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Dan Brown
01-15-2009, 10:22 PM
I'm posting this here because it appears to be more of a scenic than an avian capture IMO. This is a two capture image. I am attempting to document an American Crow roost staging area near downtown Sacramento and this is the best I've come up to so far:o. Merged and PP'ed in CS3, selectively sharpened with Nik Sharpener Pro, noise reduced with Noise Ninja and selectively with QM and a gaussian blur filter. C&C welcome.

Camera Model: NIKON D200
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Copyright: © Daniel Lee Brown
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Exposure mode: Manual, reading sky
Exposure compensation: +2/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Spot
ISO: 800
Lens: 24 to 120mm
Focal length: 45mm

Robert Amoruso
01-17-2009, 10:43 AM
Dan,

I understand you predicument as I have tried to get some of the large (thousands) droves of crows flocking here this time of year. My problem as I don't get good definition in the shapes of the crow. Some are recognizable and others just blobs.

At MINWR, the ducks flushes work well as they turn in unison and you get that definition, but not the crows. So unless I get some type of discernible pattern, I am not to happy with my results. I think you are having the same problem. I think this would be more effective is the how sky was filled with them. I don't see the water helping here and would crop off just below what the trees go all black.

Roman Kurywczak
01-18-2009, 08:35 AM
Hey Dan,
I think Robert touched on some interesting points which I happen to agree with. I do like the crop idea........middle of the tree line........as this emphasizes the crows quite a bit more......check it out by scrolling the browser.........makes the silhouettes more prominant and even brings out the water tower? more. Maybe next time more sky with that bit of trees........and if you capture the edge of the flock......may be what you are looking for.

Dan Brown
01-18-2009, 01:19 PM
Thanks guys for the critiques. I have applied your suggestion to the repost and I agree, it does focus attention to the crows.