Landing

[conkerwood]

I see so many pics of birds taking off, diving swimming etc but I don't see many of birds coming into land which is strange because their positioning and feather action during landing I find fascinating. I am fortunate to have hundreds of birds visiting my garden every day at this time of year (yes I mean hundreds) mainly because of the feeder which we use to supplement their natural diet. Having watched them for years I have a pretty good idea of their flight path but at a distance of 4 to 5 metres I have found it almost impossible to get a decent sharp pic panning using AI-servo. (Maybe my 65 year old reflexes are just a little too rusty.) So I worked out a method using low angle bright morning light, and locking the focusing where I expect the bird to be, ISO400, f8-f10 (depending on the light) at 1/2000. They fly in i take rapid shots and once in a while, when I get lucky, I get sharp focus on the head and the majority of the bird is within the admittedly small DOF that I have available. Here are a couple of the results. Any thoughts? C&C invited.

Peter

[pnodrog]

The first is interesting but the second is far more elegant

[IzzieK]

The first one is sharper and the second one, just like Paul said, elegant in posture. They are both ugly, what are they? Both looks haggard or something. Nothing to do with your shot, it was the bird. BIF is fun to do...you get some, you lose much...

[Shadowman]

Nicely done on both.

[Wavelength]

Fascinating......

[conkerwood]

The first one is sharper and the second one, just like Paul said, elegant in posture. They are both ugly, what are they? Both looks haggard or something. Nothing to do with your shot, it was the bird. BIF is fun to do...you get some, you lose much...

They are 'Little Corellas'
'Ugly' 'Haggard' Oh Dear!!! 'Rolling my eyes.' I must chastise them for their appearance.

[Dave A]

Excellent captureds.

Dave

[DanK]

Really interesting captures.

I think the second could be tidied up more in post. Without more time and the full-size image, I can't do much, but just as an illustration, I did four things to the image below:

-- I moved the white point down a tiny bit, to 250
--I selected the bird (it's an easy image for that--photoshop's quick select with a small brush got it in seconds) and applied more contrast with a curves tool
--I again selected the bird and sharpened it with smart sharpen. (There are some sharpening artifacts, but I think that is because I started with the small posted file.)
--I cropped off a bit of the empty space on the left.


Not a very good edit, but I think it suggests that you could spiff this one up more. If you object to having people edit your images, I apologize--let me know and I will take it down.

In any case, great captures.

[JBW]

If I could capture butterflies as well as you have this bird I would be very happy.

[Rebel]

Very nice captures.

[IzzieK]

They are 'Little Corellas'
'Ugly' 'Haggard' Oh Dear!!! 'Rolling my eyes.' I must chastise them for their appearance.

There are some prettier ones with red markings near the neck, but the face is the same...I rather like the galahs, more colourful but noisy buggers. And the little parrots --they are abundant in my backyard in Melbourne eating my peaches, apples, etc. Some big ones are getting to be smaller in numbers though...I think Dan did a good edit of the #2 too...

[GBO25]

Nice couple of shots Peter. I like the first one because the bird has eye contact with me although the second is a nicer pose.