The wing feathers of this bird are actually brown/black but they are so shiny that they appear white here.
Wonder if a polarising filter would have improved the wing detail?
Would have been nice to get feet and tail in frame but they were obscured by the weeds and a lower angle would have required more distance/shorter lens with the risk of the increased amount of weeds in frame competing with subject.
At least the oil gland is showing.
Pentax K30
Sun 600mm f8 preset lens.
ISO 400, 1/400 sec, f stop not recorded. Spot metering.
Lightroom, spot removal, adjustments to colour temp, whites, blacks, clarity and vibrance.
Again I'm having trouble removing an initially posted image. How do I go about that?
Comments and advice welcomed.
Hi Paul, Another interesting subject! I really like the feather pattern you've captured here. It looks as though the sun is fairly high. I'm not sure about a polarising filter. (I get into enough trouble with the bare bones!)
Yes, it would have been nice to get the feet and tail in the frame. I always like to see all the feet, even if it's "virtual" feet where you know the feet are in there somewhere. A bit more room at the bottom. Has the image been cropped? I'm not sure if the oil gland is an attractive part of the image and IMO, I would modestly feather it. There could be a slight cyan halo present on some of the highlighted areas. I'm pleased to see that the second image has the dust bunnies removed!
Are you able to go into your thread and "edit". There is a little box there somewhere on the RHS of the screeen. I'm not sure if you can delete an image.
Thanks Glennie,
I tried to remove the initial photo via the edit facility but no go.
No the photo wasn't cropped.
Taken around 9:30 am so sun would have been fairly high.
Here is another photo in portrait orientation which shows more of the bird.
Minimum processing in Lightroom, spot removal, clarity.
This photo needs a bit of work on the log and the bright spot on the water LHS of bird. At least.
However I think it makes my first posting look overprocessed.
Same equipment and settings.
A nice capture, Paul. Birds don't often perch where we'd like. Interesting thought about a polarizer -- it might help -- I don't think I've ever tried one for glare on feathers. I'll try to remember to give it a try.
Nice head turn and pose. The first post is a bit on the yellow side, the last one has a blue cast and is low in contrast. About halfway in between would be good. I generally mix in the Shadows and Highlights sliders with the Blacks and Whites.
Even though there is a somewhat distracting jumble at the bottom of the frame, I prefer it, as in the second post, to cutting off the feet.
If it's an f/8 preset lens, then that's the f-stop, even if it wasn't recorded.
Always a good idea to start a new thread for a different image, although if it's posted just for additional information that's fine in the same thread.
Can't be of much help with the picture -- you should be able to edit and delete it as Glennie said.
Hello Diane,
Thanks for your comments, they give me a good guideline for adjusting the image.
The Sun 600mm is a 60's era lens. There is no automatic diaphram coupling. Apertures ranged from f8 to f22 and were manually set.
The preset designation refers to the use of two aperture controls. One to set the aperture and another to limit the range of travel of the first control.
Combine that with manual focus and its not the sort of lens one would choose for birds in flight.
The log the Darter perched on was directly outside the bird hide at Hastie swamp. I don't like the fact that it is a sawn log. The Darter used this perch for about a week.
A tripod was used for both photos
I also tried a 2x converter with this lens but the images turned out soft. Not a good lens converter combination I guess.
Recent purchase is a Sigma 1.4 x converter which is working well with the Beroflex 500mm.
When the Sun 600mm comes back from being serviced I will try the 1.4 with it.
Water levels dropping dramatically at Hastie Swamp at the moment.
Heavy rains needed but if they are widespread the birds will disperse to fresh wetlands.
Paul, I like your repost much better. A very tricky bird to photograph with those black shiny feathers. I would have a look at cutting off the OOF leaves at the bottom of the frame, still leaving plenty of room for his feet...maybe even a slither off the top. The sawn perch doesn't worry me. In fact, I didn't notice until you mentioned it.
The only good thing about no rain (or wet season) is the abundance of birds congregating around waterholes!
Darter Calling
