For all Bird lovers ( kingfisher, barbets,wagtail ?,sunbird)

[rahiutu]

Below are some recent snaps I took with my sigma 70-300 apo dg macro lens. All the pictures are taken at 300 mm F 5.6. As I am new to birding your comments and suggestions are most welcome..thanks in advance..

1. Common Kingfisher



2. Blue Throated Barbet




3. Coppersmith Barbet



4. Rufous Treepie



5. Purple Sunbird (male)



6. Green Bee Eater



7. Yellow bellied Prinia

[rahiutu]

Can someone identify the following bird

8.

[B.N.DAYANANDA]

Picture are good Try to shoot with smaller aperture F8/F11 using more depth of field Subject will be sharper

[ashutoshojha]

These photographs are among the best I have seen using Sigma 70-300 lens on this forum. Some photographs are not very sharp but I know the lens is not very sharp at 300/f5.6.

Advice: Use this lens between f/8 to f/10 to get max sharpness if light permits good shutter speed.

Regards,

[sandeepr]

Whoa! Lovely set of images.

7th image is not that of a yellow billed prinia. It's mostly Grey wagtail.

8th image. The bird is Bay Banded Cuckoo - fantastic catch!

Where did you photograph these images?

[rahiutu]

Atfirst thanks all of you (Dayananda, Ashutosh, Sandeep) for liking the photos. All these photos I took in last 2-3 weeks in WestBengal in different places.

Actually tried some shots with f 6.7 but I could not figure out any difference. May be I can try f8 or 10 and see what comes out.

Sandeep - Thanks for the correction. Its not the Prinia. But I am not 100% sure that It is a grey wagtail. Because whatever picture I saw in inernet It does not match exactly. And I could not find any picture of Bay Banded Cuckoo in internet. But it looks like some kind of Cuckoo...

I am attaching two more picture of the Wagtail and the Cuckoo to confirm. Please have a look..

7. Grey Wagtail (??)




8. Bay Banded Cuckoo

[sandeepr]

I'm sure it's a bay banded cuckoo.
It's a yellow wagtail - has lot of different plumages (belly is yellow).

[ashleysanjay]

Wow, Great shots .I like the pic of Rufous Treepie. Very sharp and clear.Have u uploaded pics in Flickr? if yes send me the link.

SANJAY
www.flickr.com/photos/sanjaysai

[pranavbhasin]

Great photos, you don't seem to be a novice at all Ping me the next time you go to shoot around Bangalore, I'd love to join.

Has someone done a comparison of Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS lens vs the Sigma 70-300 APO for bird photography? Which one is better?

[Vindhya]

Some of the best fotos I have seen from that lens. Lovely ones...!

[RakeshDhareshwar]

The sharpness you have got here with the 70-300 is amazing . In terms of improvement , I would suggest that you do not place the birds in the centre of the frame . Leaving more space in the direction where the bird is looking balances the compo.

Cheers,
Rakesh

[ujjwaana]

Hi rahiutu
I second that these are indeed one of the best pics from the Sigma 70-300mm I have ever seen. First look suggested a Canon 400mm L or Nikon OEM lens! Kudos Rahi!great job!

could you please share where you took these pic ? My Sigma 400mm is dying a glimpse of King of good times...

-Ujjwal

[rahiutu]

Hi,
Thanks everybody for liking the pictures. That is a good suggestion Rakesh .... next time I will keep that in mind.

You(Sandeepr)are correct. That is yellow wagtail only. Thanks.

(Ujjwal) - All these pictures I took in different places in WestBengal like - SantraGachhi, Durgapur, Haldia ...

Actually what I have found that sharpness of the lense is good if you are close to the subject and ample light is available. So most of the pictures I was very close to the bird (within 2-3 metres), hiding at some strategic locations. So that was the key. Of course sometimes it can test your patience.

My Flickr address :http://www.flickr.com/photos/21326894@N03/

[arun_gorur]

I took my copy of Sigma 70 300 a year back, and tried shooting a bee eater, but was not happy with the result, so slid the lens in my cupboard

I thought good bird photography with details can only be done with L lenses

You have proved me wrong here I guess

Amazing work, cant belive these details have been captured with this lens

Were you on a tripod, I guess you must be

Would you mind sharing more secrets of shooting such pictures with an ordinary lens

Thanks
Arun

[rahiutu]

All these pictures are without tripod (handheld). I did not require any tripod because all the pictures were taken in bright sunlight (in aperture priority (F 5.6) mode and shutter speeds were around 400 to 1000).

Also the way I took those pictures,use of tripod could have been quite a troublesome ...