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Thread: Wild hare at Occoquan NWR Virginia

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    Default Wild hare at Occoquan NWR Virginia

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    This is for you, Stu! Figured you'd like to see what they look like on the other side of the pond!

    I went to the Occoquan Wildlife Refuge just south of Washington DC yesterday. My main objective was birds, herons to be precise.
    But while I was walking to my main photo spot, this little one ran across the trail and didn't seem to care about me too much.
    So I setup for a while and watched him enjoy his breakfast.
    This was my favorite shot out of the bunch. Interesting side note, in the afternoon they started moving the high grass, so I got there just in time!

    Canon 7D2 and Sigma 150-600C @388mm f/6.3 1/1600 ISO400

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Hello Martin,

    Awesome little chap! He is so busy munching away and it seems your presence did not disturb him one bit, well seen and captured:)

    Light is golden, nice techs too, lovely pose from the hare with its mouth slightly open. Quite a busy environment but this is where our little fellow is "at home" and judging by his size not easy to spot by predators among those tall grasses.

    I did find the vegetation to be a tad oversaturated and bright. Took the liberty of playing around with colours, reduced the yellows and greens and also contrast - what do you think, does it work for you?

    Many thanks for sharing, and I believe Stu will be absolutely delighted with this, looking forward to hear what he has to say

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Martin - Welcome to the Wildlife Forum! A very nice first post and some minor tweaks will take it up a notch. I like the placement in the frame but would prefer a little more room below if you have it. I agree with Gabriela on the saturation and would also take the reds in the hare down a bit. I would also reduce the contrast even further. It would be worth it to perhaps start over with the RAW. If you want to shoot it over I would be happy to take a look and play around with it. The sharpness is there and the techs look good so I think it mostly comes down to the post-processing.

    It would be great to have your thoughts on other wildlife images. We recommend commenting on 3-5 other wildlife images each time you post one of your own. That helps foster a sense of community and let's us all learn from each other. Your comments don't have to be technical in nature. Just tell us what you like and/or don't like about an image.

    Looking forward to seeing more of your images.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Hi Ladies, thanks for the replies.

    I just started using Lightroom last fall, and I'm still trying to soak up all the information I can find. Your recommendations surely help.
    Here is the original picture, before I started messing with it (besides the crop). Sorry Rachel, no more space at the bottom ;)
    Name:  LR-6316 Original.jpg
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    Based on your feedback I arrived at this picture:
    Name:  LR-6316 FinalNew.jpg
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    I ended up cutting down on greens, yellows, reds and the contrast.
    After all this I'm still amazed at how little tweaks of those sliders make big changes to the overall picture.
    The lesson learned here is to spend more time on each picture to really get the most out of them.

    Again thanks for the comments! I'm planning on being a part of the community, I just didn't want to be the guy commenting on everyones work without sharing my own.

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    Hi Martin,first thing I notice is that the ears on your Hares look a lot smaller than ours in the Uk,I think Gabriela and Rachel have given you some good advice and you have done very well getting at least the head and eye clear with all that grass,very nicely caught.

    Keith.

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    Lifetime Member Mike Poole's Avatar
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    Just about a clear enough view of the eye for this to work for me Martin. I did think the colours looked a bit too rich on your OP, and you've already been given some good advice on that, and the repost are moving in the right direction.

    Hope you sign up and show us some more

    Mike

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    Hi Martin -- Great to see you posting here at Wildlife forum and a lovely image to start with. I am not going to go in the technical's as they are well covered by Gabriela and Rachel above but one thing I would suggest is to become a part of this community, you will definitely going to learn a lot and in the process become a better photographer.

    TFS !

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    Thanks for the warm welcome!
    I'll definitely stick around and share some comments and more pictures.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Martin I like your shot and your repost is certainly better. I am still a little suprised at the saturation and I suspect a little Colour Temperature adjustment may make all the difference. I am looking forward to seeing more of your images.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I am still a little suprised at the saturation and I suspect a little Colour Temperature adjustment may make all the difference.
    I totally agree Jon, Martin can you shoot me over the RAW via Dropbox, as it would also highlight how you have the camera set-up too. I also feel the 'critical' sharpness isn't quite there, as the 7D2 has been none to have 'sharpness' issues.

    TFS
    Steve

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    Steve, bottom line is, I don't have a RAW file of this picture.
    Let me explain: I've only had the camera for a few weeks, so I'm still trying to figure things out. I've never had a higher end camera, so jpeg was just the easy way in for me.
    I went to a lake last weekend and only shot RAW, to try things out, but all my pictures looked really grainy/noisy to me in Lightroom. That's why on this trip to the Wildlife Refuge, I started out shooting RAW+jpeg but for now I only have a SDXC card, so my buffer started filling up really quick. That's why I decided to go back to jpeg for the remainder of the day.

    As far as the white balance question goes, I had it set to shade.

    Is there a way when importing the files to Lightroom, to use a preset that makes the pictures look like in camera conversion?
    I feel like at this level of my experience that might help me get a decent starting point to my post processing.

    Steve, thanks for the offer to look at my RAW files, and if you'd like, I can still send you some RAWs of my previous shoot that I wasn't really happy with?
    I'd greatly appreciate it!

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Martin, firstly check in the camera menu that the Working space is set to Adobe RGB and NOT sRGB!!!

    Secondly forget JPEG, shoot RAW and make sure that LR & PS also has the Working Space of Adobe RGB. Shooting both RAW & JPEG is pointless, it's takes too long and also takes up valuable card space. Buy yourself a Sandisk Pro 32MB CF card with a 160/MBS and set your camera so you cannot shoot without a card.

    but all my pictures looked really grainy/noisy to me in Lightroom.
    There can be many factors, the 7D2 is not (IMHO) a forgiving camera body, you need to get the Exposure bang on. Plus if you lighten the image through poor exposure then this will highlight noise, plus it really does not like high ISO

    Is there a way when importing the files to Lightroom, to use a preset that makes the pictures look like in camera conversion?
    Do NOT use the screen on your camera for Exposure or Colour, make sure you calibrate your monitor once a month. You can use a preset within LR, I personally choose not too and prefer to find my own WB before doing any Colour Management, getting this right will be the cornerstone to your Workflow and the conversion of your image.

    but all my pictures looked really grainy/noisy to me in Lightroom.
    You could, I'm currently away, not back till the 19th and only have the MB pro with me, not ideal, but happy to take a look. Perhaps others here who shoot with the 7D2 may also like to take a look??? Let me know and I will PM my email.

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    Steve, thanks for the response.
    I'll get the changes made and take more pictures over the weekend!

    When you say high ISO are you talking more than 1600 or more than 6400? I try to stay below 1600 as much as I can, but since shutter speed is king (at least for moving wildlife) sometime the ISO needs to go up higher.

    Yes, if you PM me your email, I'd love for you to look at the RAW files. Any suggestions for improvements are welcomed.
    It's little details like the color space you mentioned above that might make all the difference, thanks for pointing that out as well.

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    OK Martin, got the files and there you go, Working Space sRGB, so please change this in your camera. Don't feel too bad, you are the sixth person in 9 weeks here on BPN who has missed this, so changing things will help.

    Talk tomorrow.

    Steve

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    Yeah, that was the first thing I checked when I got home, and fixed it ;)
    Oh, and the CF card is on order too!

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    'Ey up Martin(thought you'ld like a brit greeting) huge apologies i'm last to the party and should have been first,please forgive,much graft getting in the way of real life,my humble aopologies.

    Martin first,there is some wonderful advice here and I see Rachel, Steve, and the guys are doing what they do. Martin i'll never be able to repay what this group have shown me/taught photography wise. You are in the best hands I can only say listen hard ( as you are) and trust them. They will be honest which I have always adored and take you to places that still bewilder me. All the luck in the world with your photography and please let me see more of your hares.

    Martin techs,processing really should come from the group I know how far I am removed from the others here on this side my abilities are lacking,but instantly I noted the ISO I am usually so much higher. It's a lovely image captured mate, the take of the seed head and the open mouth ic really cool ,you a bit more at the bottom,I remember in my post back to you after your kind comments saying about that top line of FP's. Obviously the FP array in the 7Dii might be different to my 1Div,but when they get close,the use of that top line (might be different for you on the ii) is worth investigating methinks. If you spend any length of time close, like I have, with hares you'll also learn much about shifting from landscape to portrait how quick this changes and how oft one gets caught the wrong way round. This I have found incredibly challenging mate coupled with what I call the FP dance ,I feel this is an incredible learning tool.

    Keith mentioned something Martin, how small the ears are compared with our Lepus europeas,our UK brown hare, which actually isn't a native here,been here a goodly while though .I also pick up on the lack of black in those ears and would love to know exactly which species this is. Martin you have jackrabbits that if I recollect correctly are true hares and others called hare which are not,please forgive if i'm incorrect,but this is part of why I have asked for the species specific name ie the latin.

    A great start my friend thank you again for the kind words both in the reply and here,I so hope you stay mate,it's so lovely to see another learning the ropes. I 'm already blown away with this one and know how much you will learn here it is going to be so exciting to watch you move forwards.

    Thank you so much mate, lovely to see this, I'm so desparately sorry so slow in response,I push pretty hard I suppose so not much time of late

    all the luck

    Stu

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    Howdy Stu! Actually I'm born in Austria, so I probably shouldn't use the most american greeting there is ;)

    Don't apologize, we all know how it is. Plus I knew you'd show up eventually!

    I got lucky with the light, I took a bunch of pictures earlier that were all backlit. No keepers there. But then I moved down the trail and the hare followed me.
    So I setup in the right spot and got the whole sun in his face!
    As far as the focus points go, I'd have to look, but he was sitting there for a while, so I might even have recomposed a little with out changing the focus.
    Sometimes I'm surprised how easy it actually is to change the focus point on the 7D2 with the joystick in the back (coming from a mirrorless M3 focus points are a foreign concept).
    Just wanted to be sure the shutter speed was enough, to capture the munching.

    Alright, here in Virginia, we have mostly cottontails (lepus sylvaticus), I don'd think I've seen a jackrabbit since I've been here.
    I use the therm "hare" loosely for any wild rabbit I see, as opposed to caged or pet rabbits.

    Can't wait to get out there again and capture some more of those great creatures!
    Thanks for the comment! Always appreciated!

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