Red on Red Springtime
May, 2018Views
1520
Likes
Awards
Action Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Legendary Award
Community Choice Award
Contest Finalist in The Colors Of Spring Photo Contest 2018
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Superior Skill
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in the gardens of my home in Wilson, NC. The gardens are my pride and joy and attracts many many flying friends of all different colors and sizes.Time
This was taken one morning about 11:00 am, when the sun was up bringing out all the colors of the flowers and blossoms. I lucked out when during my walk through the gardens, this Northern Cardinal appeared and perched on a branch among the red blossoms. The birds have tempered their fear of humans, at least me, by being relatively friendly, maybe they realize that I am their bread and butter during the winter by providing a feeder with food I know they like and water. Since they have established roots in my gardens , they live here year round and provide lots of opportunities for shutterbugs like me.Lighting
The sun provided natural lighting and the mornings usually cast nice shadows which highlighted the different shades of the feathers, perfect for blending in with the surrounding pink/red blossoms.Equipment
I used a Canon 7D Mkii with a Canon EF 70-200mm 2.8L Zoom lens with Image Stabilizer, great for the hand held nature of this photograph. I did not use tripods or flashes since I did not want to scare off these guys.Inspiration
I have been sick for a while with limited mobility so I thought myself lucky that I have these gardens with its resident colorful tenants. Usually, every morning I am up, I would fit my camera with the lens I think I need and go walking through the gardens, taking pictures of everything in sight. Spring makes for a lot of pictures since the birds are usually mating, making nests and some tending to young ones while the flowers are popping up all over. The Dogwood trees are really very colorful and beautiful, they look like millions of butterflies are on them.Editing
Post-processing was reasonably minimal on this shoot, since my settings were ss1/500 with the F/2.8 aperture and iso100, the original really did not require any touch ups. I would usually use Adobe Lightroom for all my editing and post processing. This image is the original size and there was no cropping required.In my camera bag
Usually I carry my Canon 7D Mkii with an EF70-200mm as my goto lens which can really cover most situations, as a result I don't need a great deal of equipment however, just in case I find myself looking at the smaller things in Nature, I pack a Tamron AF90mm F/2.8 MACRO lens. I have a backup Canon EOS Rebel T5 and a wide angle 18-55mm lens with Image Stabilizer and MACRO range to 0.25mm. I also carry an extra battery and charger and a Koolehaoda monopod with a Zomei ball head, it is usually so much lighter than a tripod which I may use for special situations. Although I have a lilttle wallet with filters in the bag, I have never used one. Having a hand towel or two plus cleaning tissues.Feedback
I really try to specialize in Nature photography with flowers and birds at the top of the list. If you like taking bird pictures, you will need to be very patient and very quiet. Your equipment should be as silent as possible so you will need to set your Drive-AF to AI Servo on silent mode even if you use high speed. My 7D has a 10 fps in silent mode which is just great for capturing these fast little feathered critters. You should also try to get some idea of the birds habits, where they hang out and an easy way for you to get to them. My EF70-200 ZOOM at f/2.8 allows me to take shots from a distance under almost any light conditions.
