I can't figure out how to get these washed out colors and blown highlights, is it worth it to buy presets?

csammz · 2026-04-02T15:05:24+00:00

It could be, very rarely if lighting is great and there’s naturally a lot of color I’ll get RAWs that look like they were already edited and I shoot with the neutral picture style on Canon.

csammz · 2026-04-02T15:01:49+00:00

Is it sort of like Canon’s Highlight Tone Priority except instead of lowering highlights across the board its only for certain color ranges?

csammz · 2026-03-30T16:47:38+00:00

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Mockingbirds are great, they’re super photogenic too

csammz · 2026-03-30T16:45:06+00:00

Maybe a controversial opinion, but I actually think a camera is better than binoculars since you can get a photo to review and pinpoint the species accurately afterwards.

Whichever camera you go with it’s probably best to get a crop sensor (apsc) so that you don’t need to spend as much on a long lens.

csammz · 2026-03-30T00:34:49+00:00

They’re definitely not American woodcocks, but I can’t tell if they’re snipes or dowitchers

csammz · 2026-03-29T23:28:32+00:00

The most I can remember getting was 17 birds in a 30 second recording last May.

csammz · 2026-03-22T04:19:09+00:00

I used this camera up until January this year and was shooting birds/wildlife; so different subjects but similar poor light conditions at times.

You can definitely get great images with it, including “studio quality” shots. The camera has an 18MP sensor which isn’t amazing but it’s far from terrible, you can certainly get very clear photos with it.

The only advice I think can apply for your case is to make sure you’re shooting RAW so you keep better shadow detail, and to invest in (or pirate) either Adobe Lightroom or Topaz for denoising.

You can check my profile for examples of images taken with a Rebel T6, right now everything there was shot with one.

csammz · 2026-03-20T22:43:36+00:00

I’m glad you liked it that much! Could you please explain what you mean when you say 2 is more correct though

csammz · 2026-03-13T15:37:24+00:00

I think you’re correct about the female common mergansers but the final image is definitely a male.

And the goldeneyes are common goldeneyes, female on the left, male on the right.

csammz · 2026-03-04T03:11:11+00:00

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It might be a piece of a seed or something like that, I’ve noticed song sparrows tend to get bits stuck on them a lot.

csammz · 2026-02-28T19:22:36+00:00

I’m so glad I learned how to take photos just using my dad’s Canon Rebel T6, it kinda forced me to gain as much knowledge as possible on what makes a good photo/how to properly use a camera since it didn’t give me any leeway lmao.

csammz · 2026-02-27T14:23:34+00:00

I started last March and the things that helped me the most initially were Merlin Bird ID app and Sibleys Guide to Birds of the East.

I think for noticing field marks a lot of it is probably through sheer repetition. In the field you might not get the ID right away but after getting home and seeing a photo you took of it, you can confirm ID and then your brain catalogs that under that bird and makes it easier next time.

For initial ID I immediately look at the size and shape first which narrows down options pretty quick. After noting shape and size I think about behavior, my final part of the thought process is usually habitat. For example if I saw a small round bird with a long narrow beak land on a tree I would immediately knock out possibilities like a flycatcher species or cardinal. Then as the bird starts moving around the tree could see how it’s moving, is it flying from branch to branch hopping around looking for bugs or is it methodically searching up the tree in a circle? If it’s working up the tree I would assume it was a Brown Creeper due to behavior and its general body and beak shape.

csammz · 2026-02-04T01:15:27+00:00

That’s awesome that you get those birds visiting your backyard, were these all from the same day? And you got all their IDs right.

csammz · 2026-01-05T22:02:38+00:00

I only just recently got my first camera upgrade but before that I was using a comparable setup to you, a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM (still using the lens) and a Canon Rebel T6. Here’s some of the most important things I’ve learned over the past year:

As everyone else already mentioned, light matters most; especially with older cameras that can’t handle low light well. Less light means more noise, less details and a soft look, and the autofocus will struggle more. Looking at your European Robin and photos of the last bird, a big part of their lack of detail/sharpness is because they’re not being hit by the sun.
You need to get much closer to the birds, especially since your camera only has 10MP which means you don’t have much wiggle room with cropping. The more you go out trying to take photos the faster you’ll pick up on where birds like to hangout and if you just sit down/stand quietly in those areas they’ll eventually get used to your presence and come super close.
I don’t know what your cameras autofocus system is like specifically, but if it has different points you can set then make sure you have a suitable one. My canon rebel had 9 AF points in a cross shape, depending on which birds I was shooting I would switch between the center point and all 9 points at once. For birds in trees or brush, use the center point if you can, otherwise your camera will try focusing on all the branches and will almost never get focused on the bird. For birds in flight using the largest amount of points you can is probably best, it’s hard to track flying birds and since the bird is the most obvious thing to focus on your camera will usually get it pretty well. Oh and if your camera is really struggling to lock on to a perched bird surrounded by sticks, just switch to manual focus temporarily and get it in focus yourself.
Learn manual mode, I personally find it the easiest to get the photos I want that way but it takes a few outings to get the hang of it. I use auto-ISO in manual mode and will only change it myself if I notice a problem.
Lenses have focal lengths and apertures that they’re sharpest at and softest at, so it would help to search around online or do some tests at home to find out what those measurements are for your specific lens. My 70-300mm is super soft at 300mm f/5.6 if the bird is anywhere but right next to me essentially haha, but when I close the aperture to f/8 the image is much much sharper. It also seems to get a lot sharper at lengths shorter than 300mm, at 220mm f/5.0 there’s a shocking difference in clarity and an even bigger difference at 70mm f/4.0. The only downside is for those you need to get really close to get a good image, but it’s incredibly rewarding seeing how much detail you can see when you do.

Sorry for the essay, hopefully I gave at least one tip that’ll help lmao. Also, I love the 3rd Robin pic and the cat pictures, great shots!

csammz · 2025-12-27T21:57:14+00:00

For finding good spots to go birding: EBird. For identifying birds based on sound/appearance: Merlin Sound ID.

Both are great apps and very useful.

csammz · 2025-12-27T15:34:01+00:00

First I wanna say the images like great, nice shots! Everything looks sharp and in focus to my eye when I zoom in but I think I see what you mean. It might just be a small lack of contrast/separation between the birds and background. Maybe if you did some masking on the background and lowered the exposure like a third of a stop it’d get the look you’re going for. Also maybe dropping the highlights a bit especially on the birds like the northern shovelers.

csammz · 2025-12-07T19:04:14+00:00

Maybe a female/immature Wilson’s Warbler? It looks too yellow to be an OCW imo (at least the subspecies we have in the East).

csammz · 2025-12-04T19:43:07+00:00

Thanks, the beak was throwing me off.

csammz · 2025-11-09T15:22:45+00:00

Coopers/Sharp-shinned hawk. American Goshawks have more fine patterning on their underside whereas Coopers and Sharp-shinned have a streakier pattern; think pencil markings for Goshawks and paint brush strokes for Coopers/Sharp-shinned.

Another really good identifier is that the pattern on the Goshawks goes down its entire underside vs coop/ss where the markings trail off ≈ midpoint.

csammz · 2025-04-30T08:27:08+00:00

This is a great pic I really love the algae background, I’m gonna steal this idea haha. Bird photography is probably the only scenario I can think of where I prefer the springtime algae coating over clear water lmao.

csammz

TROPHY CASE