At the Top...Common Stonechat

[Rahul Parekh]

Date: Nov. 2009,
Species: Common Stonechat
Camera: Canon Powershot S3 IS
Shtter Speed: 1/318 & f3.5

It was lovely experience to observe this bird from mere distance of 10ft from me. Taken with manual focus but light was too strong.

[Bibhav Behera]

The composition is nice. How did you manage 1/318 shutter speed?
I like this image for a PnS. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice image. When we click these small birds from a distance, they often appear small in the frame. And here you have it close to you. Like it.

I have seen several instances when the birds land up very close to you. Once I Malaysia, I was shooting at 800mm f5.6 and suddenly the bird landed about 3 feet from me on the bush. Since it was below the minimum focusing distance of my lens, I just kept quiet. My guide who was standing by my side clicked full frame at 70mm. He was laughing ear to ear and you can easily guess my expression. :D

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice composition. Liked the perch and the eye contact. Where did you photograph this?

[Rahul Parekh]

Thank you so much Bibhav, Sabyasachi & Mrudul for your kind appreciations :)

@ Bibhav: I really don't know how did I achieved 1/318 shutter speed. Actually most of the time I click images in Av mode, so shutter speed is calculated by camera and this might be possible with software. Image property suggesting that this image is clicked with 1/318 shutter speed so i simply mentioned it here ha!ha! :) BTW what is 'PnS'!!!!

@ Sabyasachi: I was really surprised when this bird perched so near to me without any fear. The most surprising thing was it perched for nearly 2-3 minutes and I was seated in open area near this bushes. A moment later Indian Robin also reach very near and hopping every where. That was so lovely and beautiful.

Sometimes Canon don't fire and we lost the battle while tiny match stick blow the entire explosives ha!ha! :D. You must be looking like '(o!o)' this at that moment for sure. Just kidding ;). But every lens has some pros and cons. I wish you had second body with tiny lens at that moment too!!! but Prime is Prime...none can beat him for its performance....

I'm lucky I've S3 (I found it good for mammals with 12x zoom, though not professional quality images but one can take pictures at economical budget for hobby)...but I feel its really troublesome to keep two body, lenses and binocular all at once....Though I think combination of One Prime and One Zoom lens in two separate body (of same model) is ideal for easy Wildlife Photography without missing many opportunities. What do you say?

@ Mrudul: I've taken this image in outskirts of Rajkot (Gujarat), in countryside...it was fun to search birds in villages and meet innocent people and farmers. It was lovely trip. Will share more pictures from that field work...

All best wishes,

Cheers, Rahul