A smart little chap

[Dave_S]

Captured this well dressed little chap, on the feeder this afternoon, between the rain showers.
5D3 + 400mm L + 1.4x TC (560mm). 1/1600th at f/8, and ISO 1000. High shutter speed, because the feeder was swinging around in the wind.

Dave

Blue Tit by Dave_S2, on Flickr

[tesarver]

Re: A smart little chap

Nice detail on the feathers Dave.

Tom

[Stan]

Re: A smart little chap

Some nice detail in the blue tit Dave but feeders are not the most attractive of perches.

Get hold of a branch from the woods and set it up nearby as a stopping off point before they reach the feeder and the shots will be more attractive and look natural

stan

[Dave_S]

Re: A smart little chap

Thanks guys.

The greenery you see in the background, is the hedgerow that separates my garden from the open farm land behind it. The hedgerow is their stopping off place, and where they hide from predators (sparrow hawks etc). The Tits are very wary little birds, and never stay out in the open for more than a few seconds. The Green Finches though, will sit on the feeder and gorge themselves.

I would agree that feeder shots aren't that attractive, and would be a 'no-no' for competitions, but competitions aren't really my thing.

I suppose I could 'clone stamp' the feeder out of the picture.

Dave

[Bill53]

Re: A smart little chap

Nice sharp image Dave.

Bill.

[Dave_S]

Re: A smart little chap

Thanks Bill.

I have to say that I continue to be impressed with the EF 400mm f/5.6 L prime, which I pretty much bought on Jeff's (the black fox) recommendation.

Dave

[wayne2418]

Re: A smart little chap

Get hold of a branch from the woods and set it up nearby as a stopping off point before they reach the feeder and the shots will be more attractive and look natural

stan

I have to echo Stans comment there. Oh how I would love a 400 mm too.

[Nathaniel]

Re: A smart little chap

Quite sharp. I must also echo Stan's comments. I have stopped taking pics of birds around feeders.

[EOS_User]

Re: A smart little chap

He looks to be in superb nik for the time of year! Obviously hasn't been working hard enough feeding a brood!

[Dave_S]

Re: A smart little chap

I hear your comments about feeder shots guys, and I completely agree, but they are just too inviting to ignore, and I love photographing the birds that I have encouraged to visit every day.

They get through £3 worth of sunflower seeds a week , and I feed them all year round.

As I said earlier, I'm not competition minded, so I'm not out to impress judges, I just enjoy my photography, whatever the subject.

With the feeder being close to the hedgerow, where the birds come from, and retreat to, I'm not sure they would bother flying to a suitably placed branch or twig, being used to going straight to the feeder, but I might just experiment.

Thanks for your nice, and constructive comments.

Dave

[ST-EOS]

Re: A smart little chap

Well captured and a sharp image where it needs to be Dave.