Red-Brow Finch in the Lantana.

[hotspur (Chris)]

These delightful small birds are approx three inches long,vivid red brow and tail rump,they are hard to get close to,and move all the time.

I went for a walk to the far end of neighbours cattle property to set trail cams,but took time out to try and get some images of these birds.

Using a Canon 50D and 400 mm L prime lens,in AV mode,F 7.1,speed went to 250,iso 640,I used AV mode as lots of shade areas,and clouds coming and going.I got to within five metres to take this image (camera says 4.2 m)

This first frame is frame size from camera,second is a crop,a quick play in CS5,really not keen to spend too much time in PP,as I'd like an image with less clutter,but somehow the blurred lantana is part of this bird as that's where they hang out.

Hope this is of interest,thanks for looking-Chris

[DavidTrap (David)]

I'm only being picky Chris because your birding photos are so impressive - but IMHO the eye is ever so slightly out of focus vs the feathers on the wing!

Otherwise fantastic!

DT

[hotspur (Chris)]

yes,David,it does appear that way-not sure why,the body feathers all seem sharp,but eyes look at tad 'misty'-perhaps due to poor light and 400 mm vrs 1/250th of a second is not the best equation-the texts say one should not operate a lens lower than its length number-some say when using a crop times that by 1.6

Thanks for looking and commenting.

[Deeno]

Very colourfull...
bet he didn't sit still for long....

[koputai (Jason)]

Those little buggers don't like having their photo taken Chris, you've done a great job catching such a good shot. I hadn't seen one of these in the flesh until last week when I found a new bird spot about 2km from home, where the bird population is almost totally different from here at home. I managed a few shots of the Red-browed finch as a pair of them skittered around in the grass, but no shots as good as yours.

Nice shot, well done.

Cheers,
Jason.

[Dennis]

Lovely photos Chris, you must have steady hands and a good technique to shoot the 400mm at 1/250 and obtain that kind of repeatability.

I’ve noticed that with the very shallow DOF on the 400mm af F5.6, unless you place the AF point on the eye to force the focus there, the camera may “choose” focus on another high contrast feature closer to the lens, such as the wing feathers, thus leaving the eye slightly out of focus.

I didn’t find these birds at all difficult, in the large, walk-in aviary at Currumbin!

Cheers

Dennis