Aerial Acrobatics

Borderfox

I have had great fun watching a Robin work out how to get food from the food bell we put up, it took him about 3-4 days to work out what a Blue Tit does so naturally. Shot them backlit on purpose, with the glass there I need a flash firing upwards to light them well and I dont have the time to devote to that. C&C as always very welcome, click picture for larger version

1;


2;


3;


4;


5; wings folded to come down

xia

Wow. I wouldn't be able to say which one is my favorite. Maybe #3 because of the wings wide open and # 5 because I was tempted to give him a hand so he doesn't fall to the ground But all of them just show how desperate he is trying - obviously with some success.
They are incredibly sharp and even though you can't really see the red due to the backlit I'd say on the other hand the backlit gives the wings something very special.

Borderfox

Thanks Xia, yeah the backlight does come through the wings and gives nice definition to them.

Pivot_Al

Those are super - lovely graphic shots- totally different take on the traditional robin pictures- well worth the effort in setting up.

TJM

Very nice indeed, esp. #3. The backlit semi-transparent wings work particularly well.

One tiny quibble - the shot feels slightly cold. Perhaps if the WB were tweaked slightly it might warm it up?

sNarah

Great shots Borderfox! What did your set-up look like I wonder? (Any pics available ?)

af_thefragile

those are really good!!
I like no. 4 quite a lot, but they're all really good. I've been trying to take pics of birds in my back garden lately too but they seemed to be getting spooked out by the sight of my camera and fly away before i can get a chance to take a decent pic of theirs...

Valentia

Brilliant Keith.

dakar

Valentia wrote: »

Brilliant Keith.

What he said, superb fresh take on the subject

Borderfox

In the middle top of the frame you can see the bell that is in the shots above, I took the shots from about the same point of view with a Canon 1dmk3 and 135 f2 using evalutive metering.

Thanks for the comments

njburke

Hi Borderfox,
Excellent shots there,very similar to the hummingbird shots I've seen elsewhere. For robins though it would be nice to see the redbreasts.

I'ld be keen to give this a try, one question on the bell feeder. Is it selective i.e. can crows manage to feed from it or do they lack the ability to perform the hover ? Everytime I put food out for the starlings in my back garden the crows arrive and clear the table.

Niall

Borderfox

The crows do seem to be not as agile (of course) and too heavy for the bell, the only other birds I have seen are blue tits and starlings. Flash would be needed to illuminate that level of backlighting, if I spot metered it is quite difficult to balance the exposure and you end up with a halo around the bird and a blown out background.

Borderfox

Thanks Niall, I have looked at different type of feeders to feed selectively and this type seems to work well and only the smaller birds can feed on it.

I need to set up a flash outside on a tripod with a battery pack (to keep up with the camera) to illuminate the birds correctly or to change shooting to a different time of day.
This was taken at 11.50am and you can see the different direction in the light and how much better the bird is illuminated.

Borderfox

Here is a shot where the Robin has been brightened and noise reduction applied as I exposed for the background not the subject. Doesnt look anything in my opinion and this method would lose a lot of shutter speed which is essential in freezing the wingbeats.
All shots taken using AIservo mode and centre point

njburke

Borderfox>
The colour and light are much improved in the noon shot and the stray reed is gone. I'll have a look in woodies and the garden centre tomorrow. I've a new 'old' lens which I'ld like to try for a shot like this.

Niall

Borderfox

I got the Bell in Gardenworks just up from Blanchardstown, the noon shot is with a 70-200 f2.8 IS and the backlit shots are with a 135L. The 135L focuses much faster than the 70-200 so is ideal for fast moving targets.

njburke

I'll check in Johnstown garden centre to see if they have one.
My new old lens is a nikon 70-210D which I got for its faster focusing rate (kids soccer mainly) so far I'm very pleased with it.

I took a few snaps of the robins my back garden today more to get a feel for it. I hung up a few crusts in an old onion bag but they were having none of it, they were more than happy to feed off the ground though. Heres one of the robins.