Taking refuge in the storm

[bugster0121]

Caught this lady perched on my feeder this AM during the northeaster we are having. 8" snow last night and this morning. Captured with my 60d with 24-105 lens at F4, 105mm, 1/160th ISO 640. Cropped then processed thru lightroom. C&C always welcome.

Tim

[Shadowman]

I've been following the weather patterns your area is experiencing, some very hearty souls amongst ya.

Nice image.

[bugster0121]

I live in Prince William County and if I was about 10 miles west they got around 14".

Thanks

Tim

[Shadowman]

I live in Prince William County and if I was about 10 miles west they got around 14".

Thanks

Tim

It's amazing how those weather bands can affect such close regions and then those at the far end may only get high winds or rain.

[Wavelength]

so kyooot

[Geoff F]

A nice idea Tim, but it isn't totally working for me. Probably the weather and having a short lens were working against you.

I would certainly crop differently. Below the feeder there is so much distracting blank space. Maybe a square crop or even try 5 x 4 ratio and lose a bit from the top.

Focus also seems a bit sharper on the feeder than the bird. I get a lot of trouble like this when photographing birds on my feeders. Autofocus always prefers to focus on the sharp edged feeder instead of the fluffy edged intended subject.

I usually end up going to manual focus but even this can be tricky to stay sharp when birds are moving around and the feeder is blowing in the wind. A sufficiently fast shutter speed to allow for movement is another potential problem.

Feeder based birds sounds like a simple idea but I always get a lot of rejects.

And a ps. I find that although the 24-105 is an L grade lens I have never been really happy with it when wide open. It has always been a little soft for me until I stop down to something like F8 but that is going to cause other problems with shutter speed or a high Iso.

[bugster0121]

Hi Geoff:

Thank you for your comments. I recropped it as a square. Wondering if I should of stayed with point focus. I also darkened the feeder a bit in a bid to have the focus on the lady.


Thanks

Tim

[jamn4ex]

With Northern Cardinals I always prefer to shoot the female because I have trouble handling the reds in the male. To me the female Cardinal is as pretty or prettier than the male.
I like your cropped version a lot better. We got 7 inches of snow last night, I think they are calling for more.

[bugster0121]

Thank you Nandakumar and James

[Geoff F]

That alternative crop looks a lot better to me, Tim. Possibly the bird is fractionally close to the bottom but I think there is enough to see in the top half to make a good balance.

When shooting scenes like this with autofocus I always just use the central focus point to prevent any false focus problems. Sometimes, it does mean having to focus on the main subject then hold the shutter button half way while recomposing the scene, but that isn't a serious problem.