Bluebird eggs have hatched in the nest box and the adult birds are bringing in goodies to the nest. Trying for flight shots again.
@Shirley_Freeman,
This bird hovered in front of the nest box long enough for the R7 to lock in eye focus.
Any
Canon R7, Sigma 150-600mm C, tripod
ISO 800, f8, 1/3200s
The following shot to the one above:
Oh Allen, that is so great a shot! That is very encouraging on the R7. So looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the extreme heat caused our Bluebirds to have to give up on sitting on their eggs. It was so disappointing for us and I’m sure for them as well.
What an excellent capture though. The worm as well as the bird are tact sharp. You took that with my Sigma lens too, so evidently that works great as well. Nice smooth BG too. Well done. Thank you for letting me know. Great shot.
@Shirley_Freeman, I am still testing the capabilities of the R7. This bird hovered in front of the box for about two or three seconds which is rather unusual and allowed the focus to lock on the eye. I plan to shoot more with the R7 for these bluebirds and green herons and will see the true abilities in tracking flight, etc. I’ll let you know if I have anything more to show.
Thank you. I so much appreciate that. I do have other birds that go to the feeder, and I have a perch set up, so hoping for the near future I can get some shots through the window of them taking off and landing with the R7. I’m hoping to go up to Virginia this fall to visit my brother and would try to get to the NWR while there to shoot some.
Definitely nailed focus on the eye. Nice creamy background. Of the two, I would lean towards the second one.
Awesome capture, Allen. Looks like that R7 is a winner.
Wonderful images, David. It’s interesting that the wings are still blurred at 1/3200.
Hi Allen
The Blue Bird looks very natural in the first post. Everything in this angle of viewing brings my to the Blue Birds eye and makes of pleasant experience.
Peter
A very nice action photo of this Bluebird, Allen! Excellent clarity & colors plus a nice soft background. Like Dennis, I’m surprised at the amount of wing blur for a 1/3200 shutter speed. I have hummingbird shots with less wing blur at 1/3200! It must have been flapping very hard to maintain that hover!
Outstanding image. Excellent exposure and focus with very pleasing blur in the wings. I suppose I enjoy the first image the most because of its balance.
WOW!! These are both simply gorgeous!! The eye is so sharp and the DOF combines perfectly with the amount of blur! Wonderful BG too!
I think there must be a way of maximizing this brief hover behavior. He was obviously intent on delivering the meal but I’m guessing he was evaluating whether you were a threat. Mine are very aware of any movement, at least from a camera and/or photographer. So maybe they could become accustomed to you and do the pause without instantly fleeing??
@Shirley_Freeman, when ours were building a nest in a box at the edge of the deck, I tried shooting out an open window and had to give up because of thermal mixing. I thought I had the best setup to minimize it but if I zoomed in in live view and looked at the perch I would see the fine swimming detail of the air currents. If I moved the camera just outside the window (and closed it), no thermal mixing! The room was a guest bedroom with the door closed for hours so the temperature should have been equalized, and the outside temp was basically the same as in the house. It was on cool mornings and the air conditioning was off. There was dappled shade on the perch so some heat rising from the ground, but the difference from just inside the window (front of lens right at the window plane) and outside (backed right up against the window) was amazing. The inside shots were just soft. It was repeatable on 3 days and I gave up. Then the woodpeckers ate the eggs. Twice.
Thanks to live view and the ability to zoom in, it’s an easy test to look for thermal mixing. Minimize camera shake with a tripod and not touching anything. (And then put your hands on the camera as you would for shooting and you’ll probably see a different kind of movement. I was also astonished how much of a difference that made, even with a very sturdy tripod and a fluid gimbal head.
Two great images Allen. I prefer the pose and wing position in the first image and the background in the second image. Good detail in both images and pretty soft light. Love that it has a meal in the beak.
