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Thread: Purple Martin flight with dragonfly

  1. #1
    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Default Purple Martin flight with dragonfly

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    This image was created on 29 APR 2020 at Indian Lake Estates, FL. I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 463mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 1250. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2500 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. AWB at 9:15am on a clear morning with just a hint of haze. Center Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed superbly.

    You can learn more about the creation of this image in the Purple Martin with dragonfly Image Optimization. And learning about exposure compromises ... blog post here.

    Many might enjoy the Wind and Sun Together Purple Martin Flight Primer V-log Video here. Thanks to John Mack for suggesting that I create a few V-logs.

    As for the image, please do not be shy. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

    with love, artie
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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    Sweet in flight image of a very tricky subject. Love the pose and prey item. Hanging feet are great. Color from the dragonfly adds a lot. I might be tempted to add a touch more sharpening to the face. Love how the wings are a bit see through. Very cool image. I've been enjoying the vlogs. TFS

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    pretty cool shot Artie I like how we can see the dragon fly clearly, nice wing position. the only issue is that the blacks are totally blocked and have no detail in them. given the ISO and based on my findings this will not be salvageable with the A9II as the camera is quite noisy. I was shooting swallows with mine last week and pretty much deleted all the frames, I had to use a TC and the lens was just too slow...


    TFS
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    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    I was shooting swallows with mine last week and pretty much deleted all the frames, I had to use a TC and the lens was just too slow...


    TFS
    Hi Arash. So...are you using a Sony A9ii/200-600 combo in addition to your Nikon gear? and if so what is your opinion on this combo for bif. Cheers.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=arash_hazeghi;1235843]pretty cool shot Artie I like how we can see the dragonfly clearly, nice wing position. the only issue is that the blacks are totally blocked and have no detail in them. given the ISO and based on my findings this will not be salvageable with the A9II as the camera is quite noisy. I was shooting swallows with mine last week and pretty much deleted all the frames, I had to use a TC and the lens was just too slow... TFS[/QUOTE

    Thanks for your thoughts Arash. In an effort to learn more and possibly develop my eye for fine detail, I have several questions. The image in this pane is a 200% crop of the optimized TIFF file (that was already cropped a bit).

    #1: With the blue-black feathers of the head lit by the sun, do you expect to see detail in the shaded black/blue underwings? My feelings are that sometimes black is actually black.

    #2: Where are you seeing noise?

    #3: Are you seeing color noise (I do see some of that on the bird's breast)?

    #4: Are you seeing luminance noise? (I am not seeing much if any of that.)

    thanks with love, artie
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Great wing spread and nice to see the prey item.
    And it is always a good day to get a sharp swallow image!
    I have to agree with Arash that the blacks are blocked and would lift them a bit,
    Gail

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    Hi Artie, lovely capture. The wings are spread just about perfect, the dragnonfly in the mouth, hanging feet all create a very dynamic image. Thank you for sharing.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

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    A super dynamic pose with the dragon fly! I like the wing spread and comp.

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    [QUOTE=Arthur Morris;1235852]
    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    pretty cool shot Artie I like how we can see the dragonfly clearly, nice wing position. the only issue is that the blacks are totally blocked and have no detail in them. given the ISO and based on my findings this will not be salvageable with the A9II as the camera is quite noisy. I was shooting swallows with mine last week and pretty much deleted all the frames, I had to use a TC and the lens was just too slow... TFS[/QUOTE

    Thanks for your thoughts Arash. In an effort to learn more and possibly develop my eye for fine detail, I have several questions. The image in this pane is a 200% crop of the optimized TIFF file (that was already cropped a bit).

    #1: With the blue-black feathers of the head lit by the sun, do you expect to see detail in the shaded black/blue underwings? My feelings are that sometimes black is actually black.

    #2: Where are you seeing noise?

    #3: Are you seeing color noise (I do see some of that on the bird's breast)?

    #4: Are you seeing luminance noise? (I am not seeing much if any of that.)

    thanks with love, artie

    Hey Artie,

    1. yes we should see a lot more detail in the blacks, the original should have been exposed a bit more to bring out these details, the image doesn't have much highlights are brights sports so I would personally expose at least a stop more. the color of blacks is good it's just that they don't have any details
    2 and 3. as posted there is no visible noise at all, but if you were to raise the exposure say by 1-2 stops to get detail out of those blacks it will become too noisy is what i was saying

    cheers
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Burdett View Post
    Hi Arash. So...are you using a Sony A9ii/200-600 combo in addition to your Nikon gear? and if so what is your opinion on this combo for bif. Cheers.
    yes I own the sony as well, I will publish my impressions at some point
    New! Sony Capture One Pro Guide 2022
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    Thank you Arash...looking forward to your opinions. Cheers.

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Getting a Martin with a bug is a feat! Not easy.. Getting a Martin with a bug in perfect exposure is
    a 1 in a million chance.
    I will cut anyone slack for not getting exposure perfect in a shot like this.
    Dan Kearl

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    I like the dangling feet, sharpness, wing position and the dragonfly really makes the image. Very well done Arthur.

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    hi Arthur, it's a very difficult kind, congralutations.

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    The pose is nice and of course the dragonfly.

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