Welcome Swallow afternoon flight

[Paul Randall]

Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)

Had another great session with a whole bunch of Welcome Swallows the other day. The wind was really blowing hard so the Swallows were all hawking insects from a small pond at the bottom of a sheltered ditch. Perfect conditions for flight photography with this species so I decided to give the 1.4 X TC a go on the 600mm to get as close as possible. Had to up my ISO a bit to get the shutter speed I wanted but was pretty happy with the results.
All comments, critique etc welcome Paul

Canon 5D 600mm f4 L (non IS) +1.4 TC iso 800 1/1600th f5.6 CW metering - 1/3 tripod mounted
Photoshop- slight sharpen and dodge of face, blur tool used as noise reduction on BG and smudge tool used to smooth BG colour graduations

[Arthur Morris]

You did well at recognizing the situation. I like the BKGR and the pose. I am often amazed by the primary blur at high shutter speeds as seen here. The messed up feathers above the bill bug me a bit.

[Paul Randall]

Thanks Art,
Not sure if it was the DOF or SS that resulted in the blurred primaries. 1600th is pretty sluggish for Swallow flight images I guess (they are very quick are'nt they). Did'nt notice the feather untidiness, I tend not to correct (clone out) things like that unless its something really ugly like remnants of bird poo on feathers or something similar.

You did well at recognizing the situation.
Thank you, that seems to be one of my strong points. I can recognise a good opportunity like this where others seem to pass it by.
Thanks for viewing and commenting:D

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Paul, I am not real good at that stuff but it looks like motion blur to me... And after 27 years, I am pretty much a champ at recognizing and even anticipating situations. We try to cover those both on IPTs. What the wind and the light and what am I thinking :) I'd lose those errant feathers as fast as I'd lose the poo :)

[Paul Randall]

Thanks Art, amazing how much more I notice things like weather, wind, light since getting into birds/bird photography. Was just telling a friend last night that I can wake up on a cloudy morning and recognise whether there will be a clear horizon (and sunny breaks) that afternoon just by looking at the thickness of the clouds, wind direction etc. Great stuff. Heres a repost....did I get 'em all?:)

[Kiran Poonacha]

Nice repost, loved the pose even without the eye contact. and the wing blur works well.

[Paul Randall]

Thanks Kiran:D
Just occurred to me that Art may have been talking about the very, very slightly untidy feathers at the top of the bill base. In that case, I don't (as you would have been able to tell from my repost:confused:) think they are a problem in the slightest. I thought you may have been talking about the very small "quills" that were showing on the head.:o

[Arthur Morris]

Yeah, I was talking about the mess of feathers just above the base of the bill. And on the lower forehead as well. Addressed in the repost :)

[Stu Bowie]

Interesting pose Paul, and I like the colours. I like the BG too.

[Danny Laredo]

Killer Bg and flight pose.

[Paul Randall]

Ahhhh, thought so:) Does look slightly cleaner, thanks for taking the time to repost:)
Thanks for all the comments and views all:cool:

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. It looks way-cleaner to me.... In fact, you might say it looks like a new bird :)

[john jackson]

I much prefer this photo with the bird as it was in life, rather than re-drawn in PS.

[Arthur Morris]

Heck, I never noticed the two tiny white quills.

[Paul Randall]

Forgot to ask you the other day Art, regarding fixing birds plumage etc. Just wondering, is it something you do because you prefer the look of a perfectly plumaged bird aesthetically (I'm guessing thats an obvious yes) or does it also have to do with selling images (will editors/agencies etc prefer to purchase a neatly presented bird.....an obvious yes as well I'm guessing:o). Just a query, not a criticism of the practice. I've actually really warmed to the repost with the messy bill base feathers omitted.:)

[Arthur Morris]

Forgot to ask you the other day Art, regarding fixing birds plumage etc. Just wondering, is it something you do because you prefer the look of a perfectly plumaged bird aesthetically (I'm guessing thats an obvious yes) or does it also have to do with selling images (will editors/agencies etc prefer to purchase a neatly presented bird.....an obvious yes as well I'm guessing:o). Just a query, not a criticism of the practice. I've actually really warmed to the repost with the messy bill base feathers omitted.:)

Hi Paul, It has nothing at all to do with selling images. My thoughts are as follows: your image is of a swallow in flight looking down at something. My repost is an image of a swallow in flight looking down at something. For me, the natural history of the scene and the moment has been preserved. I see it as just bad luck that the subject had a patch of ratty feathers. So yes, I prefer pretty :)

[Deborah Hanson]

Paul-
Love the shot of the in-flight swallow. Very hard to catch for me - so impressed. I like the bird as originally posted. Actually I didn't even notice any out of place feathers. Guess I prefer birds/nature as is as much as possible.
Have you tried to change the aperture to see if the blur was DOF? I find that when I shoot hummingbirds I need the faster shutters (I shoot without flash) but also more depth of field because they are twisting around a lot. Just a question as I have only a few years of experience.

[Paul Randall]

Thanks you very much Deborah, I did'nt try a different aperture because I felt that 1/1600th was already a bit slow for capturing these birds in flight. I normally stop down to f8 when I attach the 1.4 TC on this lens because the DOF is so thin. I don't think I have a shot of this species without a little bit of blur and I have shot them at shutter speeds all the way up to 1/4000th so I think Art was right in thinking it was motion blur.

Hi Paul, It has nothing at all to do with selling images. My thoughts are as follows: your image is of a swallow in flight looking down at something. My repost is an image of a swallow in flight looking down at something. For me, the natural history of the scene and the moment has been preserved. I see it as just bad luck that the subject had a patch of ratty feathers. So yes, I prefer pretty
Thanks so much for the reply Art, I'll be looking a bit harder at the plumage on my birds from now on:)