Strictly For The Birds

[Tony Britton]

Here's one last set for this evening! I hope you'll enjoy these beautiful birds!

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Excellent shots in this thread!

 

[Gary R. Smith]

Here are a few that I shot this morning at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington State.

Wood Ducks

Northern Harrier

Northern Harrier (same bird as above)

Great Blue Heron

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

I forgot to say, that my wife has a Panasonic FZ300 which entails a range from 24mm to 600mm, she does great with it. I am envious at times, lagging along with three cameras and still don't do great.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I'm looking forward to being able to shoot with the M.Z. 300/4 Pro although the PL 100-400 did OK this morning at Ridgefield.

 

[Geoff Chaplin]

Hard to add to comments already made. I particularly like the use of a black background in many of the shots - hard to arrange naturally on a sunny day with reflective foliage or water in the background. Digitally manipulated or created? Incidentally "Wood duck" aka "Peking duck"? Excellent shots and presentation.

 

[Laurence Griffiths]

A week ago I went out with my local camera club for a Coffee & Camera session trying for the "Aussie Trifecta" of Kangaroo, Kookaburra and Koala at Edwards Park, SE of Brisbane. I had no luck with the kangaroo, only managed a vaguely distinguishable photo of a koala through the branches of a distant tree and a series of semi-OK shots of a kookaburra perched on a tree branch.

But the day wasn't totally lost when I spotted a few Rainbow Bee-eaters flitting around.

OM Digital Solutions OM-1 using OLYMPUS M.100-400mm F5.0-6.3 lens.
1/4000 sec, f/6.3, Focal Length 342 mm, ISO 1600.

Rainbow Bee-eater by Laurence Griffiths, on Flickr​

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Incredibly well taken shot, Laurence. The posture of the bee-eater is intensively unique and expressive.

 

[Laurence Griffiths]

Incredibly well taken shot, Laurence. The posture of the bee-eater is intensively unique and expressive.

Thanks. I was lucky as I just set the OM-1 to use Pro Capture when I thought that the bird was about to take off and "prayed and sprayed".

 

[Gary R. Smith]

That's a gorgeous bird Lawrence - nicely captured.

I've still never played with the Pro Capture or the High Rez option on my OM-1. I'm waiting for the 300/4 Pro to arrive (this afternoon, I hope).

 

[Laurence Griffiths]

That's a gorgeous bird Lawrence - nicely captured.

I've still never played with the Pro Capture or the High Rez option on my OM-1. I'm waiting for the 300/4 Pro to arrive (this afternoon, I hope).

Thanks. If you have never used Pro Capture, have a play with the ProCapSH2 setting with all focus points set.

The Oly 100-400 is a seriously underestimated and undervalued lens. For bird photography, you just have to accept that you'll use it wide open most of the time with high shutter speeds. This usually means that you'll have a very high ISO, which means a fair bit of noise. So you have to use noise reduction software.

My usual workflow is: ORF (raw) file -> DxO PureRAW 4 -> DNG file -> Capture One Pro -> JPEG file.

DxO PureRAW 4 is used primarily for noise reduction and lens correction purposes, while all other editing is done in Capture One Pro.

 

[Pete Askew]

A fabulous shot, Laurence.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

The Oly 100-400 is a seriously underestimated and undervalued lens.

My 1st long lens for MFT was the PL100-400 and I used it on the OM-1 after I picked that up for shooting birds. Based on the detail shown in photos posted to DPReview that use the M.Z. 300/4 Pro, I decided to go that way rather than add another zoom. We'll have to wait to see how I do in real life out in the field. My first test shots yesterday were great. The lens seems to focus VERY quickly.