comes and rips it down if she doesn't like it, poor guy.

Lol..what's new ? It's that kind of behaviour that makes me realise the common denominators there are re. male v female in any species. Lol.

Fascinating for you to watch all that each year,I sit for hours watching the behaviour of the 30 sparrows (not as exotic of course) that live in our garden pyracantha hedge, been there for 3 years,ever since I put up a feeding station next to that hedge,despite 4 feeder perches with seed and fat balls they beat each other up to get at them, then the juvenile starlings come along and fly off the perches beating up each other too -it's riveting to watch but the games stop when the sparrow hawk pays a visit Ugh. and sits on top of the adjacent fence or as often happens, on the hedge top.

Tell your dad to put up a notice about not ripping the leaves off the palm trees

[FrankMi]

Very nice captures. The thing males (or females) do for .... you know what.

Errr... Love?

[Donald]

Thanks and yeah I watch this guy build at least 4 nests every spring, he spends about 2 weeks building one house and then the Female Weaver comes and rips it down if she doesn't like it, poor guy.

And then does she nag him because he doesn't keep his desk clean, or has forgotten to put washing into the machine (or empty the machine), or ....., or ...... or........! And he may well have some images to process as well. Poor guy.

[Bobobird]

Errr... Love?

Yes, that too... maybe

[TobyMac]

Hahaha yes the likenesses as pretty funny, I can take it a step further, my surname is Weber, which in German actually means Weaver

@ John, in my garden I would consider the swallows more exotic than our Weavers, there's at least one pair in the garden every year.

[jambin]

Fantastic shots. How do get so close?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Tobias,

A good series.

With such a colourful bird, could I suggest half a stop less exposure and a bit more Fill Light in PP next time?

Your technique of patience and acclimatisation (as discussed in the Bird Photography thread) has obviously paid off

Well done,

[TobyMac]

Thanks Dave, I will do that next time

@Jim, I waited until the bird was comfortable with my presence, moving a bit closer every now and then.

[Markvetnz]

Tobias

I like all the shots. To me they do look a little soft and lack pin sharp focus. This might just be a reflection of the lens or perhaps cropping in to 100%. I would use a couple of unsharp mask passes to really bring out the detail in the feathers. Beware not to oversharpen bird photos.

[TobyMac]

some more of Mr.Weaver
Mark I also notice this, I think the problem is that the only time of day that he is so active is when the sun is right behind the nest, so it is very difficult to get the perfect shot. On these I tried adjusting a bit more, also played with the unsharp mask on Photoshop.


Weaver2 by Tobias Weber, on Flickr


1 by Tobias Weber, on Flickr


Maybe someone can help me with a little problem I'm having. With my 70-300mm lens all my pictures seem a bit washed out and somehow lack color, but with my 100mm (same settings and everything) the pictures are a lot clearer and sharper, any idea why this could be?

[Dave Humphries]

Maybe someone can help me with a little problem I'm having. With my 70-300mm lens all my pictures seem a bit washed out and somehow lack color, but with my 100mm (same settings and everything) the pictures are a lot clearer and sharper, any idea why this could be?

Hi Tobias,

On shots like this, with all that bright sky, it'll be (veiling) flare.
Can you remind me which lenses we are discussing?
If the 100 is a prime, it'll have less elements than a zoom, so will usually always be better for flare.

What aperture are you shooting at?
If you have a lens hood, use it, or get, or make, one.
If you have a cheap UV filter, try without it temporarily, and if it proves to make things better, replace it with a better quality one.

When testing, only change one thing at a time, or you'll not know for sure, which thing improved the quality.

I'm sure these two, if shot RAW, could be improved with some PP though.

Cheers,

[TobyMac]

Ok I think it is because the 70-300 is a zoom lens and the 100mm is a fixed focal and the quality of the lens is better as well, the 70-300 was the first lens I bought and I went for the cheaper glass option rather than spending a bit more on the expensive stuff, I always use the lens hood and the UV filters I have are the top quality I could find. I will just have to make the best of what I have I guess.