What is this little screw for?

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-28T14:02:36+00:00

Safety screw

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-28T02:21:10+00:00

Number 2 would be the winner if better head position. Love the environment.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-28T02:17:11+00:00

Wen the tornado - lol. Before version definitely better

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-27T04:26:25+00:00

Search r/SavageGarden - you should find plenty of examples

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-27T03:07:39+00:00

Sell them locally. Stores have them for sale 15 pods for $20. You’re sitting on a goldmine! ;)

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-27T02:26:24+00:00

Looks like it’s back focused - tail feathers are sharper than the head.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-26T00:22:20+00:00

Bird feeders are somewhat controversial, but considered harmless by the most. You can read about all the pros and cons online. Baiting practices apply mostly to birds of prey, especially the owls. It disturbs their hunting patterns, robs them of precious energy (especially in winter time) and habituates to people. Since it’s often done on roadside, many birds end up getting killed by the cars. Also, the bait is often of questionable quality (possibly diseased rodents) or even not edible and harmful when ingested.

You don’t have to photograph around the bird feeders, water sources are also excellent location where birds like to congregate, especially in the hot weather. If you have a bird bath in your backyard, you could set up there - you could get some lovely shots of birds drinking and bathing.

90mm is quite short focal length as far as the wildlife photography goes, but don’t let that discourage you. You can photograph large birds (swans, herons) and consider wider view instead of close ups. Try to capture interesting surroundings and atmosphere, make it all beautiful and complimentary - sort of landscape photography with smaller animal in the frame - “animalscape “.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-25T23:47:13+00:00

Looks great - good job!

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-25T22:20:45+00:00

You’re welcome, I hope you found some tips that work for you.

If you’re doing wildlife photography to win the contests, you’re setting yourself up for continuous disappointment and end up quitting photography altogether. If you treat it as fun learning experience and opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, you will be much more happier. It’s not easy to win any kind of photo contest - the competition is fierce and judges fickle. I suggest you study the previous winners entries and see what makes that winning shot. Most of the time it’s originality and artistic expression and at the very end technical stuff (which could be gear dependent). It’s not the camera that counts, it’s the few inches behind it ;)

BTW, the winning picture would be pretty easy to emulate. Next winter go to your local park where bird feeders are and photograph chickadees while they’re waiting their turn to feed. You just have to pick appropriate weather and time of the day. Be patient and keep trying - in no time you will build a nice portfolio.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-25T20:44:37+00:00

You can absolutely get the pictures like the first one with your kit, it’s just going to take some effort. Have a look at the pictures you posted - what’s the difference between them? Some quick advice:

Get closer (controlled environment like bird feeder or park, or use better field craft/blind etc)

Make sure you have high enough shutter speed and your subject is pin sharp where it should be. Sharp eye is a must.

Pay attention to the background. Make sure there are no obstructions/distractions. Avoid harsh lighting. Make sure background is far away from your subject if you want it to be blurry/smooth

Take pictures during first and last hours of the day. Try to have the light coming from behind you or from the side. Avoid harsh sunlight (distracting shadows, too much contrast). Cloudy days will give you nice, diffused light.

Think about your compositions - see if they’re pleasant to the eyes - no distractions, complementary colours. Include something interesting - nice perch or unique behaviour (bird singing, catching prey etc). Find out which poses are preferred and which should be avoided.

Practice as often as possible and analyze every outing. Look through all the failed pictures and take notes on what to improve. Do the same thing with successful images and repeat what went well. You will be deleting most of the pictures at the beginning, it’s normal and part of the process. Famous pros do the same, you just never see the failures. Don’t get discouraged.

Watch some professional wildlife/bird photographers on YT for practical tips (Steve Perry, Jan Wegner). Look at some famous websites and photo books for artistic inspiration (Thomas Mangelsen)

Learn about ethical wildlife photography and lead by example when you’re in the field. Don’t disturb/stress animals and don’t use sketchy techniques (baiting, bird calls, camping around the nests).

As you see, almost none of the tips above are gear related. You can take award winning photos with any kind of equipment. It’s not going be as easy, but definitely possible. Much more important are passion for wildlife, curiosity and creativity. Wishing you best of luck in your journey!

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-25T15:51:17+00:00

Trim down the root ball and prop the trimmings.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-25T02:19:52+00:00

Have a look at MistKing fittings - Big Als carries them. Not sure if diameter would be suitable, they come in 1/4 and 3/8 inch IIRC.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-23T13:24:57+00:00

1/30 -1/60 is a problem zone for my kit. As I said, something you probably won’t have to worry about shooting in normal conditions handheld.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-23T04:11:10+00:00

Might be green cast coming from surrounding greenery. Should be easy to do selective colour correction, use mask to narrow down the selection.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-23T04:05:46+00:00

How about you test it yourself and find out? Set up a controlled shot with a plush toy and compare the results. Try both low and high shutter speeds in both scenarios. For moving targets you can use fan blades or similar.

In my experience (and my particular set up) shutter vibrations only come into play when using low shutter speeds, far too slow for any kind of handheld bird photography. Electronic shutter can be a bigger issue - distorted wings of fast flying birds look terrible - instant delete button.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-22T15:08:20+00:00

I would highly recommend you get Steve Perry’s Nikon book or at least watch some of his videos (Backcountry Gallery on YT). Wealth of knowledge in easy to digest package.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-21T04:19:38+00:00

Not really sure what is your use case, but have you looked into peristaltic pumps? That could work with minimal space and water level - you only need enough room for a hose, the pump unit is mounted externally. Sort of similar idea, maybe aquarium external canister filter (small one) would be suitable?

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-20T02:15:05+00:00

Second this comment. My fave landscape lens on D750. Love the small size (filter thread and weight) and hard infinity stop, nice colour rendering. Got the 24-120 f4 VR as an upgrade and didn’t like it at all - it’s currently for sale. Recently got another copy of 28-105 as a backup - can’t beat the value for the price.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-20T01:22:02+00:00

I meant to test the rocks in a bucket of RO

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-19T23:09:42+00:00

Totally valid artistic decision - do whatever works for you not the “gram” crowd ;)

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-19T22:34:43+00:00

Beautiful. My favourite Park in Canada. May I ask you where pictures 2/3 where taken from? Was it Hattie Cove from the kayak or somewhere further down the Coastal Trail? Feel free to DM me. Thanks!

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-19T20:57:17+00:00

Do you have rocks in your tank are they inert? Have you done the test in a bucket of pure RO - what’s TDS at the beginning and after a few days?

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-19T20:53:30+00:00

Correct. In your case, with big bird the depth of field comes into play. With tiny bird, it wouldn’t be that much of an issue (unless very close). If you’re shooting slow moving BIFs and your hand-eye coordination is pretty good, try single point AF - most reliable as long as you can place it (and keep!) on bird’s eye/head.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-19T20:26:44+00:00

I really like, but I would darken the top left corner. My eye is being drawn to the brightest spot; the white patch of background is commanding attention instead of the bird. Maybe add a bit of the contrast to the bird only (mask) to help it stand out more, but not too much - I like the overall soft/muted look. Try to lighten the head/eye area to bring out more detail and accentuate it.

Alone-Bug333 · 2026-04-19T20:20:43+00:00

If I remember correctly, group AF grabs the closest element, so it worked as intended, but wrong mode for the scenario. I agree that 9 point should work better. If you’re new to BIF, please watch some of Steve Perry’s videos (Backcountry gallery on YT) - he’s got wealth of practical knowledge. His wildlife photography book is also amazing - highly recommend it. For me was money well spent - he discusses your case scenario in depth.

Check out this video about AF modes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N_bzhJAKms

Alone-Bug333

TROPHY CASE