...and I hope you do not mind me showing you another species we were privileged to see and photograph at Zimanga hide...since this is quite special and these guys are usually hard to photograph, so skittish and shy away from human presence. I spot them often in my garden yet they are never close-by, always hidden in the foliage of a tree and only their call gives them away. The shutter of the camera would have chased this little chap away immediately, fortunately the hide walls are carpeted and therefore sound proof. I have managed quite a few frames at various F-stops, here the head was quite sharp and the pose more attractive so here it goes, techs as follows:
Nikon D3S
Nikon 500 F4
ISO 2500
1/1600s
F6.3
I thank you for viewing and I appreciate every comment, be it technical or otherwise. I realise there is not much detail on the body - the subject landed so close that I felt an urgency to change the lens. What prevented me from doing so was the fact that I had my D300S attached to the 300/F2.8 and the exchange would have taken too long, I really love my D3S and my other bodies' performance do not come close at high ISO. I managed a few frames and then the Barbet took off, I consider myself lucky to have captured this...
Have a wonderful Sunday,
Last edited by Gabriela Plesea; 06-07-2014 at 04:01 PM.
Hi Gabriella
Have to comment since it has been so long G.They are so skittish at times so hides like the one you experienced are hugely beneficial with similar species.Love the BG and details on the bird. Pity you couldn't get the oof tail crisp but still beautiful image.
Nice rich colours and the BKG colour sits well. Like to have seen more DoF on this personally to get more detail in the feet etc, but not a deal breaker as the head & bill are shape, nice eye detail, but the Avian guys & gals are far better at adding advice than me. I much suggest pulling back the contrast a little, it may help on the detail & clarity more? I appreciate the location, but feel the perch may be better without the addition stem on the LHS, but as presented perhaps just crop a fraction off the LHS to both perches bleed off, WDYT? Also just watch the saturation of the red doesn't choke the detail in the throat plumage.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
never seen one of these before,would have liked more depth of field,but still like it,nice BG,the head on this is great,it looks quite phrehistoric,the bird,thanks for showing.
Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions, I have done an RP and used cloning tool to eliminate that small branch coming off the perch because it was really bothering me.
As I opened the thumbnail to upload I saw more suggestions were posted! Steve - sorry, I did not implement them yet, I see your point and will start from the beginning, posting this for now because it already looks better with that branch removed!
What a great looking bird Gabriella. Love the face and the big beak in this guy. Very unique. Never seen one before, so thanks for posting it. The rest looks good and the colors and detail are perfect. Nice perch and BG. Keep em coming form the hide..
Hi gabriela late to this one .
I quite like the OP with the piece of branch left pin , looks to sterile for me .
Nice little bird i have not seen yet , maybe in the near future .Like the colors and overall contrast , but i would watch the real dark shadows .
In PS the blue channel is choked in the shadows and you have space in the HL and the green channel in the HL likewise watching the individual histogram of the channels.
A little help would be as follows duplicate the BG and set the blend mode to luminosity , click on the blue channel and go to APPLY IMAGE and copy the RED CHANNEL in SCREEN MODE onto the BLUE CHANNEL the result is a lighter blue channel with more dynamic range all over the image.
Next step would be go to the individual channels and edit them with individually with a levels adjustment ( in this case just the HL sliders in the GREEN and the BLUE channel so you have the full range in each and every channel .
From there on comes the Magic Button . Drop you a line
Gabriela, The RP is an improvement. You have captured so much detail at F6.3, I can't help but think at F8 how much more detail could we have seen. Great pose, perch, and background. Pamela
Thank you so, so much for your kind comments, the Zimanga "session" has been very rewarding in terms of various sightings, and so much more in those folders of mine, I must just find the time to process...
Dear Pamela, you are absolutely right about increasing the F-top, the problem being...there was no time to change settings! Had a look at the sequence of images and noticed I was shooting a small wasp and some tiny canaries drinking just seconds before this (bigger) chap came along! Things happen quickly at Zimanga, it is near the water and when it comes to birds, they arrive fast and take off just as fast! I was just not prepared for this, thought I'd have to wait for some time in-between but sometimes various species arrived at the same time and I had to decide in a fraction of a second whether I take images of the one drinking or the other that just landed on the perch above, it was almost like playing packman...The good thing is, we were three photographers in the hide and our images are not alike, given the number of avian species coming to drink at the same time...
Andreas -sorry, I am also late to reply, had some trouble logging in since last night but someone very kind who probably knows my addiction to BPN sorted things out so fast - thank you Steve and Peter! I am getting lost in your "channels" tonight Andreas, and just realised I do not have the magic button, wondering how to get hold of someone very close to you to find out how to mesmerise Andreas into giving away that secret he holds so tightly to his chest ? Or perhaps I should just work at it, I love a challenge, and given just part of the puzzle I always try to find the missing bit on my own, more rewarding I guess?
I will rework this image from the start, will email you the result when it is done, see if I can come close to your performance. Thank you so much for taking the time - you are always so kind and so helpful, so unselfish and you share so much of your knowledge, I really appreciate it. I just had this thought right now and wanted to share it with you - I think we'll have great fun in the Kalahari in October and we'll share some amazing moments, we so look forward to your company, to the starry skies and the owls screeching, lions roaring, hyena and jackal calls, hundreds of images downloaded and sharing our emotions about the place...Good night Andreas, less than four months to go, the meals are planned already, they are an important part of enjoying those Kalahari nights, the wine list is done, any medicine you can think of, any emergency plan is taken care of...you just come along and enjoy! We are off to Kruger Park on Saturday, only a few days, back soon, meanwhile we will keep in touch...
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions, much appreciated!
Dear Gabriela i am patient while waiting for October , try to help as far as i can .
There are many ways to achieve the result you want to achieve , mine is sometimes more complex , think Steve would say too complex when he could see my whole workflow .
But each and every one of us had his/her own teacher /mentor or just favorite books /tutorials to follow.
Plus we all have our own style and preferences about the tech stuff and photography in general . I just fiddle around a lot , edit and throw away , edit and throw away images .My girlfriend just asked me today why you are doing this……………. my answer was i just like it that way.
I could post 20 images a day , when i am off work , just to hear what you guys think of the images , by far they are not that good in terms of the content , but for me when i am home and editing it is more about the PP work , when the image is taken in the field it is taken . Not much to change afterwards or make it better.
There is no person that close to me (at least amongst the Photogs) to open my secret bucket , Steve once told more or less - find out yourself and that is what i do . Reading books, watch tutorials etc.Very time consuming i tell you , but hey it is fun.
Have a good night and happy processing , will share something later in the year , for sure.
I like your answer to the lady of your heart, and I am sure she understands your vision by now. I would like to think I do too, even though I know so little about you. A kind of kinship, an understanding often develops among fellow photographers - I have come to anticipate/feel what you want from your images, also - what you expect from mine. I am afraid I cannot always meet your expectations. A good photographer touches minds, touches hearts. I try to do so, but when I fail - or think I am about to fail - I compensate with words. On the other hand, you have the magic button. Will share something in October, both myself and Andre look forward to knowing you
Blackcollared Barbet @ Zimanga Hide
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.Like the colors and overall contrast , but i would watch the real dark shadows .
? Or perhaps I should just work at it, I love a challenge, and given just part of the puzzle I always try to find the missing bit on my own, more rewarding I guess?
