turkey vultures on the chimney - well, they have red heads at least...
My father lives on the top of a fairly steep hill overlooking the Ohio River. Turkey vultures like the area as a launching point, and are often seen roosting - here a pair is roosting on a chimney in the late afternoon.
ISO 800, f/9.0, 1/640 s., 400 mm (Canon 60D, Canon 400mm f/5.6L, probably shot in Av mode). The birds' black plumage is brushed and exposure decreased approximately 1 stop, the vibrance increased 31 , and slight cropping applied in LR4. I am just learning to develop in LR4.
Last edited by Peter Kes; 12-25-2012 at 07:10 AM.
Hi Nancy. You did well on the bird on the right, but your shutter-speed was too slow to catch the feather ruffling of the bird on the left. regards~Bill
Nancy, the one one the right looks like the exposure is good but the head seems to be a little soft.
Colin
Nancy,
Not bad I like the unique composition or should I say subject placement. You did clip the tail feathers and should extend the frame and correct this, it is aright to cut, but not clip. Comments above are good and the image is soft, in bird photography clean sharp images are important. The best field techniques are increase ISO (did well here), tripod (was this HH) and exposure balance between aperture and shutter speed. The shutter was probably fast enough and the combination of no tripod and large crop softened the image (how large was the crop). I often photograph these birds - keep coming.
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 12-28-2012 at 02:02 PM.
No crop on the left and bottom edges, minimal crop on the top and right edges. Handheld, spur of the moment photo - they were there when I pulled into my Dad's driveway, so I parked my car, grabbed my camera, backed off enough so that I could get them both into the frame, and shot. I needed more depth of focus or I needed to position myself at a slightly different angle such that both birds were in the plane of focus. Trees constrained my positioning. I am pretty timid about sharpening, and left it at the LR4 default radius 1.0 and amount 25 for the master image. I generally sharpen at output at medium strength. I could have processed the birds' heads sdifferently than the bodies - heads are somewhat washed out here, could have left them alone at base exposure, and brushed and decreased exposure for feathers only. I did a fade on the feathers, trying not to lighten the bird's outline.
And Santa-vulture has in his pack a fine rotton 'possum......
Hi Nancy, I see what you were going for here but for my eye the bird on the left does not add anything to the image and two is not a good number unless they are a pair engaged in some activity. I think you had a good capture of the bird on the right and I took the liberty of cropping out the one on the left. I also feel that the blacks are lifted too much in your post so I adjusted them as well. I like the eye contact but the capture angle is pretty steep.
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com
Nancy,
I like Kerry's post and reminds me (as Kerry always say's) simple elements make a compelling picture. In the original post my eye migrated towards this as the main subject and the framing seems to fit the subject.
That being said the pair are unique and as the photographer it is your story but if, included you need to add canvas and correct the feather clipping and more room in the bottom left hand corner. Feel free to visit the education and tutorial forum there is a thread that address this process.
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 12-31-2012 at 04:01 PM.
Thanks everyone. There is no more lower left hand corner. I wanted to shoot slightly wider, but ran out of room, backing up more got me some interference from tree branches.
This isn't the greatest shot in the world, but it was my best "bird with chimney" shot available for Christmas. I will have to work on getting a good courting shot for Valentine's Day....maybe take a hint from local bird photographer Noppadol Paothong and go visit the Grouse species (aka "Prairie Chickens"). (Nop has published a great photo book, Save the Last Dance, on the Grouse and relatives, see http://www.savethelastdancebook.com/ )
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