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Steve Holmes
01-01-2008, 09:21 PM
I'm fairly new to bird photography, so I was very excited to find these forums. Here's my first bird post anywhere.

Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm w/ 1.4x, 1/800s at f/8, ISO 400. Shot on a tripod.

George DeCamp
01-01-2008, 09:26 PM
Steve,

Welcome to BPN!

Very nice for a first post anywhere!! Love the interaction here and the birds. Might benefit from a kiss of fill flash especially to light the Heron a little. Once again a pretty image!

Fabs Forns
01-01-2008, 09:28 PM
Big welcome, Steve!!!

Great interaction, but it looks a bit soft on my monitor.
Wish the Tri-colored had a bit more light.

In the hope we can help you advance in your photography :)

Alfred Forns
01-01-2008, 10:08 PM
Nailed the interaction !!!! Both expression look great !!!! The Tri needs more light Maybe some fill flash? You will find your best images are made with even soft light early/late !!!

Also check the point of focus Normally for two birds you can use one point and recompose or take a chance with all points !!

Mike McCarthy
01-01-2008, 10:16 PM
Welcome to the forum Steve. I agree with the others. Nice interaction capture, but could use some sharpness and better light. Thanks for sharing.

Linda Robbins
01-01-2008, 10:34 PM
Hi Steve, and welcome to BPN!

The interaction you captured is terrific....it looks like the spoonie has said something shocking to the tri-colored. As mentioned, fill flash would have helped here. If you aren't familiar with fill flash, shoot me an email and I'll send you some tips on using fill flash. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your posts!

Steve Holmes
01-01-2008, 10:45 PM
Thanks for all of the comments everyone.

I'll have to work on my web sharpening, because the original image looks very sharp on my monitor. Any suggestions?

I've played around with a bit of fill light in post processing, and while it doesn't substitute for fill flash, it does look better. A better beamer is on my list ;-)

Linda Robbins
01-01-2008, 11:03 PM
Steve -

For web sharpening I generally use three passes of unsharp mask (Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp Mask) The settings I use are: Amount: 125%; Radius: 0.2 pixels; Threshold: 0 levels. This works well for most images, but you may sometimes need a little more or a little less depending on the image.

Axel Hildebrandt
01-01-2008, 11:12 PM
Great interaction shot. I really like the poses. Nits have been mentioned.

Glenn Bartley
01-01-2008, 11:39 PM
Great dynamic and interactive image. Fantastic first post! It looks like the heron was in shade (which is a bit distracting to me). A bit of fill flash could have really helped to balance out the light.

Looking forward to seeing more :)

Happy new year!

Gyorgy Szimuly
01-02-2008, 07:34 AM
Very nice post Steve. I love this this interaction. Nice timing. Wish the lights were on your side. Maybe a fill flash could have been a solution but I guess some improvement could be achieved by PS.;)
Szimi