{"id":1609,"date":"2010-08-16T13:06:50","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T04:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-08-16\/1609"},"modified":"2010-08-16T13:06:50","modified_gmt":"2010-08-16T04:06:50","slug":"goldfinches-on-a-feeder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-08-16\/1609","title":{"rendered":"Goldfinches on a Feeder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDropping in for a Bite<\/span><\/span>\n( let's pretend the focus was done on purpose here, for its... uh... “artistic impact”. Yeah, that's it )<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

A big part of the experience of visiting my folks' in Ohio is feeding the birds<\/a> on the\nback porch, and for me, trying to photograph them (such as reported with\nvarying degrees of success here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>). Usually I just<\/span> run out for\na quick<\/span> picture, but the other day I sat<\/span> down with a cup<\/span> of coffee and a big<\/span> lens and\ntried spending just a bit<\/span> more effort on it...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/9, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I started out using the Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm<\/a>, but\nfor the goldfinches on the feeder that I intended<\/span> to concentrate on, it\nrequired me to be too close to have a bird<\/span> fill the frame. (Unlike the\nchickadees that will land on your laptop while you're using it<\/a>;\nthe goldfinches are more skittish.)<\/p>\n\n

So, I switched<\/span> to the\nSigma Bigma 50<\/span>-500mm zoom<\/a>, which at 500mm has enough reach to put me\nfar enough away from the birds. Its image stabilization<\/a>\nhelped a lot,<\/span> too.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/13, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThe Scene<\/span>\nwith the Sigma at 50mm\n<\/div>\n\n

My sister snapped a picture of me while I was<\/span> at it:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPhoto by Marci Kreta<\/span>\ntaken through a window covered with netting, as seen here<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n

My results were “okay”, but nothing exciting...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/13, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Even at f<\/span>\/13, at 500mm the depth of field was\npretty thin. In the picture<\/span> above, I think<\/span> I got<\/span> the focus pretty close to\nhis eye, but even then, his near shoulder is already out of focus...<\/p>\n\n

With a sideways crop, the bird fills the frame a bit<\/span> more, so maybe the 500mm really wasn't enough...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nD700 + Sigma “Bigma” @ 500 mm, cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/9, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nD700 + Sigma “Bigma” @ 500 mm, cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/13, ISO 4000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I could try with the Sigma 2<\/span>× TC to give me 1,000mm, but as I demonstrated<\/span> once<\/a>, the\ncombination is really soft.<\/p>\n\n

The Bigma's zoom was useful to open up to get this shot of a tree<\/span> not far away....\nthere's a goldfinch<\/span> in it. Can you find<\/span> it?<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/13, ISO 560 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFind the Goldfinch<\/span>\nhe's sitting in the tree\n<\/div>\n\n

Often when I look out the window from the house, I'll see a dozen<\/span> or\nmore birds all crowded on the feeder, but while I was<\/span> there (perhaps\nbecause I was<\/span> there), there weren't many. Early on there was a minor<\/span> traffic\njam with four birds...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/9, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

... but for the most part, it seems that action moved to a feeder<\/span> down at the end of the veranda:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/13, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFarther Away<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

At least its lighting was nicer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A big part of the experience of visiting my folks' in Ohio is feeding the birds on the back porch, and for me, trying to photograph them (such as reported with varying degrees of success here, here, here, and here). Usually I just run out for a quick picture, but the other day I sat down with a cup of coffee and a big lens and tried spending just a bit more effort on it...<\/p>

I started out using the Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm, but for the goldfinches on the feeder that I intended to concentrate on, it required me to be [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}