Whatbird.com

First shot with more light.  It is early days... and the processing is done quickly here, but I needed to add a bit of light but it is better I think.

Still this bird is the yard ruler.

Fraser

The light is an improvement.  Here is a detail shot of the Emperor.

Fraser

And the full flight shot.

Fraser

I just realized that the feet and tail detail do not show the photo exposure and detail that is frozen on the wing.  Same photo.

Fraser

The tail shot is outstanding.  If you just had that it would be enough to ID the species, sex and age the bird.

I was a dubious about all this until the wing shot, best I have seen and I have seen a ton.  The primary structures, at that level of detail, will also ID the species of the bird.  

Now you have to get the females and the hatch year kids.

Now that you are eating rice and beans, spare another $13 (great feeder that comes apart for cleaning).  Go to Fry's and buy two more feeders.  Space them out so there is not as much fighting.  Then when it comes time to photograph you can take the other two feeders down.  

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

Wow... that is a really nice compliment... thanks Matt.  I think that there is still improvement to be made here but not the kind that required expenditure of  more money.

More careful placement of the strobes and perhaps a better feeder that will allow me to shoot more directly at the bird.  

This photography was done at F-13 which should give me an OK depth of field, however the DOF seems very limited.  Probably because the light being somewhat limited.

Fraser

I agree with Matt. Compare your latest shot with your first one (or even the third one), and see the difference.  You've come a long way in a short while.

Excellent work!

Photgog:

Another comment about RAW format shooting.  This format, if it is available on your camera does allow for adjustments after the actual capture.  That is handy but requires that all data from every capture be saved to storage card.  In my case I get only 50 photos on a 1 GB Flashcard.  AND... every ohoto must be processed after capture.  AND after while the storage requirement to save and backup all this data becomes cumbersom.  

I feel your pain!  

I got around the immediate problem when I found Sandisk Extreme III 4GB cards on sale at Best Buy for $40.  I bought three.  In RAW+FINE mode, they're big enough to hold 150 shots, and quick enough to keep up with my D300 at 6fps.  If you haven't looked recently (and you still have money to eat), you might want to check the CF card prices again.

I like using RAW+FINE because if you get it right in the camera, you can skip the processing for that shot.

The storage problem is tougher to deal with, I agree.  I'm looking into an external RAID system that does its own backing up.  It's not cheap, though.

 Sorry for the multiple replys.  I've been busy this week 

 

Photgog:

After doing some research I now have more information about flash durations... of the Nikon Speedlights.

1/1050 sec.   at M1/1 (full) output
1/1100 sec.   at M1/2 output
1/2700 sec.   at M1/4 output
1/5900 sec.   at M1/8 output
1/10900 sec. at M1/16 output
1/17800 sec. at M1/32 output
1/32300 sec. at M1/64 output
1/41600 sec. at M1/128 output

Thanks for sharing that; where did you find this?  Is that data good for all the Nikon Speedlights?  (I've got an SB-600)

Flash duration for the SB-600

Flash duration (approx.):-

1/900 sec. at M1/1 (full) output;

1/1600 sec. at M1/2 output;

1/3400 sec. at M1/4 output;

1/6600 sec. at M1/8 output;

1/11100 sec. at M1/16 output;

1/20000 sec. at M1/32 output;

1/25000 sec. at M1/64 output

I Googled "Flash Duration"... The Flash Durations are approximate ... I still can find my SB-900 manual... (only got it Monday) and it says the 900 at 1/128 is 1/138500.

 About storage... Yes the 4GB cards are available NOW... It was only a couple of years ago that I was paying 139.00 for a 1GB card.   Now I carry 42 GB of storage on a normal extended outing.  That storage is not exactly what I was talking about... BACKUP.  It would just KILL me if a hard drive crash occured and my data were lost. 

Currently I have 5 TB of external backup.  Fortunately the TB disks are very cheap now but it is often that I take 50/100 shots on a single day of normal shooting.  A big shoot, for me at a race track might be 15000 shots for a weekend.  All of this must be backed up... You learn to be brutal with the original data with bird shooting... MANY shots are not good and cannot be used for identification... I try to scratch these before backup.   In the race car stuff, All of it must be backed up.  Requires a bunch of storage and a good "work flow"...

Fraser ... thanks for the comments.

Photgog:

I Googled "Flash Duration"... The Flash Durations are approximate ... I still can find my SB-900 manual... (only got it Monday) and it says the 900 at 1/128 is 1/138500.

Duh.  The first hit was nikonusa.com, too.  Sorry for the noise  

 

Photgog:

About storage... Yes the 4GB cards are available NOW... It was only a couple of years ago that I was paying 139.00 for a 1GB card.   Now I carry 42 GB of storage on a normal extended outing.  That storage is not exactly what I was talking about... BACKUP.  It would just KILL me if a hard drive crash occured and my data were lost. 

Wow, you don't have any contingency for a HD crash?  That's not good.  With a multi-disk array like you have, you're quite likely to have a crash at some point.  Have you thought about an online backup service?  I've heard carbonite.com is a good one, and they're only $54.95 a year for unlimited storage.  You still have to provide your own primary storage, but they make sure you can't lose it.

Five (5) TB of external backup seems sufficient for now.

Fraser

Well I have not post a bird lately... I have been re-arranging the lighting and took one tonight of an immature Male Anna's... that is showing some molting of the tail feathers.

Fraser

I am going through withdrawal.  Any updates?

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

 

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