robin

[jamn4ex]

[jamn4ex]

[Geoff F]

I just can't get used to the colour of those American Robins. Are they as friendly with people as the UK version?

You are certainly getting the hang of these shots now, James.

For me, a straight head on bird shot never looks correct but I can't explain why. I usually end up ditching most of my shots from that angle. The second is an excellent pose.

[Skitalez]

Probably it is necessary to process a little a photo for the best result

[jamn4ex]

Thanks Geoff, Im starting to get the focus better now. Yes those little critters warmed up to me after about 20 minutes after I set up my tripod.I liked the straight on shot cause it looks kinda funny.Oh and thanks Yegor whatever you did looks great.

[Peter Ryan]

Hi James- me again.

The focus is getting better but I would ask you to look at #2. The grass in front of the robin is sharp and the bird soft - just out of the focal plane. If you look again at #1 that Yegor has sharpened it is the same result. I think some more tweeking with your focus is still required.

Nice bird by the way.

[tameigh]

THis is a personal preference, I know, but I would try to focus stack these images. I just don't like the bokeh of those mirror lenses, but they sure give you power. Since you are using a tri-pod, you could take a couple shots with different focal planes forward to back after the bird flies off, then use these in combination with your sharpest image of the bird.

Just a suggestion, the last one you posted is much better, in my opinion.



This picture, I just took a piece of in focus grass and cloned it around. But what you could do is take several shots in different focal planes, including the one shot with the bird in it, and one by one, delete out of each layer the parts that are out of focus. You should get an image that is totally in focus that way.

[jamn4ex]

Wow thats neat what you did with the grass Tim, but I dont know if I am ready for all that. I downloaded gimp, it is kinda confusing.I guess by bokeh you mean the way it fades out of focus to the edges.I am trying to save up for a cannon 400mm or 300 mm and add a 1.4 converter, which do you think would be better for wildlife ?

[jamn4ex]

Ok Peter , after carefully studying a few of my last images, it seems like I have a habit of focusing just off my subject.I will try to be more careful, I think whats happening is that when I see the sharper contrasting grass or bark come into focus ,I am fooling myself. If so that shouldnt be too hard to fix.

[MiniChris]

As was mentioned in another recent thread, if your camera has an adjustable viewfinder diopter, you might want to adjust it for your eye set...especially if you are doing any manual focusing.