The Osprey War, Commets Please

ginger_55

OK, maybe I did not do the best job of focusing here, but these birds are not as close to me as some. And I try, they whip their little heads here and there. But look at this bird. He is purposely checking to see if I am still there. I usually wear jeans and a white shirt, would another color be better?



I have a couple of pictures I would like to Share. One is kind of nice, considering, I think. He is in the nest with his mate and the light shining through his wing is particularly pretty. I can even see his eye clearly and hers, too. I could not lighten the rest of her.







Those are the last decent shots. Now I would like to ask what I am doing wrong, besides not wearing camoflage.

This is the male with a fish. I couldn't get the darn lens focused. (By the way is 1 or 2 the one you are supposed to put it on to pan). Here it is not even focused on the trees. Big fish, and I miss again. It is across a busy road past the pull over and past the trees as you can see.



This is the size these birds very often are......... They fly off in the distance, I try to lock onto them without even knowing if they are the Osprey, then if they even get close, they don't come near the nest with me there, usually.





This is the final one, the bird flew up towards the nest just as I was going to take a photo of the other one, the bird did not land, and we know why. Well, I don't, but you all must. So you shooters, what am I doing wrong. You might want to look at the first photo again and the expression on that bird's face.

These last, bad shots have not been worked on, so I did not work them up badly, I did not work them up, but I wanted to share in the hopes of getting some information on how to improve my bird skills.



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dragon300zx

They don't make an stinky fish perfume do they? That could get their attention.

I really like the one with the light through his wing.

ginger_55

Thanks, Dragon. I spent hours there and used 2 (1 )gb CF cards.

I have a 2 gb cf card ordered. I hated to spend all that on a card, but am going to a seminar on Saturday, want to be prepared. And maybe with 4 gbs of memory I can get a BIF w/fish.

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Steve Cavigliano

Ginger,

First of all, congrats on the sweet nest shots you did get Love the light and the Ospreys are sharp and the detail is very nice

I have no idea why the first one came out soft. He could have been moving his head. Or, your focus point could have been sucked away by the feather contrast. I always try to put the "point of interest" (usually the eyes) ABOVE the center focus point. Not covered by the center point, but above it. This usually works pretty well for me. Since most of us do have camera shake problems (you better believe I do ), it's always prudent to shoot more than one shot when you have a scene like the first shot. Move the focus point around on the subject and even shoot a burst if needed.

Most of the rest of your shots have the same problem as many of mine. You are just too far away to get enough pixels on the subject. Even if the focus is sharp as a tack, you're left with a very small image with not much detail in it I have a lot of problems with this when shooting raptors. Even if they are only 100 feet away and I'm using 500mm's (775mms FOV). They just don't fill up enough of the frame

FWIW, I have far more failures on my shoots than successes. Much of it is due to the above reasons (shake, or not enough reach). My eyesight isn't so good, so chimping/reviewing while shooting isn't an option. About the only reviewing I can do is to look for grossly oof shots, or those shots where I wound up cutting off parts of the bird....lol And I do a lot of that too :bash

I have seen a marked improvement with your bird shots in the last few months, Ginger. I think you are on the right track. I just wanted you to understand that birding is extremely challenging and the best birders I know, get wayyyyyy more losers than winners when they shoot. The best advice I can give is to just hang in there and keep applying what you've learned.

Thanks for sharing,
Steve

ginger_55

Thanks, Steve, I was wondering if I was asking a bit much of myself when he was far away. It is difficult to know when others are shooting how much is full frame or whether they took a little tiny bird, snapped it, worked it up, cropped it and had everything in focus with a very good eye (the first thing I check.)

When I do birds, I do use that long lens that I like so much, it does have IS. The 70-200 that I was using on the children at the farmers market does not have IS, and I have not liked it since I got it. I love my wide, and I love my 300 prime and the 1.4 extender with it, too. But I guess next tax time I am going to have to review my lens situation. If I am ever going to shake it is with that lens, and there are times I need to use it, and I don't use it unless it is one of those times.

I do like birds, I think they are very relaxing. But those osprey........I swear he was flying up with a fish when I drove up in my car, before I got the 1/4 mile away that I park, he turned around and went somewhere else. He has to come back eventually, but it is a frustrating waiting game. With egrets they can just be standing there looking wonderful, but a raptor, you want them in flight or landing, so that means watching the sky. Darn ospreys.....

Thanks so much for the explanations. Yes on that first one, that is the only one I took of him looking at me, and I think I know why it wasn't in focus, but I did get some that were. They just weren't interesting. He would not fly. And then suddenly he wasn't there anymore.

ginger

Harryb

Hey Ginger,

The 2nd and 3rd shots are fine. You have to realize that after eating and procreating the next favorite thing for birds to do is to drive photographers crazy. They will do their darnedest to be just far enough away so you can't get a decent shot in. They will always try to have a branch or bush between you and them. They will wait for you to set up your shot and then turn their butt towards you. They know how to move just so fast as to blur your shot. Very often the only sound in the Wetlands is me screaming obscenities at some bird who just messed up a good shot.

Don't let the little buggers get to you. Most of the shots I take get trashed when I get home.