Pine Grosbeak

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Travel 16 Comments

Pine Grosbeak, Seward, Alaska.

Pine Grosbeak, Seward, Alaska.

Another visitor to our backyard mountain ash.  These guys are a little more approachable, but nothing like the crows.  I actually tried to slowly touch one of the crows feeding in this tree the other day – I thought he might let me, but he finally hopped to another branch once I got within a foot.

I have had a number of questions about the settings used for some of my recent photos, I will try to get into the habit of posting such information after the jump – that way those that don’t care can ignore it!

This was captured with a 100-400 at 400.  I rarely crop an image, but I did crop this from horizontal, to a semi vertical.  I used 500 iso because I needed all the shutter speed I could get on this dark winter day – I wouldn’t hesitate to go to 800 with my camera if needed. 

I photographed this with my maximum aperture of 5.6 which gave me 1/320 of a second.  Because I used flash, these settings provided the exposure for my background.  Since the background was a white sky and snow, I over compensated 2 stops to keep it white.  I could have lowered this exposure value for a dark background. 

I dialed in + 1 stop of exposure for the flash, this might have been a little more then necessary, but I wanted a brightly lit bird.  Without flash, the bird was very dark, and the rich reds didn’t show at all.

Comments 16

  1. Nice image and thank you for the details.
    I have moved your blog to my ‘Must Reads’ secton of my Goggle Reader.

    Thanks again, Ray

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    Author

    Thanks Ray, I appreciate it! Now the pressure is on.

    Thanks a lot Dennis!

    I has some of the setting decided before I began shooting – I knew I would need a fast ISO, and that I would want to be shooting wide open.

    For the actual exposure, I began with the flash set for 0 compensation, and the actual ambient light exposure at plus one stop. Those settings should have been good in this situation, and they produced an image I could have worked with, but I felt both the bird, and the background were both darker then I wanted – so I added a stop to each.

    Thanks,

    Ron

  4. Hey Ron, nice image. Do you have a flash extender? Those can be pretty handy too. And you don’t have to use as much flash power since it gets thrown out further. I still have mine from pre-LF days.

  5. Post
    Author

    Hi Laurent,

    Thanks! I do have a flash extender, it is a handy tool. I didn’t use it here since I was able to get so close to the birds.

    I could see how it would be much help with LF!

    Ron

  6. WOW, It looks like the branch is part of the bird and the beautiful bloom at the end. Exquisite!!! Great Photograghy , Ron!!!

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    Author

  10. Pingback: Pine Grosbeak - Pinicola enucleator | Birds of the World

  11. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in. Just wanted to express how much your work delights me. Your attention to details in color, composition and light are beyond outstanding. Reminds me that I’ve really got to stop by this site more often!

    Here’s to a happy and prosperous new year.
    km

  12. Post
    Author

    Thank you very much Ken – I really appreciate a comment like yours coming from such an accomplished photographer!

    Thanks,

    Ron

  13. Hey Ron,

    I didn’t know you had a Pine Grosbeak image here – I was hoping that at last I’d found a subject you didn’t have (other than myself snowboarding). I should’ve known better. 🙂

    Love the photo.

    Cheers

    Carl

  14. Post
    Author

    Hi Carl,

    Thanks man. Yeah I got this just before our trip during a nice snowstorm. I also got a shot of you snowboarding in your red jacket lol. I’ll post it later.

    Ron

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