The New Holland Honeyeater

[aladyforty]

today I set off our with the aim of getting this little bird and getting a good shot. I met up with a bird fancier on the walk path who told me about some of the birds in the area. I only had the Drebel with the 300 lens and no tipod so these are not too bad really. We have heaps of these little guys around here which is why Ive got more of them than any other bird Ive photographed.















I love the shot of the two of them together, Not the greatest shot but rare to see them together and catch them.

[eric s]

I think you should be happy with these shots. Since you wanted opinions I'll give you a few thoughts while reading this (and then I should get back to work!)

If the point of the picture is to really just show the bird, then the cropping in the second shot is good. Butt if you're going for over all "this is a good picture" (like I view the first shot is) then you should put more space on the side the bird is facing. In the first picture, if you can, I would put more space on the left and the top and a bit less on the right. Making good crops is not easy, and you'll learn as you go. What can help is to look at a lot of other people's pictures. Eric CAN usually does it quite well. I can some times do (but I can also do them too tight.)

The exposure in the second one seems a little too light (i.e. the whites seem a little too bright, maybe even blown out) but that also might be how the bird is. Maybe they are very, very white. I don't know.

All those verticals in the branches of the 3rd one work well. I think you left a great about of space around it. Part of me wants to say you should cut a little off the bottom… but I think that is my old "focus on the bird" nature, which I'm trying to get away from. I wish the birds were more in focus, but hand holding at 300mm isn't easy, so I think you did well.

Is that a tongue sticking out in the 4th shot? That is great. I also notice you left more space on the top, which is good. You should shift the black space to the left more (less on the right, more left) but I think it's a great shot. It's also a bit over exposed, but I'm sure you know that.

That picture in the bush is nice. Without the beak's size clearly visible, this almost looks like a warbler of some kind.

Ok, gotta stop and get back to work.

Eric

[geoffs]

Julie, you already got all the technical poop from Eric. I'll just say that most of these are just awful nice shots. It's a bit frustrating to me to see birds that I can't identify but also very interesting to see the different birds.

That picture with the bird's tongue showing - that's great. It makes that pictures easily the most interesting for me. Since the bird is named a Honey Eater, I take it that, like Hummingbirds, it tends to use it's tongue to slurp nectar from flowers. Do you know if that is the case? It sure seems like it...

And, Eric, you are so right about that picture of the bird in the bush. It really does look like a North American warbler in that pose, something like a Black and White Warbler except for the yellow on the wings and that white eye ring!

[aladyforty]

Thanks for the replies, some good points for me to look at. They are fairly white in the light. And Im not sure if it a tounge you can see or just somehting in his beak.

[geoffs]

It really appears to be his tongue, Julie.

[bobbyz]

Really nice shots of an interesting bird.

[zoomn]

Nice shots! What a unique looking bird.

I like the 4th and 5th shots best.

Eric gave you a good tech assessment and I agree with his comments.

The composition on many of them looks backwards to my eye. I don't think composing them to show more of the branches behind the bird adds to the shots.

Black and white birds are tough to photograph. You did a good job on these.

[discodudette]

Great shots, Julie! Especially handholding a 300!! The first is my fave! Great job!!! You're a star!