Coal Tit

Gallery: AvianPosted August 26, 2010161 views18 comments

This was taken from a home made hide that I've built in my back yard.
It looks North across the valley at a high mountain on the other side which makes a lovely background.

This shot was taken early one Winter's morning and you can see some snow in the bottom half of the background while the top half is melting in the warmth of the rising Sun.

It's nice and cosy in the hide, it's a 2 seater and there's even chairs and a bottled gas heater

The feeding station was only about 8 feet from the hide when this was taken but I've moved it back to about 13 feet now cos one of my mates (Paul Rosser) bought a Canon 400mm f5.6 L lens and it's minimum focussing distance is about 3.5m.

Sony A350
Sigma 50-500 EX
1/200th second
f8
ISO 400
360mm
+0.3 stop exposure compensation
Centre weighted metering
Tripod

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Tom Webster on August 26, 2010 at 5:17 PM

I'm always surprised by how good the images are from the "Bigma" 50-500 lens. The sharpness of this image speaks well for the quality of the lens. I can't nit pick this image. The lighting, color, background and placement in the frame are just perfect. The moss on the perch adds lots of interest to the image, too. A fine image in anybody's book.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 73 Posts, 644 Comments

Comment posted by Axel Hildebrandt on August 26, 2010 at 5:34 PM

Very nice perch, soft light and sharpness.

Registered on October 16, 2006, 66 Posts, 441 Comments

Comment posted by Buck Ward on August 26, 2010 at 6:34 PM

This look remarkably like a chickadee, which I only see when I visit folks farther north, in the southeast USA.
What a terrific picture!

Registered on December 8, 2003, 96 Posts, 1917 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on August 26, 2010 at 6:36 PM

Super sharp shot Geoffrey. Love the BG and the perch. Great light always adds and you took advantage of some nice light here. Well done.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Joel DeYoung on August 26, 2010 at 7:16 PM

Wow, this really looks like a chickadee!
Really nice feather details and composition. Love the nice clean background and the perch adds some interest. Nicely done.

Registered on July 12, 2009, 92 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Geoffrey Baker on August 26, 2010 at 8:24 PM

Thanks everyone

Yes, I saw a photo of one of your Chickadees on here the other night and I thought " Blimey, this looks exactly like our Coal Tit "

I don't know how big a Chickadee is but these Coalies are really small.

Geoff.

Registered on August 20, 2010, 192 Posts, 980 Comments

Comment posted by Joel DeYoung on August 26, 2010 at 8:31 PM

"I don't know how big a Chickadee is but these Coalies are really small."

Geoff, Not to hijack your post, but the Chickadee is also really small.

Chickadee

Registered on July 12, 2009, 92 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on August 26, 2010 at 9:12 PM

Hi Geoff, I like this image a lot. Perch, bird and background look great and I like your comp. The only thing I wonder about is the catch light in the larger version. It looks a little different to me somehow. Maybe it's just these old eyes of mine...

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Hali Sowle on August 26, 2010 at 9:59 PM

Great image Geoffrey, such wonderful soft light and the bird and perch are lovely, so nice and sharp and the neat background is super.

Registered on January 9, 2008, 36 Posts, 582 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on August 26, 2010 at 10:11 PM

Very nice image as posted. An excellent example of working in soft light to get detail in both lights and darks of the plumage.

Tits (Europe) and chickadees (U.S.) are closely related members of the Paridae family so there should be no surprise that they look and act so much alike. but note the white marks showing on the wing coverts of this tit that do not occur on any of the chickadees.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 26, 2010 at 11:13 PM

Beautiful image, Geoffrey. A very nice pose and I love your perch. You did an excellent job on the exposure, and this isn't an easy bird to expose properly. Lovely light.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on August 26, 2010 at 11:38 PM

Well set up situation. The perch looks very natural and appropriate. Lighting and pose are top notch. It is interesting hearing about how other photographers go about getting their photos.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on August 27, 2010 at 5:42 AM

Nice shot, Geoffrey! Good DOF and detail.
Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on August 27, 2010 at 11:18 AM

Very nice exposure and color in this shot Geoff. I also love the perch!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Geoffrey Baker on August 27, 2010 at 2:56 PM

Thanks everyone

Geoff.

Registered on August 20, 2010, 192 Posts, 980 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on August 27, 2010 at 10:41 PM

Lovely shot Geoffrey - beautiful detail and light

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on August 27, 2010 at 11:23 PM

lovely, Geoffrey. nice light, detail, perch, bg. only thing missing is a bit more of a head turn, but it looks excellent as is.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Satie Sharma on August 28, 2010 at 11:56 AM

Beautiful shot, Geoffrey. I like everything about this one.

Registered on November 11, 2003, 189 Posts, 5335 Comments