the camera is doing seriously impressive things to get this heron as well as it did - it’s very far away. We were very lucky with the light
’
over 200 shots to get those 5
this is why I would never have bothered in the time of film
Those 5 are really good though!
Overall not bad. But yeah white is hard. When I was prepping to shoot a wedding, a friend who has done just that professionally warned me. White is hard! Whether it’s the color balance, or just that you’re going to overexpose the bright white areas. If you can, limit the ISO and/or shutter speed for white birds. The landscape might be “too dark” but at least that can be recovered, more so than blown out highlights. Just thinking aloud about this - I don’t really do any better with big white birds 
What did you use to take this photo?
it’s a Fuji X-H1 with a 50-140 lens and a doubler (teleconverter xf 1.4x tc wr)
aka the big camera that my dad bought for Africa, and hadn’t been using because it’s too heavy for regular life, so he is lending it to me for the duration. I am using it as a fancy point and shoot after being frustrated losing too many images because I couldn’t figure out the settings.
It can do a lot more if I can figure it out.
My very first digital camera back in ~2000 was a Fujifilm! Their DSLR and mirrorless are pretty darn nice. With Pentax throwing in the towel, they are kind of the best option standing if you like the “look” of old school cameras.
Anyway yeah I used my Pentax on automatic for quite a few years until my new friend group had a lot of DSLR owners who insisted I learn some controls (and eventually got me to shoot RAW as well.) So I do manual shutter speed and aperture, but I use the 3 user/custom modes (on the dial) for 1) everyday shooting, 2) animals and birds at rest, 3) birds in motion. So I can just turn the dial and start shooting.
Getting started, I read parts of the book that came with my camera, and learned enough about aperture, ISO, and shutter speed to play with doing those things manually. A few early photos that were over/under-exposed but overall a camera like that is still pretty forgiving. More recently my friend convinced me… fast as hell shutter and high ISO is usually what you want for birds. You can fix some noise in software but you can’t really fix blur (or being out of focus). But of course white makes that high ISO a challenge… At least when the bird isn’t moving you can turn down shutter speed and ISO and get something good.
Of course a good start is just look at the photos you really like of the bunch and see what the camera chose for each of your primary settings and then you can turn your camera to those in manual mode for your next photos.
I saw one of these fellas on my front porch this morning. I wasn’t quick enough to get a pic, but it’s always nice to see their yellow.
A couple weeks ago I acquired a new birding friend as well as a pair of (HEAVY) binoculars through my buy-nothing group. I was able to not only ID a new-to-me bird, but I was able to use the binoculars to spot it, too! It was a Spotted Towhee, and now I can pick out their birdsong, which is exciting. I can also pick out the song of the American Robin (simple, yet sweet), the Red-wing Blackbird (oddly mechanical), and the Swainson’s Thrush (my favorite).
Ha yes I describe it as a laser! Never saw a Towhee, looks pretty in pictures. I enjoy using Merlin to get pretty good clues of their songs. The Carolina Wren and Northern Flicker are particularly distinct around here!
Killdeer family is very noisy, but hard to see when they stand still
Juvie raven pleased with itself
Was sitting at my computer at the dining table… and my camera was within reach when this female ruby-throated hummingbird visited several of MvR’s flowers!
Liked this photo the best, so I sent it to my friend who has DxO Deep editing software, and was able to really make it pop!
Met up with some friends at Middle Creek Wildlife Management (Lebanon/Lancaster PA area). Got this 3-4 year old bald eagle (not sure if more than one…), and as osprey with fresh caught fish! Saw it diving and got the camera out in time for a few shots as it came up!
Lovely shots
