Alot of effort to snap these 2 images of a fantail

[marc russo]

My girlfriends dad lives in Myalup (southwest Australia) Some really nice birdlife around there and each morning there is alot of little birds that flock around the birdbath.
I found that the birdbath makes it look unatural so i spent around an hour making a little perch to side behind the bath. I then sat and waited for some time while laying down. I soon had the little birds trust and snapped these 2 images.
At first they were very grainy because of the terrible lighting as i had to smash up the iso to 2000 so i got onto cs6 and looped the bird, inverted it and smoother the noise down. Still not perfect but not to bad now. Hope you all like

Little Grey Fantail by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr


Little Grey Fantail by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr

[inapickle]

These are the most incredibly difficult birds to photograph because they flit here and there all the time. We have plenty of them, but I've never managed to get a photograph as good as yours. I think you have done very well.

[marc russo]

Please watch in HD..
I flicked the 5dII over to video and got this. You can see the perch i made. All the birds love sitting on it taking turns having a dip...
http://youtu.be/RSCLQXAOYbM

[sejac]

Great shots Marc. Just beautiful.

Top shelf video too. Good onya for going to all that trouble, cause it was sure worth it!

[marc russo]

Thanks mate. Now to go back and wait for different birds

[Phoenix]

Marc, your processing sure is interesting. I've never heard of inverting to remove noise before.
Your perch was well placed and your bird's pose is adorable.

[marc russo]

Thanks , yep a great little idea , works well. Should of seen how bad it was before i fixed it hahaha

[Alan]

Ah Marc - you may well be on the way to becoming an addicted bird tog - be prepared for constant frustration and an empty bank account as you strive for longer and faster glass You have already indicted that you have the patience, (VERY important) and observation skills. Beautiful photos and poses, esp showing the 'fantail' My only comment would be to maybe attend to the colour balance - I realise it was very cool, average light, but maybe a curves adjust on the grey point (if you have the software) would warm it up a tad? or not... Carry on Cheers

[marc russo]

Thanks so much and WOW, you did a great job. Thanks for the tip!!!
Yep its an expensive hobby hey. Bloody birds. Jsut wish they did a 400mm f2.8 lol

[seaslug]

Beautiful result Marc.

[Sully]

As stated above, ripper photos

[Gaz]

Really worth the effort...

[pembo260]

second one is a great shot nice work