Branching Out...

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on Lake Blue Cypress with the hand held Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 1250. Evaluative metering +2 stops off the early morning blue sky: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB.

Central Sensor/AI Servo-Surround/Rear Focus AF on the bend of the bird’s left wing active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

The 300II/2X III/1D X combo is superb for hand held flight photography when you need the reach.

From today's blog post, Branching Out; my 198th day in a row with a new educational blog post.

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome. Please no microscopes or LAB Color analyses :)

[John Robinson]

Quote
" Please no microscopes or LAB Color analyses :)"
Love it!!!
Looks good to me Artur. The branch makes it extra. Picture saying something. My dog loves his ball and birds can be fanatic about a twig !!!
Good one
Wouldn't it be nice with some Simpson clouds though ????

JohnR

[Dvir Barkay]

Awesome shot Arthur, everyone always manages to get them with things in their talons, I have yet to see that behavior (other than fish of course). I have been trying with my new 300/2.8 IS and x2TC with the ospreys, but haven't been able to get a nice shot like that. I wonder how the new 300 with the new TC (wide open) looks at 100% compared to the older lens. Any chance you can post or send me an IM of a 100% crop or something similar, it would help me get an idea of what to expect? Thanks in advance.

[Arthur Morris]

Here you go Dvir. I blew the image up to 100% and then cropped it to 800 x 533 pixels. The posted image was a fair crop. The image here is unsharpened. Don't forget that the sensor was on the bird's wing....

[Dvir Barkay]

Thank you so much! looks good to me, by unsharpened do you mean default sharpening in ACR, or the 0 setting in DPP?

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose and the branch, great details and exposure as posted

I think the 100% crop is actually sharpened accidentally with USM and also compressed too much, as evident by the halo around the wings and coarse details. The 300 MKII (and all canon super tele lenses) deliver excellent sharpness at pixel level even with the 2X III.

[William Dickson]

Very nice Artie. I use the f/2.8 300mm Mk1 model along with the Canon 2x iii on a Canon 5D Mkiii handheld, and if I track the bird, I find this combination very good for BIF. I find the weight of this setup easy to handle.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great shot Artie, love the pose and the branch, I had no idea they carried pieces as big as that. I like the exposure on this one.
Just for ref purposes your exposure was +2 over the sky, now I guess experience told you that and you may or may not have had time to check the histogram at the scene, but presumably it was experience that told you this was likely to be the correct exposure.
I have historically tended to point my camera at a neutral toned subject - e.g, grass and used that exposure setting - do you have any views or comments?

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Super capture, Artie. Love the long legs grasping the huge stick, and beautiful wing and tail positions. Intense eyes.




Geoffrey

[Arthur Morris]

Quote
" Please no microscopes or LAB Color analyses :)"
Love it!!!
Looks good to me Artur. The branch makes it extra. Picture saying something. My dog loves his ball and birds can be fanatic about a twig !!!
Good one
Wouldn't it be nice with some Simpson clouds though ????

JohnR

Thanks John, What is a Simpson cloud?

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you so much! looks good to me, by unsharpened do you mean default sharpening in ACR, or the 0 setting in DPP?

Sharpness at 3 as always and as noted in the DPP RAW Conversion Guide.

ps: looks good to me too.

[Arthur Morris]

love the pose and the branch, great details and exposure as posted

I think the 100% crop is actually sharpened accidentally with USM and also compressed too much, as evident by the halo around the wings and coarse details. The 300 MKII (and all canon super tele lenses) deliver excellent sharpness at pixel level even with the 2X III.

Thanks Arash. Unless I am nuts the only sharpening was 3 Unsharp Mask during the RAW conversion in DPP. As recommended by my friend Arash Hazeghi :)

[Arthur Morris]

Great shot Artie, love the pose and the branch, I had no idea they carried pieces as big as that. I like the exposure on this one.
Just for ref purposes your exposure was +2 over the sky, now I guess experience told you that and you may or may not have had time to check the histogram at the scene, but presumably it was experience that told you this was likely to be the correct exposure.
I have historically tended to point my camera at a neutral toned subject - e.g, grass and used that exposure setting - do you have any views or comments?

Yes. Experience. It was so, so early that the sky was a soft white. As I teach regularly, when the sun is not out at full strength and the scene averages to a light one, the camera's meter is stupid.... Sometimes I meter off a mid-tone just out of curiosity. Either way you need to make judgements based on experience.... I.E, what exactly is a mid tone???

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks Arash. Unless I am nuts the only sharpening was 3 Unsharp Mask during the RAW conversion in DPP. As recommended by my friend Arash Hazeghi :)

sharpness = 3, not USM :)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Smiles, reads and learns. Nice one Artie....

[Binu John]

Fabulous shot, Artie! Wonderful action, pose and framing!

[John Robinson]

"Thanks John, What is a Simpson cloud?"

Arthur- you don't watch the Simpsons !!! Dear oh dear.!
John

[Arthur Morris]

sharpness = 3, not USM :)

Duh. That's what I meant. And to think that I went to DPP to come up with the brain typo answer..... 68 is telling :)

[Arthur Morris]

"Thanks John, What is a Simpson cloud?"

Arthur- you don't watch the Simpsons !!! Dear oh dear.!
John

Once or twice in my life :).

So, what are they???