Get off my perch!

[Kevin Leclaire]

I would have posted this in Avian, Wild & Free, but have too many beginner's questions to ask, so please help if you can.

The story: I'm at the local pond, and the normally elusive green heron resident has alighted on a log in the water. I find the best viewing angle available given the sun and fire off 88 frames experimenting with exposure and depth of field. At the end of this series, a red-winged blackbird alights nearby and the heron takes offense and the RWB takes off. I get one frame of this action at the current camera settings: D300, Nikkor VR 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/500, ISO 400, F9, -1/3 EV.

Self Assessment & questions (with the understanding that much of this is in the eye of the beholder):

1. I think the EV should've been -2/3 and that correction is reflected in this picture
2. the RWB takes off up & away from the camera and the wings are not fully in view, but there's nothing I could do, the "artistic" question is: how interesting is the resulting picture, or would a close up of the heron be better sans RWB?
3. Crop: I could crop farther out to give more lead room in front of the RWB--should I?
4. Blur: at 1/500, there is some motion blur around the heron's left foot and the RWB's wing edges--does this detract in your opinion?
5. Sharpness: I sharpened as much as I thought possible without distorting the birds (e.g. halo). Frankly, given my lens/camera combo I keep hoping for better (even when no motion is involved I get some softness at 100%). Are there limitations to sharpness for the Nikkor VR 70-300mm at 300mm, or is it just the user?
6. Background: There is some background noise, plus some may consider it busy with the lily pads, flowers, and shadows. I suspect that a gaussian blur of the BG would improve both of those concerns, but that leads to post-processing areas that I'm not familiar with. I have Capture NX, which seems to want to apply the blur to the whole photo (which undoes the sharpening I've applied). I could use the selection tool, but to select the entire BG would be quite tedious and prone to errors. I also have PhotoShop Elements 5.0, but it doesn't recognize the D300 raw files, so I have to work on the jpeg or I suppose TIFF. I have experimented with layers on this photo, but PSE5 doesn't seem to want to recognize the heron's claws and beak well, thus leading to unnatural effects in the flattened photo. Any suggestions or recommended links on how do this best?
7. BG, take 2: do the lily blooms between the heron's legs and by the beak detract? If so, is there a good set of instructions on proper cloning techniques in either of those software packages you could refer me to?

Thanks in advance for all your help!


-Kevin
www.ultiphotos.com

[Katie Rupp]

Wow! Lots of questions but I understand, I've been there, too:confused:

For what it's worth, here are some of my thoughts. I like the action and like you, I wish you had been able to catch the BB sooner. If it were me, I'd keep the crop with the two birds (as opposed to only the heron) because it captures the moment. As for the blurred foot, I like it because it shows motion. I'm not a Nikon user so I can't comment on the sharpness of the lens. You're right, the bg is a bit noisy and busy...I find that selecting "the bird" and then inversing the selection to reduce noise/add blur, works for me. I was able to do this with Elements 6 but it does take a little practice. And finally, I do find the lily pads distracting but I don't have a reference for cloning technique. I'll be interested to see what our resident "expert" Alfred has to say.

Thanks for sharing your find.

[Nonda Surratt]

Well! Katie did a bang up job! Really like the action here and what Katie said:D

[Katie Rupp]

Here is a thread that takes you through selective sharpening---it better describes the process I was talking about in my earlier reply regarding blurring backgrounds. And I convert my raw images to TIFF 16 and then take them to Photoshop---you can do this also with Elements.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ead.php?t=6040

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Kevin Let me know if I missed anything !!! Great questions !!!


1. Exposure compensation seems fine. Would be a toss up between the two and could only really say looking at the histogram for the RAW image. If there is
nothing going up the right side the - 1/3 is correct.

2 Personally I would rather have the Green Heron by itself larger in frame. Do like the action but the little bird is not in a great position and including
takes away from the Green.

3 On this one I would not. If the little bird was in better position then I would.

4 Not really. As long as you have a sharp eye it will not detract. It is amazing the shutter speed you will need at times ... and not always possible.

5 The lens is not a bad performer but you can not compare it to a 300 2.8 or the super telephoto lenses. Best to stop one down for maximum sharpness.
You should try some test targets and see how sharp it is and the effect of stopping down. Simple test with a target which can be a typed page.

6 Processing wise I would get Digital Basics from Artie. It is excellent. Bg wise you could do a slight blurring but don't go overboard since it must look
natural. This is one of the reason for using fast lenses and photographing wide open. They will still be sharp and blur the bg.

7 Yes you should take it out since it does detract. Bes source for learning how to do it is Robert O'toole's CD. Can also get a book on masking.
I find it very important.

btw your program should read the RAW files. Might want to check on updates.


I like the image as presented and you sure worked the bird as it should be done. Looking forward to more !!!!

[Kevin Leclaire]

Hi Kevin Let me know if I missed anything !!! Great questions !!!

1. Exposure compensation seems fine. Would be a toss up between the two and could only really say looking at the histogram for the RAW image. If there is
nothing going up the right side the - 1/3 is correct.

5 The lens is not a bad performer but you can not compare it to a 300 2.8 or the super telephoto lenses. Best to stop one down for maximum sharpness. You should try some test targets and see how sharp it is and the effect of stopping down. Simple test with a target which can be a typed page.

6 Processing wise I would get Digital Basics from Artie. It is excellent. Bg wise you could do a slight blurring but don't go overboard since it must look natural. This is one of the reason for using fast lenses and photographing wide open. They will still be sharp and blur the bg.

btw your program should read the RAW files. Might want to check on updates.

I like the image as presented and you sure worked the bird as it should be done. Looking forward to more !!!!

Thanks for all the great suggestions from you and Katie!

re 1: FYI, the histogram was clean on the right so I guess -1/3 would have been fine.

re 5: Any sources you know of for reliable reviews of "fast lenses" other than dpreview.com which I am already scanning? As an amateur, the lens budget is precious. :)

re: PSE5 - I tried looking for updates, but no dice. They may have reserved the D300 raw file compatibility for V6.

Thanks again!

[Alfred Forns]

Kevin no mystery on the lenses. I would stick with Nikon and unfortunately the price sorts them out.

Might consider the 300 f 4.0 VR Will work with the 1.4X and adding the camera's crop factor becomes a 570 f5.6 From there you need to jump to the SuperTele lenses The most affordable would be the 200-400 and its around 5k. With the addition of the VR for the 500 and 600 there are lots of non VR lenses being sold at a good price. I would probably pass them up and save for the VR.

Strange about the D300 files not being read? Will check after I get home tonight see what is going on.

[Kevin Leclaire]

Kevin no mystery on the lenses. I would stick with Nikon and unfortunately the price sorts them out.

Might consider the 300 f 4.0 VR Will work with the 1.4X and adding the camera's crop factor becomes a 570 f5.6 From there you need to jump to the SuperTele lenses The most affordable would be the 200-400 and its around 5k. With the addition of the VR for the 500 and 600 there are lots of non VR lenses being sold at a good price. I would probably pass them up and save for the VR.

Strange about the D300 files not being read? Will check after I get home tonight see what is going on.

Thanks again for the follow-up. FYI, I could not find a Nikkor 300 f4.0 VR lens --I think the lens you are referring to does not have VR, though it is reputed to be about the best image quality for the $$.