Perfect Bird

[ozimax]

I'm been trying to take the perfect Rainbow Lorikeet shot for several years now. My ultimate goal is to sharply photograph one in full flight, in the wild, which is proving to be virtually impossible without specialised equipment. Anyway, I am succeeding in getting my local pack of lorikeets to become tamer as the months progress. At least now I can stand 1-2 metres away from them in my backyard and shoot away.

Is there such thing as a perfect lorikeet image? Most probably not, but I'll keep trying anyway, in the process having a lot of fun watching their clown like antics, while trying to understand their way of life just a little bit better.

These images are heavily compressed but quite sharp at full resolution.

Ozi.

[dm_td5]

I like the capture of the 2 heads together in the last one. I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect parrot shot, they are too bigger show offs.

[Myrtle]

#1 and #4 for me

I'm been trying to take the perfect Rainbow Lorikeet shot for several years now. My ultimate goal is to sharply photograph one in full flight, in the wild, which is proving to be virtually impossible without specialised equipment. Anyway, I am succeeding in getting my local pack of lorikeets to become tamer as the months progress. At least now I can stand 1-2 metres away from them in my backyard and shoot away.

I hear you there - I tried to get good shots the other day of lorikeets - managed to get 4 metres away and came away with not much!!!

Linda

[ozimax]

I like the capture of the 2 heads together in the last one. I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect parrot shot, they are too bigger show offs.

Good point - I call them the delinquents of the animal world! They're loud, boisterous, they fight all the time and wake you up at 5am...

[johnd]

#1 for me Ozi.

I've never tried to shoot these birds so I'm probably talking cr#p, but I reckon that it would be difficult to get an image that made the feathers look sharp. The feathers patterns just have that fluffy look to them. (not necessarilly in your image but in the images I've seen in general) I didn't mean this to come out as a criticism of your shots Ozi, but it kind of reads that way. I'm just saying they look difficult birds to shoot.

I think I'll just shut up.

Cheers
John

[ozimax]

#1 for me Ozi.

I've never tried to shoot these birds so I'm probably talking cr#p, but I reckon that it would be difficult to get an image that made the feathers look sharp. The feathers patterns just have that fluffy look to them. (not necessarilly in your image but in the images I've seen in general) I didn't mean this to come out as a criticism of your shots Ozi, but it kind of reads that way. I'm just saying they look difficult birds to shoot.

I think I'll just shut up.

Cheers
John

No worries John, I understand what you're trying to say. I think you would need a high speed lens apparatus of some distinction to capture the colour and details of these birds in flight, they're just so quick. (I did try to capture a speeding bullet with my D70 once - it didn't work! )

Ozi

[ATJ]

Ozi,

The first and last are great. As John mentions, the feather patterns can make the shots look unsharp and I don't know what you can do about that.

[big pix]

no its not..... bribes are not in the rule book ........ { just tore that page out }...... anyway very nice capture ........ sulk sulk..........

[PiroStitch]

Square crop for the last would look great! Great bokeh and well captured!

[radar]

Ozi,

that first one is great, beautiful capture. I also like the second one, interesting treatment there but the background is just a little too dark, for my taste anyway.

Cheers,

André

[christiand]

Hi Ozi,

I think these photos are lovely.
What lens did you use and what apperture ?
If I may say, a little bit more DOF might help and did you sharpen the first photo quite a bit ?

Cheers,
CD

[ozimax]

Ozi,I also like the second one, interesting treatment there but the background is just a little too dark, for my taste anyway.

Cheers,

André

Actually Andre, there is no treatment here, it's straight out of the camera. I do get your point though, it's a little different. I'd like to know what white substance he has between his teeth?

[ozimax]

Hi Ozi,

I think these photos are lovely.
What lens did you use and what apperture ?
If I may say, a little bit more DOF might help and did you sharpen the first photo quite a bit ?

Cheers,
CD

CD, I used the Canon 70-200 F2.8 (non IS) at a range of varying apertures and shutterspeeds. It was getting fairly dark by the time I got to shooting. Quite a few were taken at 2.8/3.5 hence the shallow depth of field, but I always try to shoot at 100 ISO hence the need to keep it wide open. The first one was sharpened once with unsharp mask in CS1 - at actual size it is tack sharp, but this one suffers from high JPG compression. All were taken in JPG.

Thanks!

Ozi.

[ozimax]

Square crop for the last would look great! Great bokeh and well captured!

I think you're correct here - better balanced image:

[dm_td5]

Yep, square crop is even better!

[AndyL]

Ozimax,

I much prefer the cropped version. I think that I see what you were doing when you cropped this image, but feel that the front bird is just a little close to the left of the frame. My attention is drawn to their heads which are symetric but they are off centre. Hope you understand what I mean.

Cheers

[ozimax]

Ozimax,

I much prefer the cropped version. I think that I see what you were doing when you cropped this image, but feel that the front bird is just a little close to the left of the frame. My attention is drawn to their heads which are symetric but they are off centre. Hope you understand what I mean.

Cheers

I do understand your coment, I wasn't sure whether to centre them or place them off centre. Hmmmmm...

[zafra52]

Excellent images and such beautiful colours. Well done!

[digifrog]

I agree, great colours there, maybe some USM in photoshop could give the extra sharpness >>

[libertyterran]

Square crop for the last would look great! Great bokeh and well captured!

I think you're correct here - better balanced image:

Nice photo, this cropped version is actually much better than the original one.

[stubbsy]

Ozi

That second shot is the standout for me - I think the DOF works a treat as does the dark background. Somehow there's a glow to the shot and my eye is drawn to the object in the bird's beak.

[ozimax]

Actually Stubbsy, I was just mucking around with camera settings in later afternoon overcast light. For what it's worth, the exif data is:

Canon 70-200mm lens at 1/1000 sec ISO 100 F2.8 at 200mm

Ozi