Here's the same whistler. Different day, same ..it! Early morning, in and out of the shadows, exposure pointer going crazy. I'm a bit happier with the lens. I'm sure it's operator challenged!
Shutter speed too slow and f/11 not needed.
Canon 5D Mark II
Sigma Lens 150-60o Sport @ 600mm
1/250 f/11 ISO2500
Manual Exposure
Monopod
ACR adjustments, cloning, cropped and resized in PS
I like it so much - that you went back to this bird. You must be a very steady person. The photograph is beautifully sharp, and it appears that the bird was patiently waiting for you to show it at its best. What do you think of darkening some of the highlights in the reflection on the water?
This is a beautiful photograph. A pleasure to view. Thanks for presenting it.
Thank you Jim. There are a pair of these birds. They are quite timid and take a long while to show themselves, but I think the wait is worth while. I agree that the highlights could be a bit distracting. I tried toning them down a bit, but in the end, I liked them best as presented.
Good work for the persistence -- it has paid off! Wonderful specimen and a very nice pose with good eye contact and great detail! My only suggestion would be to crop a little from the top to remove the dark area at the top border, which pulls my eye up there a little.
You should be able to shoot a subject like this almost wide-open for aperture. As you do smaller birds that are closer, you will want a smaller aperture.
Looking again, here's a slight increase in exposure with color neutralized with the gray eyedropper in Curves using a point behind the eye. (Hard to know what should be neutral with a gray bird!)
Thanks Diane! That looks much better. I do have a tendency toward the dark side of things! I'll check out that eyedropper.
I have some more shots that were shot at as wide as I could go. I've left the aperture at f11 because the bird was swimming with his mate and I wanted to get them both together. I'm having some issues with the PP and if I can't sort, I'll ask you. (My pixels seem to be disappearing. when I'm burning?! )
I'll post another of the pair together, in the water, out of the water, under the water...and finally over the water.
Last edited by Glennie Passier; 12-07-2015 at 11:42 PM.
Unfortunately the DOF gain between f/4 (or whatever is wide open for you) and f/11 will rarely be enough to get two birds in good focus unless they are very close to the same plane -- although its good you were thinking of it. They do drift around, so it might have been a good idea - just pointing out that DOF is often more limited than we might think.
Not sure about the disappearing pixels -- ask away!
Plumed Whistler II
when I'm burning?! )
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