Dale's Garden Hide. (been a busy boy)

gramps said:
You need some foxes around! ;)
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Lol, yeah, although the fox trail has gone very quiet, not seen one for months, Our original boy stopped visiting early last year. The youngsters from last year haven't been here for a while now either.

I did hear a vixen calling a couple of weeks ago.


Gav. said:
My locals seem to like engine oil, I had two bottles on the top shelf in the shed, mice chewed both bottles in the bottom corner, lets just say, nothing will rust in there now :LOL:

Put your cat in there for a while ;)
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That sounds messy Gav. :runaway:
 
They're safe out there (all things considered), they're not doing any harm, nothing that a quick sweep in the mornings won't fix. :LOL: It's a good 25 metres from the house too.(y)
 
At a loose end today, which actually made a nice change.

So what to do?

The hide beckoned, it looked very active. I topped the feeders up, grabbed the R7, a drink and my phone to keep an eye on the time. I'm also leaving the grass to grow this year where I use it for a background. I feel it has become too clinical and needs some texture at least.

I didn't have to wait long, the usual influx of male and female Chaffinches, tons of Goldfinches, even a solitary Siskin. I was happy to see the odd Greenfinch too, quite rare sight anywhere these days but I have had a few around the hide since last summer. I watched them on the feeders, willing them onto one of the 2 perches. They wouldn't oblige.

I was suprised and very happy though when, over the course of a couple of hours, 3 Greenfinches became 4, then 5 and so on until I managed to count 10 at one time, all on the feeders and stand.

10, wow!

I'm hoping these make it to Spring, when they'll breed and there will be more. They've been here since early last summer, so somehow, are managing to dodge tricho.

One or 2 did find their way to my perches, just for a split second at a time. I got a couple of images, nothing award winning, the light was dull and my framing was off but anyway, here's a very good condition male.

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Good shot Dale.

Can I ask what settings you tend to use on the R7 and what post editing as I am still getting used to mine. Noise is my main issue. I’m tempted to gent a R6 as it handles noise better but obviously does not have the reach of a APSC sensor.
 
Brentor said:
Good shot Dale.

Can I ask what settings you tend to use on the R7 and what post editing as I am still getting used to mine. Noise is my main issue. I’m tempted to gent a R6 as it handles noise better but obviously does not have the reach of a APSC sensor.
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Thank you.

Settings wise, I go with whatever I can get away with. 95% of the time, I'm in manual mode. The perches I use are about 10-12 feet from the end of my lens and I try my best to keep the whole bird sharp (of this kind of size) so I'm usually at f8, which seems to work pretty well. I have the histogram visible in the VF and I try to expose as far to the right as I can, without clipping a load of whites. You'll get away with a little more here than you might expect if the histogram is just touching the right hand side but I experiment with it on the day, as different light can blow (or not) the highlights.

I work with f8 as my base aperture (in the hide), for DOF reasons. The rest of my settings depend on that, mainly trying to keep shutter speed above 1/400 sec and I will tweak the ISO to control that. I'm quite happy to go to ISO 3200 (even 6400 at times) on my R7. The files can be a little grainy in low light but ETTR does help. There comes a point though, especially towards the end of the day, when I will have to open up the aperture to whatever to avoid too high an ISO and keep a decent shutter speed. I have photographed (static) birds as low as 1/50 sec but you have to pick your moment carefully.

I'm usually using Servo AF, Single Point AF and animal eye detect, for birds. I move the single af point to suit, in the frame.

I don't bother with any of the fancy settings, (highlight priority etc) and I don't use any of the picture styles, I'm always in 'Standard' as I shoot in RAW and I'm a firm believer that apart from the basics, (shutter, aperture, ISO) , any tweaks should be done in post when dealing with RAW files. That said, there should be very little to do in post if you nail the file, save for cropping, maybe levels, maybe some masks for sharpness or local exposure, etc. I do use LR's noise reduction if a file is particularly grainy, it's very good if you're careful with the sliders.

I try not to get too involved with settings, to my mind, shutter speed, ISO and aperture are the most important ones, with a few other settings to help handling.

I am trialling Auto ISO though, today at f8 and a shutter speed of 1/400 sec for this image. I'm not sure if I like it and old habits die hard, I think I'll be sticking to being in full control of the basics myself.

There's probably a bit more to this, situation dependent on the day.
 
Dale. said:
Thank you.

Settings wise, I go with whatever I can get away with. 95% of the time, I'm in manual mode. The perches I use are about 10-12 feet from the end of my lens and I try my best to keep the whole bird sharp (of this kind of size) so I'm usually at f8, which seems to work pretty well. I have the histogram visible in the VF and I try to expose as far to the right as I can, without clipping a load of whites. You'll get away with a little more here than you might expect if the histogram is just touching the right hand side but I experiment with it on the day, as different light can blow (or not) the highlights.

I work with f8 as my base aperture (in the hide), for DOF reasons. The rest of my settings depend on that, mainly trying to keep shutter speed above 1/400 sec and I will tweak the ISO to control that. I'm quite happy to go to ISO 3200 (even 6400 at times) on my R7. The files can be a little grainy in low light but ETTR does help. There comes a point though, especially towards the end of the day, when I will have to open up the aperture to whatever to avoid too high an ISO and keep a decent shutter speed. I have photographed (static) birds as low as 1/50 sec but you have to pick your moment carefully.

I'm usually using Servo AF, Single Point AF and animal eye detect, for birds. I move the single af point to suit, in the frame.

I don't bother with any of the fancy settings, (highlight priority etc) and I don't use any of the picture styles, I'm always in 'Standard' as I shoot in RAW and I'm a firm believer that apart from the basics, (shutter, aperture, ISO) , any tweaks should be done in post when dealing with RAW files. That said, there should be very little to do in post if you nail the file, save for cropping, maybe levels, maybe some masks for sharpness or local exposure, etc. I do use LR's noise reduction if a file is particularly grainy, it's very good if you're careful with the sliders.

I try not to get too involved with settings, to my mind, shutter speed, ISO and aperture are the most important ones, with a few other settings to help handling.

I am trialling Auto ISO though, today at f8 and a shutter speed of 1/400 sec for this image. I'm not sure if I like it and old habits die hard, I think I'll be sticking to being in full control of the basics myself.

There's probably a bit more to this, situation dependent on the day.
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Many thanks. My settings are similar although I do use auto ISO, with a max of 6400 which I recently reduced to 3200. I will try ETTR and perhaps reduce my shutter speed a bit. Hopefully the light will start to improve as we approach Spring.

Do you use a tripod?
 
Brentor said:
Many thanks. My settings are similar although I do use auto ISO, with a max of 6400 which I recently reduced to 3200. I will try ETTR and perhaps reduce my shutter speed a bit. Hopefully the light will start to improve as we approach Spring.

Do you use a tripod?
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Always a tripod in hide situations, which is probably 95% of the time,. If I’m walk about, IS in body and on the lens.
 
Well, they're still around, or at least one of them is. I only see one at a time now so maybe one of them has had a mishap? .................... probably Sparrowhawk or Owl related.

Messy blighters but I don't mind, nothing a quick sweep in the mornings doesn't fix.

View: https://youtu.be/hm0Pf7OgejA
 
Well, they are messy blighters but I'm ok with that, it can be cleaned up. I do though see a possible photography opportunity now they're coming out in daylight hours. Pretty sure there's still 2, as I got multiple visits last night and they show different behaviours, they're just not coming out together now.

Now to find a boot, with the toe area chewed out. ;)


View: https://youtu.be/6HLDUo5cih4
 
Been a while since I've been in the hide but I had an hour there earlier today. Not much happening though, the main targets are away in the woods just now, raising young. It was still nice to be out there though, the rain falling on the roof made for some chill out time.

A male Siskin came along though and despite being on the feeders for 10 minutes, he did hop onto my perch briefly.

Nice to have them back.

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The mystery (for some here) of the recently, newly slabbed area is now solved.

Meet the new hide, which will also double as what we are calling the shedmmerhouse. It's a bespoke, custom build, to my own design.

There are 2 windows on each gable end, I will be working hide wise from the right hand side as viewed, which faces onto the garden like my old hide did but also, looks over the pond.

It's as mentioned, also going to give us some enclosed space outdoors, for eating, relaxing etc. It's 10x8 and a bit of a Tardis inside.

It will be carpeted and there will be a folding table, a sofa bed and chairs, as well as my tripod and a stool. I am planning on getting a portable, solar powerstation for it rather than hardwire this one. My workshop is hardwired but that is closer to the house. Both windows now have roller blinds that I fitted on the weekend, which will give me cover when I am photographing birds. Both windows open. I'm also planning some heaters, the tube type, which hopefully will gave enough heat, more research to be done on that though as that brings in some headaches, we'll see.

I am hoping to get the guttering today and fit that by the weekend.

The Goldfinches and Chaffies are already using the relocated feeders. It will take a bit of tweaking and fettling but it's up and runnng now.

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10x8? That's space for 3 or 4 bikes!!! ;)

Enjoy the shedummerhidouse!
 
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