Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Goldfinches in a Light Snow

by Jeffrey Friedl Thu, January 2nd, 2014 3:53am JST (10 years, 4 months ago)

desktop background image of goldfinches on a bush in the snow -- Bush of Goldfinches -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — image data
Bush of Goldfinches

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Lots of goldfinches at the feeders at my folks' place in Ohio. During the summer they're brilliant yellow (as seen in “Goldfinches on a Feeder” a few years ago), but they're less vibrant during the winter.

I didn't bring many lenses on this trip... I would have liked the 70-200, but I made do with the Voigtländer 125mm and some cropping. Good birding pics are very difficult and I certainly don't have the skill, but these are fine for me.

desktop background image of goldfinches on a bush in the snow -- Puffy -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — image data
Puffy

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desktop background image of goldfinches on a bush in the snow -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — image data

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desktop background image of goldfinches on a bush in the snow -- Keeping an Eye on Me -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — image data
Keeping an Eye on Me

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The bush was just a staging ground for the feeders. They'd all cleared away when I stepped out, and were just now starting to return...

Plenty of Free Parking -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — image data
Plenty of Free Parking

Twenty Five not as full as it was before, but still more than two dozen birds in this picture -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — image data
Twenty Five
not as full as it was before, but still more than two dozen birds in this picture

I Twitched not quite as mean as this -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — image data
I Twitched
not quite as mean as this

desktop background image of goldfinches flying from a feeder -- They'll Be Back -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — image data
They'll Be Back

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August	5th,	2008	Brilliant Flower, Not-so-Brilliant Processing
August	16th,	2010	Goldfinches on a Feeder
January	3rd,	2014	Fun Day of Snow Play, Snowflake Photography, and Birds
January	6th,	2014	Bunch of Goldfinches, Google “Auto Awesome” Version
January	7th,	2014	Freezing Bird Movement with a Fast Shutter (and Arctic Temperatures)
April	1st,	2015	Happy 10th Anniversary to My Blog
February	14th,	2016	Snowy Frigid Ohio Morning
February	24th,	2016	Snowy Ohio Morning, Take 2 (Part 2)

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All 2 comments so far, oldest first...

Quite different to European goldfinches, which I have been trying to photograph here, along with other finches on the feeder. What is in these feeders — nyjer seed ?

We’ve always called it “thistle seed”, though it’s really niger seed. Mom sends her warmest regards… as do I! It’s been a while, Peter. —Jeffrey

— comment by Peter in Wales on January 2nd, 2014 at 9:46pm JST (10 years, 4 months ago) — comment permalink

These are seriously good images Jeff.

On the technical side, it looks like it wasn’t windy and birds weren’t on wing***, so you could have used more like ISO 500 and 1/250 handheld or ISO 100 and 1/50 on a tripod or with your elbows planted on a table. I don’t know what the snowflakes would look like at that point, but some motion blur on them might not be out of place; people’s expectation of snow is that its falling. You can also use second-curtain flash to give the snow a little motion-derived comet tail AND sharp definition, and simultaneously knock the ISO down another stop or so…

(*** and even if they were, motion blur can look v cool, as in: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200506934737400&set=a.10200506147717725.203213.1278661772&type=3&theater )

Thanks Frank. In this case I specifically wanted a faster shutter speed because I’ve done the blurry-wing thing before (such as these) and wanted to try something different, so I was in manual mode at the settings I wanted this time. The combo of the D4’s low-light prowess and Lightroom’s amazing noise reduction means that I don’t care much about the ISO up to about 6400. A flash would definitely step things up a notch, but I don’t have one with me at the moment, and even if I did, I have no confidence in how to use it so I’d leave it in the suitcase. /-: —Jeffrey

— comment by Anonymous on January 3rd, 2014 at 12:23pm JST (10 years, 4 months ago) — comment permalink