Todays Birds

[Ironwood]

I didn't get a chance to take the camera out until mid afternoon, the birds were more active in the morning, but I was busy putting in a new septic trench.

#1
Wompoo Fruit Dove


#2
Storm Bird


#3
Male Sun Bird

[Ironwood]

#4
Yellow Honeyeater


#5
Lewin's Honeyeater


#6
Lewin's Honeyeater

[Ironwood]

Unfortunately I only got 2 shots of this Mistletoe Bird, the AF on my lens was hunting and the bird was constantly on the move. Would have liked to get a few more shots with better poses and some time to compose the shots, maybe next time.
#7


#8

[HansE]

I am surprised you do this with auto focus. I find the wrong thing in focus to often. Must be something wrong with my technique. I didn't know pigeons came in those colours. Do you get all these birds in your garden?

[Toddyh]

I struggle with autofocus in situations like this too and often switch to manual.
#1 is great except for the harsh background around the head. Bit of a shame.
All the honey eaters are great too.

[Ironwood]

Thanks Todd.

[wigz]

Thats an amazing collection for an afternoon Brad.

#1 Let down a bit by the mixed lighting but good to have. I have only seen these a couple of times high in the tree-tops.

#2 I think this is a spangled drongo rather than a koel which is often called storm bird. Good pose. Are you able to brighten tge eye a kittle?

#3 Nice shot of a beautiful little bird. The black and yellow make for a difficult exposure

#4 The frame is a bit cluttered but the bird is clear and well separated from the bg

#5 Nice pose, background a bit cluttered but not toomintrusive. The bird's back looks unusually dark.

#6 This is one of my picks here due, I think, to the clean background behind the bird.

#7 and #8 For me #7 is the better pose but a bit cluttered. I can see why focusing was a problem.

The eyes are hard to see on a few of these. are you able to brighten them a little - I thin it would be an improvement.

[Isac]

I think wigz has nailed the CC Ironwood. I wuldn't be able to offer much more. I did a shadows adjustment on #3 and that blue is stunning. Lovely series overall.

[Ironwood]

Thanks for the comments andCC everyone. I will respond tonight, I'm working today and have limited time.
Isac, feel free to post your version.

[Isac]

Shadows adjustment shows the beautiful blue chest and brightens up the eye as well.

[Ironwood]

I agree that reducing the shadows make the bird look a lot more spectacular, but without the flash you don’t normally see any of the blue, maybe just a couple of specs at the most (well I don’t anyway, but my eyes aren’t as good as they were )
I normally try to represent things as I see them , or at least as I think they should look, but as I said in my reply to Alan, I did cut some corners on this lot so I could post them before I went back to work.
Though I do appreciate you showing your version, it’s good to see what others can do.

[Isac]

Thanks for that Ironwood.

[Ironwood]

I am surprised you do this with auto focus. I find the wrong thing in focus to often. Must be something wrong with my technique. I didn't know pigeons came in those colours. Do you get all these birds in your garden?

I’m afraid I can’t focus as good as the camera, when it’s working as it should. My Tamron 150-600 is a bit of a lemon in the AF department.
The Wompoo”s are actually a Fruit Dove, very colourful in good light. I have photographed all of the fruit Doves at my place over the last few years, I think there is 4 from memory, would have to check my book, but I am not at home right now.
Yes we get all these birds and many more visiting or living on our property.

[Ironwood]

Thats an amazing collection for an afternoon Brad.

#1 Let down a bit by the mixed lighting but good to have. I have only seen these a couple of times high in the tree-tops.

#2 I think this is a spangled drongo rather than a koel which is often called storm bird. Good pose. Are you able to brighten tge eye a kittle?

#3 Nice shot of a beautiful little bird. The black and yellow make for a difficult exposure

#4 The frame is a bit cluttered but the bird is clear and well separated from the bg

#5 Nice pose, background a bit cluttered but not toomintrusive. The bird's back looks unusually dark.

#6 This is one of my picks here due, I think, to the clean background behind the bird.

#7 and #8 For me #7 is the better pose but a bit cluttered. I can see why focusing was a problem.

The eyes are hard to see on a few of these. are you able to brighten them a little - I thin it would be an improvement.

Cheers Alan. I’ll try to address all points. I am typing with only my left hand atm. I’ve got a bag of ice on my right bicep, due to hurting it at work this arvo.

#1 these are a regular at my place, they are usually in the shady tree canopy and hard to photograph, this one was an exception. I have to take what I can get with them.
#2 you could be right, I would have to check my book when I get home. These have a bright red eye with a black center, unfortunately the flash ruined any hope of truly showing the eye, I tried to make it half presentable,probably didn’t succeed.
#3 Thanks. Yes , bit of a contrast with the colours and hard to faithfully represent them.
#4 yes not the best bg for sure, i included it because the focus was good.

#5 Agree, the bird could be lightened a bit.

#6 I cropped off a few branches on the left already.

#7 & 8 yes 7 is a bit better but not by much, they both leave a lot to be desired.

The eyes could be improved with a bit of work , but I was pressed for time and posted them with minimal work, otherwise I wouldn’t get back to them for another week.

Thanks for taking the time to critique them.