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Hi all
One of my first hand held successes with my new gear chasing Carnaby cockatoos. I would like to gauge reaction to the background in this image...there is a blurry dead tree just in front if the bird and while its easy enough to remove it would leave a boring blue background... So the question is, does the background add or subtract from this image?
500F4 | 1D4 | 1/8000 sec | F4 |ISO 500 |hand held
DON
I like the pairing of these birds. The front one is very sharp and has lots of detail. The sharpness may actually be a little overdone because I think I see little jagged lines/halo effect on edges of both birds. Removing the trees (both to the right and bottom left of the birds) should be easy enough and I don't think that a solid blue background is "boring" at all--just look at all the incredible posts here on BPN with solid blue backgrounds (e.g., Alan Murphy's raptors in flight). I see that you clipped a wingtip at the top and the tail of the rear bird, so reducing the crop (if this is a crop) or adding canvas and doing some surgery to add back the tip and tail is needed. I look forward to more of your images with your new gear. The 500f4 is on my Christmas list. Santa, are you listening?
Very nice detail on the front bird. I am not really a fan of the oof bird in the background, especially given the overlap with the main subject and clipping of the tail. Concerning your question, I think I would prefer a plain blue sky background. Have you considered adding a little canvas to the top and repairing the wingtip?
All the best for your future hand-holding exploits. I think this is a good basis.
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->Hi Don and congrats on the wonderful gear mate. I hope my bank manager will allow me to spend soon too. :( Not likely.
I love the sharpness of the main cockatoo. My other comments are that what is not ideal here is the rear bird, its position and the fact you cropped the tail. If the two were more separate I think the comp would be stronger. You can easily repair the missing wingtip of the main subject with some careful digital surgery. Regarding the BG, I am OK with plain blue as well, but also a fan of other BGs with visible foliage, trees etc, but this one I am not for the tree is in a spot right in front of the bird and there is only one, thus kind of disrupting the blue sky. Maybe it does not make sense? Anyway, you must be chuffed to get a Carnaby’s so well done for that mate. Hope to see more soon.
Hi Guys
Thanks for the input. The concensus seems to be in this case to remove the blurry BG.. Will repost as soon as I get a chance at the digital surgery...
Gary, the only crop is from the right so adding canvas and the digital surgery is required. Good luck with Santa.;)
Ben, I too would prefer if the rear bird was more in focus and that may have been possible if I had a lower shutter speed and larger F#. You can see at 1/8000 sec that there is scope for this. For this image I was in aperture priority mode and the birds flew from a 'darkish under the tree' location into the sunshine and the shutter speed went through the roof. I was flat out trying to keep the birds in the viewfinder and did not notice. I may have done better if I had been in TV mode with speed set at maybe 1/1600 and let the DOF increase as they flew into the sunshine.
Akos, thanks for your input and good luck with the bank manager. I was lucky enough to have about 50 Carnabys living about 5 minutes walk away for about 3 weeks, crunching their way through the banskia's nuts in a local bush reserve. They arrived just before the 500. They seemed to have moved on now but it was good while it lasted.
I have had my 500 for about a month - love it love it love it .... but I have a bit of advice for all you folks out there wanting a super telephoto of your own. In my opinion I think the 500 is too short for small or easily spooked birds. I regularly attach the 1.4TC and still often wish for more 'length' in the glass. If you can afford only one super telephoto in your life and you regularly shoot small birds then please consider if the 600 or the 800mm is better suited to you. When you spend the bigger bucks you also make a bigger mistake if you get it wrong.
DON
My repost..
I firstly added canvas to upped and LHS. Then selected the Bg and 'averaged' it and then overlayed a slight gradient. I then grafted a feather at the wing tip from the adjacent and fixed the tailfeather using clone stamp (bit rough this bit..). Not completely happy because the leading edge of the wing looks a bit phoney to me...
DON
Don,
I think you have done a pretty good job here. Well done. For me, the repost is more pleasing.
