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I thought I'd share the story behind my round 1 submission. I know it's not the greatest photo for the theme, but perhaps the story is interesting nonetheless.

I'd been thinking of various decisive moments and handn't really got a good one, so I was hoping to get a bit more time in round 2.
I thought that there was a rule that you couldn't enter round 2 unless you entered in round 1. Leek told me that there wasn't, but I couldn't confirm that from threads so I thought I might as well put something in just in case!

About 6 months ago a lorikeet arrived on my windowsill and I thought it was great that the wildlife was so close to the city. A week or so later I was shopping and saw a package with giant lorikeet on it. It purported to be a mix of stuff which would attract lorikeets. So I bought some and put it on the windowsill.

A few days later i had my first customers!


As they got used to me, they let me take some more shots


But the shot I really wanted was one of them flying. I tried and tried, and found it was really hard. Firstly, the light was always wrong. Secondly, they were always in the wrong position. Thirdly, there was so much motion blur that it made most of the shots look too blurred


So I started using fill flash, which worked quite nicely. Unfortunately I only have the built-in flash, so I couldn't get too clever with it. Over the months the birds got used to me clicking away.


The problem was the particular window they came to was at a bad angle for the light. I tried to get them to come to another window but they wouldn't. Then one day as I was filling up the bowl, one landed on my arm. Aha! I thought. I can use this to move them to another window.

So then I started feeding them by hand, and got them used to the sight of a yellow bird dish. They watched it as I carried it from window to window, room to room.

Finally I could open my lounge-room window, hold out the dish and they would land! I was reasonably happy with this: the idea of the bush life surviving in the city.


But it looked too tame. I wanted to get that back-drop and a bird flying at the same time. This proved really really difficult. I mean: hundreds, if not thousands of shots in burst mode.

After plenty of trial and error, the best I could get was this, which unfortunately lost most of the background.


I kept trying to get birds in flight. My best results were in the afternoon when the window was out of the shadow and then use a bit of fill flash to freeze the motion.


With some practice, I could get plenty of shots like this, but who wants to see a bird flying away from you?

Then one day I lucked it and finally got a half-reasonable shot which showed bush life in the city.

The fill flash and motion gives it a bit of an etheral effect, which I find quite interesting.

I continue to feed the birds each day and they certainly let me know if I'm running late - they kick up quite a fuss. There are about 10 that come around now. I don't usually take photos any more because I think I've reached the limit of what I can achieve in the present location. Ideally I'd have a window which gets a lot more light and have a decent flash and diffuser. One day!

I hope you enjoyed the story and I recommend that bird mix - they love it!

Thaddues,

Great story and nice shots mate. I reckon the last one could get in a wildlife mag if you sent it off.

I'm impressed with the results you got from the fill flash.

Cheers

Jonesy

Great story and some great pictures there.

Jamie

i reckon the blurry shot of the bird was better thaddeus.
i really didn't like the flash, too much of a good thing i guess

While I think it is a great story, and it's amazing that the birds have become so tame that they land on your arm. The overuse of the fill flash in the shot kind of ruins it. Also not sure what aperture you were using but the background is still fairly sharp which means you have still a fair bit of DOF. Would of been nice if the background was OOF.

The Better Half wrote:Someone should let thaddeus know that if he feeds the birds every single day, then they will come to depend on him and when he eventually moves, it's likely some of them will actually starve to death

Sorry to bring the mood down..

Ah if only we could get the story behind each shot....

Thats a lot of effort involved there

Thaddeus

Thanks for sharing this. I was very intrigued by how you'd managed this and its great to know.

I think this is a good example of what the comps are about. It's not ONLY about taking the shot, it's about the path we travel to get there.

Thaddeus great story and great determination to get what you wanted. Well done.

But had you thought of using layers of different shots to get the background that you wanted?

Oneputt wrote:Thaddeus great story and great determination to get what you wanted. Well done.

But had you thought of using layers of different shots to get the background that you wanted?

Of course that would be against the rules of the comp, but would be ideal if you wanted to print the photo out later

Thaddeus, great story and great image. I actually guessed it was you judging by the background. In contrast to Kippers opinion, I think the DOF is wonderful and really shows nature juxtaposed against the urban enviroment. I like it.

Thanks for your comments.

Redline and Kipper, I am hoping that Birddog will take pity on my attempts at using the in-built flash and create a special "you really need a decent flash" prize.

PlatinumWeaver, Please let your Better half know that I am also concerned about this. I keep the food limited, plus there are many, many people in this neighbourhood who feed the birds. I have been away for weeks at a time and when I come back it takes a day or so for them to see that I am back and I see the same birds time and time again (a few are easy to recognise due to injuries.)

Oneputt, I would prefer not to use layers, even outside the competition. I want it to be completely real. The shot I want is one of the birds flying with the harbour bridge in the background. I got close with the hand feeding so will try that again when the light is good. But I really need a tripod instead of trying to do everything at once!

Glen, yes I was a bit worried about the anonymity, however I saw the "no helicopters" rule and figured that as long as I didn't breach that, I should be okay!

awesome story and an incredibly well executed shot.... you've inspired me to start attracting these great little birds to my house

thaddeus
Birdman of Sydney! Great story...you have a way with the birds, a skill I have been trying to fine tune since puberty! Excellent pictures. I have to admit that some members I know were not sure if the pic was straight out of the camera or had been fiddled in Pshop. Not knowing who took it they may have been reluctant to vote for it. It had a kind of bizaar look to it that only now makes sense. The amount of time you put into bringing this image to fruition makes you worthy of an award regardless of outcome.

Matt. K wrote:....Not knowing who took it they may have been reluctant to vote for it....

I'd hope that wasn't the case. Isn't the whole concept to be anon.

I'm sure none of us would go against the rules as far as PS'ing an image for something as important as this challenge.

Maybe I am just naive.

Matt. K wrote:I have to admit that some members I know were not sure if the pic was straight out of the camera or had been fiddled in Pshop. Not knowing who took it they may have been reluctant to vote for it.

That's very disappointing to hear. I hope that next time they will raise their concerns with the person running the gallery who could email me and I could supply the original file from the camera for validation.