LadySpade

New Holland Honeyeater

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

settings

Aperture f/5.6 ISO 4000 Shutter 1/1250 Focal Length 263/1

upload_date

May, 2020

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Awards

Summer 2020

Absolute Masterpiece

Outstanding Creativity

Superb Composition

Top Choice

Peer Award

Magnificent Capture

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Behind The Lens

Location

I am very lucky to have these birds frequent my garden. This image was taken about 2M from my back door. The birds love flitting in and out of the Camellia Bushes.

Time

This photo was taken at about 12.30 in the afternoon. Not ideal but I was watching the birds through the window while having lunch and just had to get a photo (or many).

Lighting

Luckily this particular bush is shaded at that time of the day by the eaves of my home so while there was no harsh sunlight and shadows it was a little dull.

Equipment

The image was handheld as these birds move so fast. Shot with a Canon 7Dii and Canon 100-400 f4.5 lens

Inspiration

My inspiration is just nature itself and these little birds are so fascinating. Watching as they flit here and there among the flowers and trees collecting food and interacting with each other.

Editing

I don't like to spend much time in post processing. If it can't be done in about 5 minutes then it doesn't happen. And I work just from the JPEG image as I find that easier and simpler. (oh no, I hear you all say!) This image was shot in landscape so it was cropped down to a portrait image. I also used the levels sliders in Photoshop just to increase the contrast a little. Luckily I was able to get pretty close to the bird, about 5M and shot at focal lenghth of about 260mm and so the background was already blurred right out.

In my camera bag

Depends on where I am going and what I am doing. For this shot I just have my Camera and lens sitting somewhere around the house within easy reach and we have many birds in our garden and I need to grab it quickly. If I am going out somewhere to shoot I think about what i'm shooting and take maybe 2 lens's appropriate (I also don't like lugging a lot of equipment around with me). And, I am not a professional and my photography is for the pure enjoyment of myself. Of course I always have spare batteries and CF cards with me. Hardly ever a tripod.

Feedback

I find birds very challenging subjects and I am really a "beginner" learning to photograph them. It's very hard because the can fly in and out of light very quickly and I haven't mastered changing settings on the go easily. In this photo I set the ISO on Automatic and luckily even though is was very high the image looked OK.

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LadySpade

LadySpade

New Holland Honeyeater

Behind The Lens

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