Camera: Sony DSC-HX300 Date of shooting:09-12-2014
Lens:Built in camera, 4,3-215,0 mm
Used focal length: 213,7 mm
Zoomfactor: 50x
Aperture: 6,3 Aperture priority
Exposure bias: 0 EV
Shutterspeed: 1/1250 second
ISO:320
Processing with PSPPX5 :Curves, Crop to 43 % of original bitmap, Brightness and contrast,
Sharpening: Unsharp Mask.
No tripod used.
I like seagulls and enjoy shooting them. Most bird images will catch the viewer's attention more if the bird is looking more toward them rather than away, although looking away is natural behavior. You did a good job of keeping the whites from being blown out. I wish the toe wasn't touching the bottom of the frame, though.
Not sure of some of your specs. What is PSPPX5? PS CS5?? When you say original bitmap, I assume you mean the rasterized raw file in .psd or .tif format? Was it a RAW capture or a JPEG? (I don't know that camera.)
It could be sharper, but that may be a limitation of the camera and lens. But compelling images can be made with any camera by learning what it does best. If image quality is not top-notch, capturing interesting behavior can make up for it. If possible, you will get a sharper (more detailed) image if you can get closer instead of cropping.
Thanks for your reply!
PSPPX5 is Paint Shop Pro Photo X5, made by Corel.
The camera has only JPEG, not RAW. The original JPEG is 3888x5184 pixels, the crop (JPEG) is 3591x2395 pixels.
Indeed, a sharper picture can be realized when I get closer. The problem sometimes is then that the bird flies away.
Instead of getting closer, I mostly chose to stay and crop the picture afterwards.
By comparison, this picture is taken with a focal length of 214 mm, the max. optical zoom of this camera.
That is the FF equivalent of 1200 mm! It's the small compact camera size sensor in the Sony that makes this possible.
This camera also has a digital zoom of 4x, but I prefer not to use it because of the drastically decrease of image quality.
Finally another version of the gull with more room for the toe.
I like the extra room at the bottom here. You might want to clone out the dark stuff on the post at the edge of the frame. Is this a different shot or just a different crop? The whites on the breast are blown out here but not on the first post.
You are right not to use digital zoom. You can do better cropping yourself.
Lenses suffer increased softness as they near the long end of their zoom so it would be better if you can get a little closer and use a little less zoom. Also be aware of the aperture at which you can get the sharpest picture (wide open is usually a little soft). Also the shutter speed needed to prevent softness from camera shake increases a LOT as you go to longer zooms.
The last picture is a different crop, indeed I was a little to hasty and did not notice the whites being blown out...
Therefore a new crop added here, the image is slightly straightened, and the contrast is maximazed in a way the blacks and whites are just on the edge of being blown out.
The last picture is a different crop, indeed I was a little to hasty and did not notice the whites being blown out...
Therefore a new crop added here, the image is slightly straightened, and the contrast is maximazed in a way the blacks and whites are just on the edge of being blown out.
Kind regards,
Kees
Edit by Kees de Pooter 13-12-2014 at 16:24.
Brightness, saturation and sharpness improved.
Just as an FYI, I'm not sure that this bird is Larus fuscus, especially since a bird this light would almost certainly have to be graellsii. With a mantle looking that light and more bluish gray, minimal head streaking, dull pinkish legs on an adult, and pretty big white primary marks, I think we're looking at Larus argentatus. When it comes to European gulls, though, I wouldn't want to try to go any further than that.
Hi Paul,
By chance, yesterday I got the Princeton Field Guide ''Birds of Europe'', just before you posted your reply....
I guess you're absolutely right, this is most likely the Larus argentatus, the (European) Herring Gull.
Thanks for your attentiveness!
Larus fuscus
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