Rainforest Birdies

[Mad Aussie]

We spent a day in the rainforest in the mountains behind the Gold Coast today.
Here's a couple of the inhabitants ...

Eastern Yellow Robin


Yellow Throated Scrubwren

[AntZ]

I love the colour of the first pic. Great focus in tough conditions. Looks like wide aperture for low light has created a shallow DOF. Their little feet are soft, but on the flip side the background is beatifully blurred.

[Mad Aussie]

You're not kidding Antz ... it was really dark in there. So tough to find flash settings that wouldn't cast big ugly shadows the birds.

[Mad Aussie]

A couple more ...

A Logrunner scratching around in the forest floor


A Lewins Honeyeater

[kat]

Very cute!

[AntZ]

You're not kidding Antz ... it was really dark in there. So tough to find flash settings that wouldn't cast big ugly shadows the birds.

Yes the flash is obvious, but not over the top. I can't imagine getting shots with anything less. I struggled to get similar shots with my f/2.8 in similar conditions at Mt Glorious. I think I saw some Logrunners up there. Do they tend to bounce around a lot?

[Michaelaw]

Great shots MA, love the first one. You've got some cool looking birds down under!

[Mad Aussie]

Thanks all.

AntZ ... I didn't see any bouncing around ... mostly just scratching away looking for grubs I guess.

[Barefoot]

Great shots, MA.

Irregardless of the canopy above, you still managed to bring us the color. Wish I could do that.

[Mad Aussie]

Thanks BF ... it sure wasn't easy ... ISO's of 400 - 640 mostly and some gentle flash ... as gentle as I could when the subject was several metres away. Love my speedlite.

Met an old guy in the forest with a Nikon 300D and Sigma 50 - 300 lens I think it was ... no ext flash and he was new to photography and obviously having all manner of trouble. It took me about 1 minute to convince him that it's worth spending money on a good flash. I guess there'll be a sale for a SB800 soon ... think that's the Nikon equivalent of my 580 flash?