This is Getting HEAVY.....

[Benjy]

[deetheturk]

Nice capture Benjy!

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[Benjy]

David,John,thanks for comments,much appreciated....

[thegman]

Very nice Benjy, the blurred colourful background makes the black and white bird really pop out.

[Nicks Pics]

This is a really funny shot Benjy. I like the branch behind the birds and the the reddish colors also.

As for techs, you are getting some motion blur and it is still a little under-exposed. So raise the shutter speed to at least 150 or so, ( I only recommend as low as that because I assume it is very shady, raise it as high as you can without making the pictures too dark) To allow for a raised shutter speed, raise the iso and you'll have much more freedom to shoot fast. Although fast shutter speed is favorable, (usually, for birds) and high iso avoidable, it's about making the right choice of balance between them. If you have a DSLR you should at least be able to use ISO 1600 before quality suffers too badly, and that would allow you to use a faster shutter speed. Keep adjusting these (along with as low an aperture you can- assuming that is f4-5.6 or so) till get the best balance.

[IzzieK]

Benjy -- this is a beautiful shot! Even if you did not blur the blue bird, it still looks like that little one is holding the feed for the woody one. Brilliant shot...!!!

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Benjy,

Great capture and thread title.

I do agree with Nick, from the EXIF data, I see this was shot with a Sony SLT-A65V at 100 iso, 1/10s at f/5.6 and 250mm focal length (fl) in Aperture Priority mode. It must have been quite dark!

Frankly I am amazed the woodpecker wasn't completely blurred by the swinging of the fat ball at that slow a speed; "lucky you".
Or the whole image spoiled by camera shake at 250mm at 1/10s, that earns a "skilled you" for not doing that (even with IS).

I'd definitely go to 800iso and get the shutter speed up to 1/80s - or going to 1600 would get you to 1/160s.

Nevertheless, a good picture.

Cheers, Dave

[Benjy]

Nick,Dave ,thanks for comments which are most helpfull,I will take note of them and use next outing,Izzie thanks again your a star....

[Nicks Pics]

I'd definitely go to 800iso and get the shutter speed up to 1/80s - or going to 1600 would get you to 1/160s.

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To modify my comments above: Generally bird shooters shoot at very fast shutter speeds, though I would agree with Dave that it might be worth while to experiment with shutter speeds as low as 1 /80, if you have very dim conditions, or for best results just try to pick a brighter day. Anyway, have fun Benjy!