Author Topic: Sharp Shinned Hawk (Read 4953 times)

Dmanmastertracker · « **on:** September 28, 2011, 03:52:00 PM »

Stumbled into this guy sitting with a Northern Harrier last weekend.

boneaddict · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2011, 05:20:12 PM »

Did you crank the saturation on him? I've never seen one so brightly colored.

quadrafire · « **Reply #2 on:** September 28, 2011, 05:21:46 PM »

Beautiful bird!

jmx369 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 28, 2011, 05:30:25 PM »

Awesome photo!

losdaddy7 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 28, 2011, 06:58:00 PM »

Dmanmastertracker · « **Reply #5 on:** September 28, 2011, 08:15:43 PM »

Doug, slightly over-exposed, saturation is only a plus 2. The setting sun I think added a little hue.

klindstr · « **Reply #6 on:** September 28, 2011, 09:01:59 PM »

Wow, that is awesome looking.

MuleyorBust · « **Reply #7 on:** September 29, 2011, 08:26:10 AM »

beautiful pic man!

Dmanmastertracker · « **Reply #8 on:** September 29, 2011, 12:39:51 PM »

Thank you all for the comments.

ivarhusa · « **Reply #9 on:** September 29, 2011, 04:24:14 PM »

Very nice. How close were you to him?

Hornseeker · « **Reply #10 on:** September 29, 2011, 06:09:24 PM »

No doubt! Every sharp shin I see is kinda drab...then again, I might be getting them mixed up with a coopers...

Great PIc! Beautiful Bird!

h2ofowlr · « **Reply #11 on:** September 29, 2011, 08:22:00 PM »

Very cool looking bird.

Dmanmastertracker · « **Reply #12 on:** September 29, 2011, 08:35:28 PM »

Quote from: ivarhusa on September 29, 2011, 04:24:14 PM

Very nice. How close were you to him?

In the hawk photo I was at approximately 35' @ 500mm. I don't know why but I seem to have the luck lately. I saw another one today at about 45' and didn't have the camera. Then I came home and had the rarest of all birds in my back yard, a Say's Phoebe. I don't believe there has ever been one recorded in King County in September.

Dmanmastertracker · « **Reply #13 on:** September 30, 2011, 08:41:36 AM »

Quote from: Hornseeker on September 29, 2011, 06:09:24 PM

No doubt! Every sharp shin I see is kinda drab...then again, I might be getting them mixed up with a coopers... Great PIc! Beautiful Bird!

Best way to tell the difference between the males, other than the Cooper's is larger is the contrast on the crown. The Cooper's has a nearly jet-black crown, Sharp Shinned is more a dark-grey on the crown.

ivarhusa · « **Reply #14 on:** September 30, 2011, 04:01:45 PM »

Dman,

I admire your knowledge of birds. I am just coming into the game, this last couple of years. I set my goal to collect identifiable pictures of 100 different bird species, and am up to 66. Just got an L-glass lens (100-400) that takes away any excuse I might have for grainy or blurry pictures.

Care to offer (anyone?) some tips for good bird photography? I am stewing now, over the tradeoffs between ISO an aperture. Always use largest aperture and lowest practical ISO?

Can you get really crisp images with ISOs as high as 400 to 1600 (Canon)?

With image stabilization, do you still hold out for shutterspeeds faster than the inverse of the focal length? I should think not, but do you TRUST it for two stops?

Ivar

Dmanmastertracker · « **Reply #15 on:** September 30, 2011, 05:10:44 PM »

Thank you Ivar, I am lucky to come from a family of knowledgeable birders.

Shutter speed to me is most critical in birding, however I am a Nikonian and can't tell you much about Canon, but I imagine the same principles apply for the most part. I usually shoot in auto-mode, but when I don't it is usually because I am shooting hummingbirds, or other fast-moving birds and need to slow the shot down more. I will max-out my shutter-speed in the manual setting in those situation's, only on sunny day's with good light. That said I do have image stabilization on all my lenses and rarely use a monopod or tripod unless shooting longer-distance's. This image was taken on a low-light day at 1/800 shutter speed, f7.1, ISO 200. Bracketing capability I have found to be a great advantage when shooting birds as well.

boneaddict · « **Reply #16 on:** September 30, 2011, 06:29:47 PM »

Only reason I ask is that its the most brightly colored I have ever seen. I did suspect the "warmness" of the sun, but still an exceptioanlly colored Sharpy.

ivarhusa · « **Reply #17 on:** October 02, 2011, 10:53:52 AM »

That is an impressive flicker picture, too. I observed my first Say's Phoebe yesterday, with the help of local Audubon folks (on a monthly bird walk).

The image quality is not great, but it was an overcast sky, and I was using ISO 1600 to keep the shutterspeed up.

I have been using a lot of 'manual' setting, going for a good exposure on a green background (test exposures). That way when I point my lens at a flying bird, or one perched with a lot of sky in the background, then the image doesn't come out too dark. There are some risks in that strategy, for sure. I will "quick" rotate back to AUTO when an shot appears in the shade or against the ground.

I am open to more suggestions/tips. So far, I hear "Freeze, mister!" with fast shutter speeds the rule.

Ivar

mulehunter · « **Reply #18 on:** October 02, 2011, 08:36:56 PM »

Cool Pics..

Mulehunter

saylean · « **Reply #19 on:** October 02, 2011, 08:51:44 PM »

Very nice Dman~

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Author Topic: Sharp Shinned Hawk (Read 4953 times)

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