Diffration in bird feathers

[kz6yx7]

I have taken too many photos of the same common small birds recently and so I have tried taking sillouettes instead. I have discovered at the right angle the feathers display the colours of the rainbox due to diffraction which is an interesting effect. I have found a 100mm lens is best and ideally catching the sun behind the bird or very close. The appertures and small and shutters speeds 1/2000 or faster.

These are a few of my attempts but I am still mproving. Please let me know if ytou have had any success and what works well? Thank you.

 

[Morris0]

The first is a beauty

Morris

 

[Mikel10]

Very nice.

 

[Chris Wolfgram]

These are very cool, but I can hardly imagine shooting with 100mm for birds !?!?

You wouldn’t get this cool rainbow diffraction as well (or at all?) with a longer lens ?

 

[CarlosU]

never knew you could get that effect! amazing!

 

[philzucker]

Most interesting and unusual effect. Works for me! Thanks for sharing.

Phil

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Excellent. What kind of bird? Do they have iridescent feathers?

I was aware that birds with iridescent feathers would do that.

 

[CarlosU]

Excellent. What kind of bird? Do they have iridescent feathers?

I was aware that birds with iridescent feathers would do that.

my guess is European Robin, due to the shape of the last pics

 

[kz6yx7]

I think 200mm would be better for resolution but these birds are fed regulary and so you can get quite close. My camera isn't the fastest to focus and I wanted to get as much depth of field as possible and so for some I have used a tripod with remote control hoping the birds would appear in a good place but throwing away lots of images too. I did start by using a 150-600mm but I found the best shots ended up at the edge of the frame missing out parts of the subject - which was most frustrating.

 

[kz6yx7]

Great - guess! There was a mix of european robins, chaffinches, blue tits and great tits. i don't think the bird matters too much to be honest but robins are common and I have found taht chaffinches are good because they tend to hover above food for a second before landing. There are some amazing examples of humming birds having the same or better effect on Youtube but sadly we don't have thos ein the UK.

 

[Red Barchetta]

Nice set and effect. The next time I'm out when the sun is low I'm going to try that.

 

[NatureFiles]

Cool effect! Thanks for sharing!

Careful not to look into the sun too much.

 

[da7329]

Nice! I have done this many times with hummingbirds using 400-600mm lenses. Best rainbow colors are when sun is low.



DA