[itshimitis]

The 7D has come in handy as it gives me better reach, plus 10 fps can be very useful, especially with birds that don't hang about long. Managed to get a little story together out of some of them: (all with 7D and 180 macro)

First a blackbird:

Canon 7D EF 180 f/3.5L macro at f/5.6 and 1/80 ISO 500




f/5.6 1/320 ISO 500: the blackbird's been at the chocolate cake!




and peeking through the bars

f/5.6 1/125 ISO 400




Then along came a family of tits - either blue tits or crested tits - I suspect blue:

Here's the mother:

(pity I cut the tail off, but more to help with species identification as I'm not usually a birder)

f/5.6 1/1000 ISO 500




here's one of the adolescents

f/5.6 1/400 ISO 500




one flies away while a blue tit looks for food:

f/5.6 1/320 ISO 500




"Can I have some cake?"

1/640




"Oh Go, On, please! I promise I'll be good!"




(sulks)




"Oh Go on then..."

1/400




"Look Mr Photographer, look what I've got!"

1/400




"Please mummy, can I have some more?"

1/400




"Yum Yum!"

1/320




Just over half a mile away from Chester's cafe is Elterwater which is Norse for Swan Lake. To make it ppropriate, there were a pair of swans by the shore preening and cleaning.

Canon 7D EF 180L macro f/7.1 1/400 ISO 400







f/8 1/400 ISO 200




f/7.1 1/500 ISO 400




f/8 1/320 ISO 200

[itshimitis]

Some from Great North Swim on Windermere in English Lake District with my Canon 7D:

Canon 7D EF 28 - 300L at 300mm f/8 and 1/2000 ISO 400




Canon 7D Tamron 200 - 500 at 383mm and f/8 1/3200 ISO 400




Canon 7D Tamron 200 - 500 at f/9 and 500mm 1/1600 ISO 400




Same camera and lens f/9 500mm 1/640 ISO 400

[kenafein]

Some excellent shots here. I think I am going to have to start shooting taxidermies to get birding shots like these.

[crewl1]

Great birds story above. Love the sulking shot

[itshimitis]

Thanks Guys, much appreciated


Looking right to the end of the Langdale Valley from the very beginning

Canon 7D Tamron 200 - 500 at 500mm f/8 1/1000 ISO 400

[pinholecam]

Quite a few of the bird shots have very obvious noise grains.
Were they cropped and pushed in post a lot?

[itshimitis]

Some were cropped quite a bit and I didn't want to soften them by using noise reduction

[dylansalt]

Lovely detail but yes I'm also surprised at the level of noise in your pics taken at ISO 500 - it looks more like Iso2500 on my Nikon D7000.

Yet your stunning swan shots don't reflect any noise and they were taken at ISO 400.

I have used a 7D up to ISO 1600 and it was pretty clean.

[itshimitis]

I think the difference is in the cropping. The swan shots were hardly cropped if at all. Perhaps I should look at selecting everything apart from the birds and use Dfine to reduce the noise?

[Clicker]

Friend's daughter and her friends
I like to post process a lot even if it's good right out of the camera and yes i shot on "auto"
This was done a long time ago (check exif) i hardly pick up this system since i got my X100, LX5 and Q but if you're an enthusiast you'll have not only a few brands but a hell of a lot of formats and i'm back from the film days.

I would use my crop now for mostly sports and that's actually why i got it in the first place but as life would have it my time is all used up for more important things in my life right now which does include some photography but not with noticeably "bulky" gear.
I have yet to complete a huge file of this particular day and present it in book form for my friend but i know he will appreciate it even it's very late as the moments i have captured here won't be repeated ever again.

[itshimitis]

i am working with a colleague for a day or two along the southern fens of Lincolnshire. I left my "proper" cameras in my hotel, but regretted wit when we grabbed some warm afternoon air in the afternoon as a storm approached. I used what I had to hand which was my Iphone 4S which didn't make a bad job of it, and processed it in CS5 using Viveza to boost the saturation and contrast a little:

I'll put the settings down but obviously the iphone decided these for me: f/2.4 1/1500 ISO 64

[itshimitis]

Here is an edit with the Horizontal electric lines cloned out. They don't actually bother me in the original but thought I'd have a go at removing them




and in black and white:

[pingflood]

Look into selective noise reduction (via masking in PS or using the noise brush in LR4). The noise in the OOF areas at ISO 500 is a bit distracting to say the least.

I'd be happy to share some 7D shots as well (it is 8fps, not 10 by the way) if anyone is interested.

[itshimitis]

Feel free

[itshimitis]

Back in the Lakes again in very unsettled weather.

Didn't get out much today but grabbed my little Sony NEX C3 when futon a short wander this evening.

Looking over the top end of Windermere not long before sunset:

Sony NEX C3 18 - 55 at 27mm f/8 1/40 ISO 800




looking back to the local pub from it's moorings at Waterhead

Sony NEX C3 18 - 55 at f/6.3 and 27mm 1/30 ISO 800 converted in Silver efex