View Full Version : Straight-on SIF with fish
Joerg Rockenberger
07-23-2010, 04:38 PM
This skimmer was photographed Wednesday at Bolsa Chica Wetlands, Huntington Beach, CA. Curious as for what you think of the crop. Struggled if I should go tighter or show the entire bird. But I thought to put the emphasis more on the fish in the bill without going too tight which makes the skimmer look like a frisbee.
Hope you enjoy. Thanks in advance. Best, JR
Canon 1DIV (rented), 500F4IS, 1/2000s, F4.0, Handheld, Manual Exposure, Center focus point w/ CFn-III-8-2
Arthur Morris
07-23-2010, 07:03 PM
I am struggling a bit with color here on my new laptop. How do the reds look from your end? They look a bit funky from here.... I would level the image by pulling the ruler tool through the center of the pupils. Then I would crop equally from the sides.... Then more of a pano crop. The BKGR look noisy in spots and there are some grayish blotches also.
I do like the fish and the image is sharp enough. Note also the considerable noise in the underwings. What was the ISO? How did you determine the EXP?
Joerg Rockenberger
07-24-2010, 02:02 AM
Arthur,
Thanks for the detailed feedback. Much appreciated.
The ISO was 400. The exposure was set for no-blinking highlights for terns. Hence, the shot was a bit underexposed as I didn't adjust for the skimmer as it suddenly came towards me.
In ACR, I increased the exposure by 0.45 which is responsible for the noise in the wings. Not sure I see the blotchiness in the background. The dark-gray areas at the bottom are waves...
The reds look OK on my monitor though not very saturated - due to the lack of direct light I presume...
I'll try your crop suggstion and will repost.
Thanks again. Best, JR
I am struggling a bit with color here on my new laptop. How do the reds look from your end? They look a bit funky from here.... I would level the image by pulling the ruler tool through the center of the pupils. Then I would crop equally from the sides.... Then more of a pano crop. The BKGR look noisy in spots and there are some grayish blotches also.
I do like the fish and the image is sharp enough. Note also the considerable noise in the underwings. What was the ISO? How did you determine the EXP?
Arthur Morris
07-24-2010, 04:25 AM
YAW. From here, the reds are simply not right for a skimmer. They look a phony plastic red rather than orange.
Jay Tan
07-24-2010, 04:36 AM
I aint sure what the color of beak should look like as this bird is not native to me but it does look red rather than orange on my screen. I always love head on flight images and this one with fish and good sharpness is well done. Pano crop will be best way to present this one. Wish for a less dull background too!
Joerg Rockenberger
07-24-2010, 02:56 PM
YAW. From here, the reds are simply not right for a skimmer. They look a phony plastic red rather than orange.
Orange? Hmmm. All the skimmers I've seen the past week had beaks with pale-red to fire-truck red color. And that's also what my pictures show.
Maybe, the west coast fellows are different. A quick Google search suggests that the color indeed can vary from orange to deep red.
JR
Joerg Rockenberger
07-24-2010, 03:30 PM
Jay,
Thx for the comment. And yes, I wished for golden light too but no luck with the weather there for most of the week. JR
Arthur Morris
07-24-2010, 03:46 PM
Orange, red orange, who knows? What I do know is that the bill in the bird in your image looks funky and plastic-like. Please do not take it personally :) It just does not look right.
Arthur Morris
07-24-2010, 03:59 PM
I got tired of talking about this one so I decided to do something about it :)
Among other things: leveled, cropped, worked on bill color, underwing noise reduction, sharpened black mask on head, and removed magenta from the BLACKs.
Arthur Morris
07-24-2010, 04:01 PM
I never thought to ask, what is SIF? If it is skimmer in flight that is a stretch.....................
Joerg Rockenberger
07-24-2010, 04:41 PM
You're obviously faster than me with editing. And better. :)
Thanks for the feedback and work. I'll see if I can get close to your version.
JR
PS: SIF was originally a typo but then I left it as it fitted a skimmer in flight... :)
Arthur Morris
07-24-2010, 05:01 PM
I don't know about faster... :)
ps: Everything that I do is in Digital Basics....
Art Kornienko
07-25-2010, 07:39 PM
I am struggling with the crop, I think to highlight the fish you would need to go a bit tighter.
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