A decent day for Smallies...

Follow that lil' bird..

Been working the whole morning to clean the house.
This is the only opportunity we get to mow the lawn, get rid of weeds at our yard.
I also vacuumed the carpet and mopped the floor as the standard clean-up ops.
While checking my emails on my Google Nexus 7 tablet, I saw a sparrow hopping on the yard.
We cut the grass, so, there's lots of green waste lying around.
I observed the little sparrow as it hopped around and worked on getting a shot of it with my Canon EOS7D and the trusty EF400mm F5.6L.
Its been a while since I shot any birds around the neighbourhood.

Sparrows are common lawn birds that you see everyday. 
But, capturing them in their element is another thing.
I guess I'll have plenty of time to shoot and catalog them next year...

The Olive Backed Sunbird

I went on a walkabout with my camera.
It was rigged to shoot 'smallies' (as birders would refer them) up close.
While scouring the plants at my neighbour's house, I noticed a very familiar 'chirp'.
Its a very small bird, no more than 20cm in length.
The bird has a long and sharp beak and its olive-yellow coloured.
Its also a very loud bird as it tweets non-stop.
I managed to get one in frame and fired away.
My camera's pixel sensitivity was set on auto, so, to compensate motion-blurring, the shutter speed as set at 1/1000sec with an aperture of F8.0.
This is the setting I get by mounting a 1.4x teleconverter on the EF400mm F5.6L lens.
On a cropped sensor body like the EOS7D, the total magnification is 896mm.
The wide-open aperture is reduced by one stop to F8.0 and this means that in order to get a decently exposed frame, the ISO sensitivity was sacrificed.
Even when the shot is sharp, the details are 'grainy'.
Another down-side to this is that the camera is unable to record the full exif data. 
Since a teleconverter is added, focussing has to be done manually. 
Here, I am training to shoot bigger birds..

Decent results...

Well, I must say that I am pleased with the capture I made with the rig.
There is always room for improvement and with the weak ambient light, I made good with the shots that were taken mostly hand-held.

The Mangrove Whistler

Aaaahh.. That wonderful morning...
 I swapped the day off by taking my Canon EOS 7D, EF teleconverter 1.4x and my trusty EF400mm F5.6L for a walk around the neighbourhood's fence line.
This place has a healthy population of birds where anything from a small spider-catcher to an Eagle can be spotted if you are lucky.

The Mangrove whistler

Horrendous lighting conditions
To get the most out of it, you have to set your camera to the lowest ISO.
Lower sensitivity means a tighter and crispier shot.
This also yields you a sharper image.
The enemy for a bird photographer is low-shutter speed.
I set my Canon EOS7D to 1/1250sec.
This would guarantee a clear shot.
There's nothing much I could do about the ISO settings which I had set on 'Auto'.
To compensate for bad lighting conditions, the camera would use a higher-sensitivity light capture.
Your shots may end up 'grainy' and if you blow it up, the colour pixels are not as compact as the lower ISO settings.

The image at 70% crop

 Autofocus and F8
The AF sensor on my EOS7D would not operate with a 1.4x TeleconvertorII.
Apparently, there is not enough light for the sensors to activate autofocussing.
To me, its not an issue.
I've been working with manual focus on my macro shots.
On a long telephoto lens, its just a matter of 'eye-hand' coordination.
I managed to cap off six shots and out of the lot, two came out pretty decent.
A little tweaking on the Adobe Lightroom 4.2 had fixed the exposure...

Sometimes, I take things for granted...

That noisy bird!
There was a loud squawk and high up in the sky, I noticed a Cockatoo making an approach.
It landed on a tree branch and perched there.
The first thing that came to mind was: "Aiya, who's escaped pet is this???"
I took aim and snapped a few shots of the bird.
My flash went off and I also snapped a couple of shots with available light. The Cockatoo was perched and it went on squawking. You can hear it singing from miles away.

The Yellow-crested Cockatoo

The best I could capture: cropped with some lighting adjustments

 An uncommon bird
Later, I made reference to this bird through Allen Jeyarajasingam's book: Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. 
It turned out that the Yellow-crested Cockatoo is our native bird. Its population is on the decline and seeing as it is, I felt really privileged to have captured it on my camera.  
And best of all, this bird was found outside my house! 

An unexpected find..

A bird of prey that blends well with its environment..
It was a normal routine. Walk the dogs and get them worked out and at the same time, get some exercise.
My home has a simple 1.5km loop which is ideal for walking the dogs. By the time they get home, the kids would be zonked.
So, there I was, walking the Huskies and when I passed this heavily foliaged area, I noticed the outline of a large bird. 
It was perched on a branch, and the lighting conditions were extremely horrible.
Right up there in the backlight (about 50metres in distance) I noticed a raptor.
The first thing I did, was to bring the kids back, then mount on my Canon EF400mm F5.6L lens onto my full-frame Canon EOS5DmkIII body.
I also hauled along my EX430 flash gun and a 1.4x teleconverter.
This is one shot that I wouldn't want to miss.

Majestic raptor: The Crested Serpent Eagle

 There couldn't have been a better moment. 
When I got back to the spot, the raptor was still perched on the tree.
I capped off a few shots with my flash as a fill-in light.
The odds were stacking as I utilized my camera's aperture priority settings.
I knew that by stepping down the flash synch to 1/125, I would get a decent fill light.
But, with only manual focusing on hand with the 1.4x teleconverter mounted, I had a good chance of scoring a decent shot which is in focus and nail the extra details.
When I tried to move in closer, the eagle dismounted and flew off.
I had eight frames captured and had to contend with the results.
Next, I worked on the post-processing on the Adobe Lightroom 4.
The results was satisfying.
Although it could be better, that was the best I can do.
The Crested Serpent Eagle is number two on my record after capturing the Black-winged Kite in Sekinchan two weeks ago.
 

Black-winged Kite

My first raptor
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a Brahminy Kite in Kuala Selangor.
It was soaring high up above the sky and there was nothing I could do to score a decent shot of the bird of prey.
While driving around the Sekinchan rice fields, I saw the outline of a bird.
"Ah! That's nothing la!," said Michelle, my wife.
I got down of the car and trained my EF400mm F5.6L lens which was mounted with a 1.4x teleconverter on the object.
It turned out to be a bird of prey perched high on top of the treeline.
I began to focus and slowly, the shape took form of a Black-winged kite.

On final approach: the pair of kites on a tree top

Before I could fully depress my shutter button, another kite swooped down from the sky and started mounting the bird that was resting on the branch.
With a burst of shots and by lightly moving the focusing ring, I managed to get a few clean shots.
Even at 860mm (400mm x 1.4x + 1.6x crop body), I was barely managing it.
The kites were mating and it was the most satisfying 10-minutes of my outing in Sekinchan.
I captured the moment and was very happy with the results.
Lighting conditions at the time was really challenging.

Gallery

 

Sekinchan has plenty to offer for the first-time birder.
There are Kingfishers at the canals and the Kites had proven to be an attraction.
I might try 'Cyclobirding' with an overnight stay in Sekinchan town. There are species of birds to capture in the area.

White-throated Kingfisher

A weekend escape
One of the best thing to do on a Saturday is to go on an excursion. 
My mission is to head to Sekinchan, Selangor's Rice Bowl where birds are almost guaranteed.
So, Michelle and I had set out on a road trip via the LATAR highway that connects from our home to Kuala Selangor.
We had lunch in Pasir Penambang before setting out to explore villages like Bagan Pasir and Bagan Tengkorak.
By mid-day, we reached the Sekinchan paddy fields.
I took out my gear and started looking for birds..

The action in Sekinchan

I had my Canon EOS7D rigged with the EF400mm F5.6L and a 1.4x teleconverter. This voids the auto focus feature on the lens and everything had to be done manually.
At the beginning of my quest, I had no luck at all...

The game-changer
Michelle took the wheels at at the fringe of Sekinchan A village, she spotted a Kingfisher.
I took out my camera and started snapping away and managed to squeeze a couple of decent shots.
On the whole, I was really happy with the results.

Gallery

The Yellow-vented bulbul

Projek photo: Phase II
I have always wanted to dabble into nature photography.
A couple of years back, before getting into capturing insects with my macro lenses, I met a gentleman in Taman Negara in Merapoh, Pahang.
He was lugging a super telephoto lens around, shooting birds.
I became inspired with his blog and corresponded with him on how to start out capturing images of birds.


Canon EF400mm F5.6L
There's a wealth of resources on the internet about birding.
And when it comes to value for money -- especially among beginners: the Canon EF400mm F5.6L lens came highly recommended.
Its also one of the most affordable super telephoto lenses around that can yield some really good results wide-open.
I was encouraged to pick up this lens and after my tax returns, I had ample funds to embark on bird photography.

A decent beginner's lens: the EF400mm F5.6L

Always a first time..
I've added a full-frame system to my keeps for added versatility.
The EOS5DmkIII would serve primarily as my bug capture tool.
With that, I still have the advantage of a 1.6x crop factor on my Canon EOS7D.
This is by far, one of the most versatile APS-C system I've ever used.
My choice is by far, still the EOS7D for its ease of use and features.
Now, complemented with the EF400mm F5.6L, I can concentrate on learning to capture birds.
So, the first time I brought this lens out was at the Putrajaya Wetlands.
There are a lot of birds here and one of the capture that yielded some really good results were from a walkabout near the waterline.
I captured a Yellow-vented bulbul, which I later learned that -- is a common bird.
Back at home, I tweaked the pictures a little bit.
The EF400mm F5.6L gave some really good shots. 


Gallery

A long way to go.. 
I am very happy with the results.
The bulbul will go into my record of birds capture on the EF400mm 5.6L and my EOS7D.
Between cycling my folding bike, now, I have to divide my time to capture bugs and birds and I am sure that there are ample locations to pick and choose from...