Something Borrowed ... It's For the Birds ... and More!
A fishin' buddy of mine needed a "fast" lens (one with a large aperture for fast shutter speeds in low light) to photograph his granddaughter's gymnastic competition. I gave him my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 lens and, for the time he'll be using it, he let me use his Sigma 80-400 mm lens ... slower but with a longer zoom.
As in life, photography sometimes requires trade-offs; the ideal lens for each of us would be something like a 400mm f2.8 ...
$10,000 ... yikes!
No way ... for either of us.
And while my Nikon lens was "right" for the gymnastics, my friends Sigma lens was potentially right for the bird photography I had in mind. Not wishing to be overly technical, I'll explain that the 400mm lens' widest aperture (f4.5), would require either a bright-light situation or a high ISO (light sensitivity setting, like 400-800), or both. The trade-off, well-focused bird images but possibly grainy.
Since I take bird photos in daylight, I can get decent images at low ISO numbers (like 200-250) and medium apertures (like f5.6 and even smaller at times) because the shutter speeds are typically 1/100 sec and faster!
And I ALWAYS shoot on a tripod which eliminates the blur from shaky hands.
Based on the pictures in this article, I will be buying my own 80-400mm lens ... it will be a Nikon (probably used with an extended warranty ... as usual).
OK ... pictures!
All Rights Reserved/A. Mac
1) Blue Jay in Snow
2) Male House Sparrow
3) White-throated Sparrow
4) Mockingbird in Snow
5) Cardinal, Male. Had I taken this shot with a shorter lens from the distance it was taken, the overall, final physical size of this image, after I cropped out a significant area around the bird ... would have been too small for a decent print any larger than 3.5" x 5".
At that size, it won't work for most printed publications ... too small. But, for the Internet, it's still viable.
Tags
Who is online
692 visitors
More photos to come.
Very good photos, Mac (as usual).
Love the first one, the Blue Jay. The colors are popping against the soft, neutral background! The lighter shades of blue in its wings are electric. Gorgeous!
Thank you Kori ...
I take more every day ... in fact, got a few new ones a little while ago which I'll be posting.
Always happy to see you.
And ... just posted a cardinal!
Love your birds A.M.!
The Mockingbird is my favorite; it reminds me of the Catbirds around here and they always seem to have a rather mischevious look to me.
:~)
He's become a problem at my feeders ... he charges the other species and drives them off. I haven't seen any Mourning Doves since he took over. Today I set up another feeder about 20 feet away from the others, hoping the Mockingbird will not try and dominate two territories simultaneously. Of course, he can't count so he'll likely just protect the whole area.
I may set up a third set of feeders further away.
We'll see.
Wonder shots Mac!
I have been meaning to ask you a question. Our mocking birds here seem a lot larger than yours and our cardinals more red. Is that the angle of the shot, or is it different sub groups?
They have wintercoloringon Perrie!
Without seeing them, it's impossible to say. I would think the food sources could have effect on both size and color, but species characteristics are fairly consistent. For comparison, I'd say Mockingbirds are about the same size as Robins, maybe a little larger ... use that as a gauge.
Cardinal males are bright red, females a buff color and juveniles as well.