Flyby / Two Sandhill Cranes at Bernardo

[Jim Keener]

Setting up in the tree line was a good idea. Though it limited my overhead and some side shots, it minimized my effect on the birds, and they stayed with me a long time. I got many shots of birds crossing my field of view. This is one of my favorites.

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ORIGINAL
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When I think, "I wish . . . " regarding this photograph is that there were more space between the birds in flight and the birds on the ground, allowing for more space along the bottom of the frame.

1DX, 500/4, tripod w/gimbal
Manual mode, evaluative metering +1.3, center point expand, AI servo, high speed
1/2000, f/4, ISO 500

As usual, your valuable c&c is encouraged and appreciated.

[Glennie Passier]

Wow Jim! You getting some terrific shots of these guys. I like the crop...but also like the original as well. Love those colours. Beautiful lighting under the birds wings. Your techs look good to me. It would be easy to add some canvas on the bottom if you thought it was needed.

Lovely image Jim.

[Jim Keener]

Aren't these gorgeous creatures? The birds do the heavy lifting. My job is to push buttons. Anyway, yes. I would like to add some space at the bottom and would welcome ideas about how to do that. BTW, you've misspelled "colors". ;=)

[Glennie Passier]

Ha!

Jim to add a bit of canvas, go to image - Canvas size. Keep the width the same and add what ever you think you need. I always add too much, so don't really know any formulas. (make sure you have a copy of your background layer. ) If the image has white sides all round, just crop them off except the bit on the bottom where you want it. Clone away!

[Diane Miller]

I really like this one, with lovely wing positions, pleasing relation between the subjects, and lovely soft colors. But this much of a crop will limit your image quality, with any body and lens. Unfortunately, that's usually beyond our control and we want to do what we can with what we can get. So do I.

I don't now how much it applies to daylight photography but with astrophotography with DSLRs, you see admonitions not to use intermediate ISOs, but to stick with even stops of the native ISO -- 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 etc. That may be for more subtle reasons than the obvious noise we deal with, though.

After adding canvas, often Edit > Fill >Content Aware can work wonders. Sometimes it needs some cloning afterwards. Maybe go both ways -- leave a little of the unwanted heads in, clone them out and then do the fill. A little more added to the bottom would be perfect here!

[Jack Dean III]

I really like this version Jim.

[Jim Keener]

Hey, Diane. Thanks for the cloning tutorial. That's one of the things I was hoping for here.

I'm glad to learn about intermediate ISOs, though I'm concerned about how to avoid them in some circumstances. I hadn't realized until I read your comment that I had been avoiding them when shooting with a non-BIF setting. But when it's likely I'll make BIF photographs, I almost always start with 1/2000, f/4 (or wide open), and ISO automatic. That's my C1 setup. Perhaps the camera will let me make a setting to ignore intermediate ISOs.

[Diane Miller]

I don't know if it's avoidable with Auto ISO (I've never used it), but you could minimize it by setting half stops instead of thirds. But I don't know how much of a noticeable difference it makes with daylight photography.

[Jim Keener]

Added to canvas at the bottom.
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REDO REDO
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[Diane Miller]

Perfect!!