Goldfinches

[Jonathan Ashton]

• OM Digital Solutions OM-1
• OLYMPUS M.150-400mm F4.5
• ƒ/5.6
• 256mm
• 1/5000s
• ISO 1600
• Flash not fired
• Tue, 04 March 2025 9:53 AM
• DxO PureRAW 4

Goldfinches squabbling over who gets to the food first. Image captured from my garden hide.

 

[Jan van Holten]

Great interaction. You are lucky with such a garden. I was wondering what your garden and background looks like?

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Jan, the current set up is a Tragopan hide, behind it is a hedge. I have planted hedges in front of and laterally to the hide. The hedges in front are still very small so I have embedded twigs and brambles and ivy so this spring/summer it should develop into a dense hedge. Directly in front of the hide there is a clear space where I place feeders and perches and also a large garden table with a reflection pool. The pool hasn’t been used much at all probably due to the very weather so I replace the water with earth and grass and place stones and branches upon it. The important thing is to ensure optimal light direction and look at the background, this is where height of the camera is important. Beyond the feeders it is open space so I try to get the camera height to include the open space and if the sky is pleasant then a little sky. To get the images of the Goldfinches squabbling is quite simple but to get a natural looking situation without cloning etc requires a little planning. I place sunflower hearts in a small container which is glued to a vertical rod. The container is deliberately small so that there is room for one to two birds to feed. Inevitable more bird come to the feeder and this is where the squabbling begins and it often results in the birds ascending directly above the food source so I have all focus points active on the camera with Bird ID . I use Procapture and when I see the birds on the feeder I depress the shutter half way ( or use remote cable) then as soon as I see the action I fully depress. The camera has already recorded the images so when I fully depress the shutter the images are stored in camera. I apply this technique to all sorts of situations to capture birds in flight as they leave a perch or rock etc. Again I check the background is clear so cloning does not become necessary. Hope this helps........ With regard to bird food I use sunflower hearts, peanuts and Niger seed and shortly I will be putting mealworms out - this is great for Starlings and Sparrows they also squabble over them.
We have also installed a large pond but this is in its infancy and we have planted wildflowers and pond plants so this will be some time before we get results for our efforts.

 

[Jan van Holten]

Jan, the current set up is a Tragopan hide, behind it is a hedge. I have planted hedges in front of and laterally to the hide. The hedges in front are still very small so I have embedded twigs and brambles and ivy so this spring/summer it should develop into a dense hedge. Directly in front of the hide there is a clear space where I place feeders and perches and also a large garden table with a reflection pool. The pool hasn’t been used much at all probably due to the very weather so I replace the water with earth and grass and place stones and branches upon it. The important thing is to ensure optimal light direction and look at the background, this is where height of the camera is important. Beyond the feeders it is open space so I try to get the camera height to include the open space and if the sky is pleasant then a little sky. To get the images of the Goldfinches squabbling is quite simple but to get a natural looking situation without cloning etc requires a little planning. I place sunflower hearts in a small container which is glued to a vertical rod. The container is deliberately small so that there is room for one to two birds to feed. Inevitable more bird come to the feeder and this is where the squabbling begins and it often results in the birds ascending directly above the food source so I have all focus points active on the camera with Bird ID . I use Procapture and when I see the birds on the feeder I depress the shutter half way ( or use remote cable) then as soon as I see the action I fully depress. The camera has already recorded the images so when I fully depress the shutter the images are stored in camera. I apply this technique to all sorts of situations to capture birds in flight as they leave a perch or rock etc. Again I check the background is clear so cloning does not become necessary. Hope this helps........ With regard to bird food I use sunflower hearts, peanuts and Niger seed and shortly I will be putting mealworms out - this is great for Starlings and Sparrows they also squabble over them.
We have also installed a large pond but this is in its infancy and we have planted wildflowers and pond plants so this will be some time before we get results for our efforts.

I was just curious!! Thanks for the effort. And this Pro or prefocus helps a lot indeed.

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey Jon ... compared to previous posting this image is not working as good , for me!!!
Just for some technical reasons .... DOF is too limited and the focal point seems to be on the right bird and on the back side of it . At least to my eyes .
I would again up the exposure and add more local contrast to the subjects .
Colors looking very nice in the birds

TFS Andreas

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andreas, I agree, it was just an illustration to showhow interaction on perches as opposed to mid air , as the latter tends to beg the question how did they get there. The thing is in a space of a second you get 50 images and very often you get several good ones and I feel it is good to show a little variety. It's not very often you get the"ideal" one. I had lots of SS so I could have increased the aperture size - all very good in retrospect - next time maybe I stay with 1/3200 to 1/4000 sec and f8 ....... but of course next time the distance may be greater so not required - I try vary the set ups continually.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Jon, if these are more 'WIP' (Work in Progress), it might be worth adding this to the intro as comments/feedback can be more tailored, however I feel you are also missing, looking at the BKG too. There are a lot of elements visually that are distracting and conflicting with both subject & perch, and as you have total control you can reduce or indeed eliminate prior to shooting. In that way you can concentrate on the subject capture, knowing you have far better separation and the subjects pop.

You must be at f/8 already, do you really need f/10-11??????

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Steve I see you agree with what I said above, as the different scenarios are envisaged I always see room for improvement. I regard all this as amusement nothing more. In relative terms yes already f8 the trouble is the birds have no idea what that means so they fly at will and the camera records best it can, I don’t pretend there is any great skill in getting these images. I do try to improve in various settings ups but inevitably the birds’ flight paths are not entirely predictable.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Jon, as this is 'ongoing' then yes, there is always room for improvement like anything, however.... if you keep moving the 'goal posts' as per PP for example, then it's hard to get traction and improvement because nothing stays the same, so minimise the changes, but... One thing can do and that is your background, sort that out prior to shooting and it's one less thing to worry about, as BKG can kill an image.

I do agree that all you can do is 'point and shot' quite literally, as you are not tracking the subjects coming in, they just are in the AF zone, so hit the button. Do you need more DoF only you know that, is the raw sharp?

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Yes I agree and understand entirely, if I get the ideal shot then fine if I don’t I’ve had fun. I do seek to optimise and to a certain extent standardise but the trouble with that is it becomes a technical exercise in which you almost calculate/anticipate success. That calculation is fine to point but I enjoy a certain amount of uncertainty and random success. It’s all about fun and uncertainty that I enjoy I want to anticipate success with a degree of fun and reasonable certainty rather than making it a science. My working life was all about science, now I want a sense of light hearted fun and amusement.