These red flowers (have to find out the name) are big magnets to birds. Yesterday itself there were Mynas, Oriental White Eyes, Purple Sunbirds, Brahminy Mynas, Tree Pies, Green Pigeons, Parrots and a few more on the tress. The trouble the tree is very high and my zoom quite ineffective.
Now the temptation to buy a more powerful zoom lens has always been there but this tree and the birds in it are giving it a different dimension. I mean the tree is not going to run away and if there are birds in it then I am also going to hang around it! So let us see when I end up buying a bigger zoom and a good tripod. And of course this weekend I am going to hang around this tree big time.
the temptation to use bigger and better zoom lenses are always there but they usually come with their own problems 🙂 like higher focal lengths will need more light, unless they have bigger apertures too … if yes, u r talking abt really costly and bulky lenses!
do u crop pictures? if yes, do u mind sharing how much are u cropping? and whats the ISO, aperture and shutter speed u r using for ur shots? I am assuming that the focal length is 300mm. if u r not happy with the details or clarity, some of it may be corrected by using a faster shutter or an IS lens (not sure if ur 70-300 is the IS version), some by using a more optimal aperture (for example, my 400 mm lens performs a lot better at f/8 compared to f/5.6 – u may need to find out what works best for ur lens) and some by using RAW mode (extra work in processing the RAW image). if the light is not enough, sometimes it may make sense to use a higher ISO (and may be upgrade to a later generation camera which supports higher ISO values with very little noise)
i wrote all this because i usually find my 400mm f/5.6 difficult to use and prefer a 55-250mm IS 🙂 infact, I am even planning to downgrade to a 300mm f/4 IS!
I don’t know what I like better – that beautiful flower or the purple sunbird. That last shot is perfect!
Love the beautiful red flower and the second shot where the bird is visible very well.
Ok – photographs. I visualize such flowers all around the tree branches and I love to watch the tree. If I am correct the tree is called Semal tree.
Beautiful, as usual! even as I write, a pair of these birds are on my window grill, making a racket! but i know that the moment I take out my camera, they will disappear! so i have given up trying for now, though they are just an arm’s length away!
nothing is as nice as finding paradise and
Sippin’ on red flower wine 😛
hmm….nice one but there are better ones
I might agree with the comment of sandeep here
Thanks Sandeep. There goes some cold water on my 150-500mm lens. OK may be I will buy a 10-20mm. 😀 But many thanks for sharing your experience. As of now I use 70-300mm.
Thanks Fida you are kind.
Thanks Chitra.
Yes Appu this is the Semal tree.
Anu next time sit with your camera at that spot 😀 I know how they are!
Anshul, but they are so damn difficult to photograph!
Tarun what Sandeep said I am paying heed to it!
This is so sweet!