The Glide Over

[Bill McCrystyn]

Nikon D300 200-400VR 1.4TC EFL840mm ISO800 CNTR WGT 1/1600 f/5.6 Handheld Boat

Looks like it's that time again. Osprey's galore and my first two Bald Eagles for the year fishing a cove with Osprey's watching for fun. This one is a little softer than I hoped for but another one I will post may look better. The other shot has a better head angle but I like the spread angle on this one better. It was Saturday and still a few extra boats in the water making for a little chop. Of the 5 frames on this one, 2 were blue sky, 1 wing tip and 2 like this one in different positions in the frame. I was getting dizzy trying not to fall out of the boat. :D

[Randy Stout]

Bill:

Nice pose, like the diagonal, intense stare.

There is some noise creeping into the underwing area. Did you need to do some shadow recovery work here?

The whites on the head don't show much detail, but they aren't that hot on the histogram. Did you have to tone the whites down in post?

I appreciate how hard it is to stay steady when shooting from a boat. Last month I had a great loon interaction lined up, had been trying to get this shot set up all morning, and a pontoon boat went by, and the waves made it impossible to stay on the loon. By the time they subsided, the loon was gone.

Cheers.

Randy

[Bill McCrystyn]

Thanks Randy. I did major work to recover the whites the best I could. The only noise work I did was on the sky. Sometimes I really wonder if low sun is better than overhead. I used cntr wgt 6cm and am thinking the full spread for these might work better. The way I was moving I might have metered the sky.:o

The pontoon guy was me :p

[Glenn Forbes]

Bill,
Overall I think you did a great job balancing the white to black range. These birds can be tricky with too much sun. What time of the day was the shot taken? The underwing shadows are good considering the angle of the sun.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Randy. I did major work to recover the whites the best I could. The only noise work I did was on the sky. Sometimes I really wonder if low sun is better than overhead. I used cntr wgt 6cm and am thinking the full spread for these might work better. The way I was moving I might have metered the sky.:o

The pontoon guy was me :p

What are you using to convert your images?

[Bill McCrystyn]

Hi Artie. I am shooting raw, NEF, CS3. Any suggestions?

[Harshad Barve]

lovely position of wings and Randy covered well
I am shooting in RAW and used to use ACR for conversion , Now I am using Capture NX2 ,
Capture NX2 is strongly recommanded fro Nikon conversions
TFS

[Bill McCrystyn]

Thanks Harshad. It does not seem to me the problems here were related to P/P but I am interested in why you would recommend NX2 over ACR?

For those interested, here is the original frame above coverted from RAW to JPEG with no P/P.

[Harshad Barve]

I am not an expert but follows suggations given by experts
here is one tread about D300 and Capture NX2

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=43648

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie. I am shooting raw, NEF, CS3. Any suggestions?

None that are not in the various saving the whites tutorials in the ER.... Best is to get it right in the field. With Nikon and that dark blue sky, that would likely mean underexposing a bit.... Then, if you have hot pixels, you try to recover them during conversion. (Not sure if you can do that with NX2. Harshad????

Lastly, if the whites look bright but are not over you can try a Linear Burn.

Again, all of this stuff appears in great detail in the ER threads above and they are all free. But you gotta study them.

[Rohan Kamath]

wow...i loved the pose here... glad to learn from the discussion above too...

[Bill McCrystyn]

Artie as always, thanks for the direction, I will review. There are many problems, some seen, some not seen with taking this image. First it is soft. Not seen is, it is my first few tries with handholding the EFL 840mm. I was not on a pontoon but instead my friends 18' V-hull bass boat and so AF adjustments should have been made. The manual or AE-Lock method should have been used but at 60MPH it's hard to track never mind meter, half the time I was lucky to get them in the frame. I will look for recommendations as you suggested. I must master this technique as Bald Eagles represent the same problem.

Thanks everyone - Bill

[Arthur Morris]

I was too scared to go to Homer with film... Even though I was supposed to be an exposure expert. But with digital, it is simple: get some data in the fifth box and you will be fine. If folks are serious about learning EXP theory, they are referred to the original ABP. For histograms and digital exposure, see Exposure Simplified in ABP II. You can find them both here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=32

ps: YAW <smile>

[Harshad Barve]

Best is to get it right in the field. With Nikon and that dark blue sky, that would likely mean underexposing a bit.... Then, if you have hot pixels, you try to recover them during conversion. (Not sure if you can do that with NX2. Harshad????



I agree with you 100 % about doing it right in field . Capture NX2 offers you highlight protection
I hope I understood your ???? Guruji , if not excuse me for poor english
Harshad

[Bill McCrystyn]

ARTIE, I was going along with this pretty well until now. When you say expose to the right I am to understand you are NOT speaking of overblown whites but rather, in that case, under exposed shadow areas (and the resultant noise)- yes?

HARSHAD - How would NX2 offer you highlight protection. I am thinking you meant "recovery" of some sort which my converter offers. The sad part is, as Artie points out, if you blow them in the field - you have a major problem. Does NX2 allow you to isolate the overblown area one way or another like in PS? The couple of times I played with that system it seemed very awkward.

[Harshad Barve]

HARSHAD - How would NX2 offer you highlight protection. I am thinking you meant "recovery" of some sort which my converter offers. The sad part is, as Artie points out, if you blow them in the field - you have a major problem. Does NX2 allow you to isolate the overblown area one way or another like in PS? The couple of times I played with that system it seemed very awkward.

Yes there is slider 'highlights protection' like 'recovery' in PS
Most of th people dont find Capture NX2 comfortable ( Including me) but it gives you best conversions

[Arthur Morris]

ARTIE, I was going along with this pretty well until now. When you say expose to the right I am to understand you are NOT speaking of overblown whites but rather, in that case, under exposed shadow areas (and the resultant noise)- yes?

Hi Bill, Sorry that I almost missed this.... IAC, we teach folks to expose as far to the right as possible while avoiding any flashing highlights. In reality, you can live with a few or even with some flashing highlights as in 99% of the cases they are easily recoverable with most types of conversions; I find ACR ideal for doing that. By pushing the highlights as far to the right as you can you will be getting the most detail that you can in the darks.

It seems that Harshad-bhai has covered the NX-2 recovery question....