Getting Better with SONY?

[Arthur Morris]

Great Egret in breeding plumage/head portrait

This image was created at Gatorland on Sunday, March 17, 2019. I used the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens (at 400mm) and the beyond remarkable Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless Digital Camera.ISO: 800. Highlight metering with faint Zebras: 1/320 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode.

To learn more about this image and lots more about SONY -- both good and bad -- see the blog post here.

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome.

with love, artie

[dankearl]

Looks very nice...Whites look as good as possible if this in sunlight. (top of head and shoulder pretty maxed out).
A bit of noise in BG (you probably didn't bother to clean up).
Colors are terrific (especially the eye and bill).
I would not know what camera, lens, etc unless you told me.

[annmpacheco]

Hey Artie, the details that are there are tops, and i was wondering why the top of the head and shoulder lost detail? dof? please enlighten. And kudos for you trying and liking your new Sony.

[Raybel Robles]

Great details on the whites, except on the top of the head and shoulder as mentioned above, but not a deal breaker since most of the bird shows great fine details. I do agree about the BG been to noisy, easy fix. Composition is superb.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Yuup, couldn't tell it from a Nikon. Thank you for sharing, Artie.

[John Mack]

Nice bird with a nice pose. The details looks very nice.

[Isaac Grant]

Nice white whites and details. Close bird at close range so hard to tell anything really about the details with sony vs nikon. I viewed this 3 times and am not 100% on my thoughts on it. But I think I am not a fan of all of the green obstructing the views of the bird. But there is something nice about the out of focus stuff clearing into the nice white and detailed bird and how the colors work together. So I guess I am 50/50 on it. Whites on the top of the head and wings are too hot.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the composition and I quite like the OOF foliage. I clicked the links but they didn't work. I don't know what zebras are (perhaps blinkies?) I don't know what the aperture was but it looks like a little smaller would have been optimal and I would also lower the brightest highlights. Sounds a little critical but I do like the image, I am not too sure why you ask getting better what was wrong?

[Arthur Morris]

Ann and Dan, The WHITEs on the top of the head in the master file are about 238. Even on cloudy days light has direction. This the top of the head was getting more light than the sides of the face. As many here know, I am never a stickler for detail in softly lit WHITEs. Rather than bring the WHITEs on the top of head down to the mid-220s using the Highlight Slider I opted for what to me is a more natural realistic look :)


with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

I like the composition and I quite like the OOF foliage. I clicked the links but they didn't work. I don't know what zebras are (perhaps blinkies?) I don't know what the aperture was but it looks like a little smaller would have been optimal and I would also lower the brightest highlights. Sounds a little critical but I do like the image, I am not too sure why you ask getting better what was wrong?

Me too on the o-o-f foliage. I fixed the link to the blog post. Zebras are blinks that you see BEFORE you press the shutter button. What was wrong -- when you switch systems (or experiment with a new one as I am doing with SONY), the learning curve is quite steep. And SONY mirrorless is a whole new concept. When you look through the viewfinder you are not seeing the bird. You are seeing pixels! Try that on for size. My greatest confidence is still with my Nikon gear ....\

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

Nice white whites and details. Close bird at close range so hard to tell anything really about the details with sony vs nikon. I viewed this 3 times and am not 100% on my thoughts on it. But I think I am not a fan of all of the green obstructing the views of the bird. But there is something nice about the out of focus stuff clearing into the nice white and detailed bird and how the colors work together. So I guess I am 50/50 on it. Whites on the top of the head and wings are too hot.

Thanks for commenting tin Isaac. The brightest WHITEs on the top of the head are 248,248,248 and on the wing are right at 220. So what means "too hot"?

with love, artie

[Isaac Grant]

Whatever the numbers are, there are still no details on the top of the head or the wing. They are high enough to not have details in the whites. That is what hot means.