Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo eating swamp Banksia seed

Mark

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Here's a couple of Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos I shot (camera shot - not shot shot) today eating some seed from our swamp Banksias down the back of our place - near the chicken pen. I looked out my window and the big black wings floating around the chicken pen caught my eye (thought they were eagles from a distance) so crept down the back with my camera and got a few pics of one of Australia's iconic birds. Nikon 52oo 300mm lense.

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo eating swamp Banksia seed.jpg
 

Mark

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Nice, two in the same pic, and both in good positions. How close did you get, looks pretty close even with a 300mm lense.

Cheers - well, I was probably 30 metres away without a lean so it was a bit difficult to hold steady. As I moved into position I scared off about 3 others so I dare not move closer.

I wish I could have gotten a clearer eye shot - if you can get a sparkly clear eye in focus on a bird it hardly matters if anything else is in focus and the shot will still look good... tip coming from me the worst nature photographer in Oz :rolleyes:
 

stevo

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Is that bird eating that stuff or collecting for a nest? o_O

i get a lot of birds in my yard on the Gravillias, but they move so fast and are always in unsuitable positions, they refuse to pose for me :oops:

Have you played with the "focal points" on the camera? Great for selecting the eye.
 

Mark

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Is that bird eating that stuff or collecting for a nest? o_O

Have you played with the "focal points" on the camera? Great for selecting the eye.


They are eating the seeds from the swamp banksia - it's a pretty tough seed pod.

Focal points? Yeah, sort-of know what you mean - the little red dots? I can never get them to go where I want... sorry, I'm hopeless with DSLRs :p
 

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Focal points? Yeah, sort-of know what you mean - the little red dots? I can never get them to go where I want... sorry, I'm hopeless with DSLRs :p

yeap, you'll need to set it on one of the manual settings, M, A or S. You have 39 focus points all over your screen/image area, when you frame the picture the way you want it, you then select what you want to be in focus, like the eye. Your camera has the same stuff as mine, and it's awesome being able to choose the different settings :cheers:
 

Mark

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yeap, you'll need to set it on one of the manual settings, M, A or S. You have 39 focus points all over your screen/image area, when you frame the picture the way you want it, you then select what you want to be in focus, like the eye. Your camera has the same stuff as mine, and it's awesome being able to choose the different settings :cheers:


Ok thanks, but what about the other stuff - will it still auto focus and auto adjust to light etc on the manual settings?
 

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will it still auto focus and auto adjust to light etc on the manual settings?

Firstly, I am no expert and deny any responsibility if your camera explodes.:p
Stick it on M and have a play sometime. I'm not sure of the controls on the 5200 but I think most of these Nikons (and Canons) would be similar.

Focus: You move the focus point around the screen with the up/down/left/right controls with your right thumb. When you have it where you want it, you half press the shoot button and it will auto focus on that point only.

Light Meter: And while you're doing that you're looking at the light meter at the bottom of the viewfinder.
It has a + |||||||||||0|||||||||| - symbols. The aim is to get the light set at zero (middle of the scale). You adjust the shutter speed and aperture to make those changes to the light meter. Try keep the shutter speed more than 100 (or you'll need to use a tripod for slow shutter speeds). I usually try to go a couple of clicks higher on the light meter to blow it out a bit (more light).

ISO: If you find you can't get the light meter to read zero and it's too dark, you might have to increase the ISO.

imaging.nikon.com_lineup_dslr_d5200_img_features02_img_06.png


maybe we should have a camera tips thread :cheers:
 

Mark

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Thanks - great tips! I had a go at M setting with my latest chicken pics in the dust bath thread as you say it made it easier for me to track where I wanted my focal point to be but I still need to work on light ISO thingy. Perhaps your camera tips thread suggestion would be a good idea here (for me anyway) :D I need all the tips I can get. Lucky it's digital so I can shoot lots of pics! I'll make a camera tips thread...
 
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