Mealworm it is then

[stardelta]

Hi guys I posted a thread yesterday with my 1st bird to visit my feeder station.
well i went today and bought some mealworm, and within an hour had got a very happy visitor.
Here are a few shots that are open to c&c, as always.
As i am posting this, the word must have spread because, my wife as just counted 15 birds of different species land in the garden.
So i think i will need to re-stock on mealworm.

[AndyB1975]

Nice Starling. Try moving round to the left a little more. I don't know whats to the right of the picture but a shot towards the Ivy may give you a less cluttered background.

Oh and a friendly word of advice on the feeder station, take the fat balls out of their green mesh as some birds can get their beaks caught in them. I'm not even sure why some are still made like that.

I have spent about 3 hours with the camera in the garden today and not managed one decent shot. I have a recently fledged Great Tit visiting but he is a little camera shy!

[stardelta]

Nice Starling. Try moving round to the left a little more. I don't know whats to the right of the picture but a shot towards the Ivy may give you a less cluttered background.

Oh and a friendly word of advice on the feeder station, take the fat balls out of their green mesh as some birds can get their beaks caught in them. I'm not even sure why some are still made like that.

I have spent about 3 hours with the camera in the garden today and not managed one decent shot. I have a recently fledged Great Tit visiting but he is a little camera shy!

Hi andy thanks for the tip on the fatballs. Im new to all this.
As for position I am quite restricted, I can't move left as that is the fence line, and to the right is my shed.But what I have just done is removed the fatballs from the green bags, and moved the feeder that holds them to the left of the feeder station, hopefully giving me a clearer background.
Once again thanks andy for the tips.
Ps, make sure you post your shy great tit once you catch him.
Regards Glenn

[Geoff F]

I find that fat balls without mesh seem more attractive to birds. Possibly, simply because they can get a good peck at them. Now I purchase tubs of mesh free balls.

Although it does increase the risk of a crow etc quickly demolishing them.

Certainly a great improvement on the previous photos.

[stardelta]

Thankyou geoff. I also think these are better than my previous shots of the starling, this may be due to the fact that I, set the iso at 1600 while i was in tv mode, I noticed the camera was still trying to set it at 3200, which seemed to high.

[Geoff F]

I would experiment with cutting your shutter speed by half and getting the Iso down to 800, or ideally a bit less.

You will need to catch the birds without any movement so expect a few rejects but often when a bird is 'posed' like that it makes a really interesting shot.

Spot metering will help to prevent any problems caused by the background creating a false exposure. But be aware of any potential 'hot spots'.

[Bobobird]

Much improved effort this time round. You improve fast....

[stardelta]

Much improved effort this time round. You improve fast....

Thankyou bobo, i took your advice with regard to the iso and set it to 1600.
But as geoff as just pointed out, maybe I should drop it a little bit more along with my shutter speed.
It wont hurt to experiment with it bit, after all practice makes perfect ( hopefully ) .
Thanks again bobo.