Tri-colored Heron - 2x EF III on 500 F4

[Cody Conway]

Hi Guys,

Here is my latest from today that I'd really appreciate some C&C on. I finally got around to purchasing the new Canon 2x EF III TC, after reading a lot about how it paired poor with the original 500 F4 IS L and had a significant loss in IQ, I found that it is very usable in the field given you use good techniques. For this shot it was taken hand held from a seated position in my vehicle. There was about a 10-15% Crop from the upper left corner. Post production was done in Lightroom 4 only to adjust some of the levels a hair, crop, apply selective sharpening, and a touch of noise reduction (less than 20). The image was taken in raw at dusk, in the last hour of sunlight with the sun positioned directly behind me.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8506/8476805041_d59cdacf74_b.jpg
Canon 5D MK II. 500mm F4 IS L + 2x EF III TC.
ISO 400, Exp 1/1600, F8 (wide open) @ 1000mm

[Diane Miller]

I love this unique setting for a heron, and the DOF is superb!

I'm conflicted about the piece of foliage on the right, and think it might be a very good presentation if it was cropped out.

I'm interested in comments about how the newer 2x "III" would pair poorly with the older 500. I have the older 300 (but the IS version) and a "II" version 2x, which I have found wonderful with it. But I just got the new 600 and the 2x "III" and am wondering if I should keep the old 2x to use just with the 300.

(And apologies for getting off-topic on your thread of a gorgeous heron.)

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Nice bird, lovely warm light and good quality for the combo!

[Cody Conway]

Thanks, I kept the piece of branch in the bottom right on purpose - 1) I like to try and stick with as original of an image as possible. 2) I liked the counter perspective for the Depth of Field it added. If more people feel it takes away from the over all image I'll just go in and clone it versus cropping it tighter.

I think the combo can be sharp. I did get a few images that were fairly soft, but I blame the over all exposure errors on those images or miss focus on my part. As far as the EF II I can't provide any insight on it. My 1.4x is the EF II and I love it. It's tac sharp and I feel zero need to replace it. . . perhaps others could chime in on it - but I bet the discussion would take better place in the Gear discussion area.

Thanks Juan! The lighting made my night.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice pose but the image, especially the head is soft. you need to stop sown with the old 2X and old lenses to get good sharpness.

TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Cody, love the alert pose, together with the colours this guy has. Great BG too. The perch is a touch busy, but we cant choose where our subjects perch. I would definately try a vertical version, and agree, another round of sharpening on the heron wont harm it.

[Satish Ranadive]

Cody:
Beautiful image of heron.I like the colors on heron,pose,nice HA and backdrop.

Regards,
Satish.

[Matthew Studebaker]

great perch for this bird. I like how you have the forground, the background, but ALSO a middle ground which are the out of focus branches. Having that middle ground adds so much depth.

[Cody Conway]

Thanks for the suggestions. Ill export a tiff and bring it into CS5 for another round this afternoon. Ill throw it into portrait and do a masking sharpen in CS.

This is the newest version of the 2x TC not the former Ef II. Stopped down would generate a sharper image but because yesterday was a pure attempt at trying to maximize the EF III at wide open f8 I did not stop it down any further. In back yard test shots on a mockingbird I stopped it down to f10 and the results were vastly improved on sharpness. I'm heading back to a shore bird shoot tomorrow morning so I will have more time to play with it.

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely subject and environment you captured here and the colors and pose are very pleasing. For me this image is not sharp and could use some sharpening. I am with Arash. When you are using a 2x TC (new or older model b/c they are both good), you really need to stop down at least one from wide open. So if you had been at about F11 here, you probably would have had very good sharpness.

[Cody Conway]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8236/8479627651_504fa0bec6_b.jpg
Took all comments into consideration. Used TIFF 16bit export from the raw file imported into CS5 and applied layering for noise reduction and sharpening. Exported as a TIFF file and uploaded to flickr accordingly. I am really happy with the final results after post processing. But from now on will do as advised and step down with the 2x, though I do not plan on using it frequently, just when reach is needed.

Final thoughts?

[Petros Petrou]

This is a great image. I don't like to crop aggressively myself but I have to admit that the cropped repost is better. Great light and pose and the sharpness is very good. I think that there is no way for someone to understand that the 2x was used, at least not in this image size. TFS.