it does look better, i don't shoot raw so i not really too sure how much editing you need to do from the raw to 'edited' i take it this is from the 200mm 2.8l as before? i'm going out on a limb here, is this also a crop from a larger image, have you tried a x2 with the 2.8l lens you have? i'm not sure how far away you are from the subject. is the lens and camera the same as for your 'California poppies' and 'Juniper bonsai' images on your photo page?
I was approximately 50 feet away. Any closer and the birds won't approach the feeder. I did use a 1.4x and 2x but just to see how they work, I'll do some serious stuff later. My older cameras are 6D and 70D, I upgraded to a 5Ds and 90D. And here is where I am now trying to hone in the settings. Here is the full frame image.
The 90D uses CR3 files instead of CR2. Until DPP catches up and includes the new files its a little more of a work-around to convert to TIFF files so I can work on it in Photoshop. But it is what it is and I'm doing my best. I was told that FastStone Image does conversions but I found that it converts to 8 bit TIFF. DPP v4.12.70 converts to TIFF and still maintains 16 bit however it doesn't recognize 24 bit. Its difficult for a peabrain to keep up with all this new technologies...lol.
for a few of these bird images i've been thinking the same thing, it looks like you might be over cropping the images. what prompted me to ask on the last two of house finches was the 2.8L and 90d on paper should have a higher quality image that what i was seeing in your cropped ones. does the 300 F2.8L in your eq list give a better result? (if you still have it) from the little experience i've had 400mm seems to be a starting length for small birds. How did the af work with the 200mm? i'm guessing it worked fine as the 200 has a pretty bright aperture of 2.8? none the less you've been getting some great action shots there is a trick you can play on birds, they are not great counters, if you have a hide or shed you and your partner etc can walk into the hide and your partner comes out and the birds think everyone came out, i have hard a few birders mention this. might get you closer
Thank you Caladina, initially I was surprised and very happy with the results. However after more shots and looking at them very closely I wasn't too impressed. All the above problems began to surface and I need to do more tweaking and adjustments to the settings and to my pp work flow. Btw, I still have my 300 f2.8L and it will be coming up for a workout soon.
another aid to photographing wildlife at a closer distance is familiarity, if these are a regular visitors and you feed them often they will gain trust in you and allow you closer. though the foxes in london are far from wild it did take a good few months for our local fox to come up and be within an arms length away. we also had some doves that would come and be hand fed. Had you tried dressing up as a big chicken and walking around the garden going 'cluck cluck cluck. it probably wont help but it will give the neighbors a laugh
Really nice, especially for such a tight crop. Great timing. I'm super late to the party but what can I say, I just joined. lol
