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Thread: a near perfect skimmer frame?

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    Default a near perfect skimmer frame?

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    In my quest to get the ideal skimmer frame with a non typical water BG I came up with this frame today. I guess it could have a long fish to top it off but until then this fits the bill



    Shot with my A9II and 600 GM + TC 2X at 1200mm. ISO-2000 f/8 at 1/4000 sec. hand held. processed with C1P 20. This is a vertical crop from a full frame horizontal image. Typically it's very difficult, if not impossible, to center such large bird in the frame without clipping one of the wings with such a tight room on both ends. This is possible with the Sony however, because of two factors a) black-out free finder that allows for real time tracking, somewhat like video-taping without any interruption. B)The light weight lens and relatively thin 2X TC (much thinner than Canon's) that keeps center of mass close to the body. At this locations the skimmer will not come close so the long focal length is necessary.
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    Looks really good Arash. Still think you got this shot with a drone. Bird just happened to look up to see where the noise was coming from. 🤣👌

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Ari, a fine Skimmer! Congrats.

    It appears there is maybe some masking remnants or halos around the tip of the bottom wing? I'm still on my Macbook until new NEC adapter comes so can't see large.

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    Wow Arash! This is superb.
    Not much else to say re; IQ and sharpness. The light is beautiful as well.
    I, too, see what Brian sees around the bottom of the wing. I would also blend in the edges of the grass that comes up from the bottom of the frame and intersects with the wing.
    Gail

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    Thanks guys I see the masking halo thanks for pointing out
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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Really sweet... perfect pose.
    Dan Kearl

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    Your efforts paid off beautifully, Arash. Great light and very nice background.


    Geoffrey




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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    This is a lovely image that puts a smile on my face ... When I switched from Nikon to SONY for even better AF Arassh had some rather unflattering things to say about SONY. Scroll down here for an exact quote. Most gear in Arash's hands is great for flight photography because of his superior skills and his superior strength, hand-eye coordination, stamina, and determination. That said, for me, the SONY system is the best I have ever used by far. Even I have made some good flight images at 1200mm with SONY, on the tripod of course.

    I did not see the masking error until I brought the image into Photoshop for some background smoothing. But now I can see it in the original post. You guys and gals have great eyes! I cleaned that up as well.

    with love, artie

    ps: SONY folks should be sure to see the SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman.
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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    This is a lovely image that puts a smile on my face ... When I switched from Nikon to SONY for even better AF Arassh had some rather unflattering things to say about SONY. Scroll down here for an exact quote. Most gear in Arash's hands is great for flight photography because of his superior skills and his superior strength, hand-eye coordination, stamina, and determination. That said, for me, the SONY system is the best I have ever used by far. Even I have made some good flight images at 1200mm with SONY, on the tripod of course.

    I did not see the masking error until I brought the image into Photoshop for some background smoothing. But now I can see it in the original post. You guys and gals have great eyes! I cleaned that up as well.

    with love, artie

    ps: SONY folks should be sure to see the SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman.
    Hey Artie,
    at that time I had only tried the A7 cameras, which IMO, are not great or even quite usable for taking in-flight photos of dynamic subjects . The finder lag, rolling shutter, banding noise with e shutter and poor ergonomics really hold it back. I'd rather be shooting with D850 than the A7 cameras. And I do believe the Sony 200-600 is pretty much a pile of junk next to the Nikon 500 PF...heavy, pretty bad bokeh, mediocre sharpness, significant focus breathing, slow to focus etc. etc. What I hadn't tried was the Sony A9 II and the 600GM which is a very powerful combination and the only Sony gear that I would recommend any way. Sony needs to fill in the holes in their system as of now since the minimum ticket to entry is almost 18 grand.

    for stationary subjects and shooting off a tripod Sony hardly makes any difference to Nikon and Canon in my hands at least. they all get the job done superbly and the weight doesn't matter as much.
    Last edited by arash_hazeghi; 06-17-2020 at 12:55 PM.
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    Fantastic Arash interesting info always like the technical side. Great shot over the top nothing to add TFS

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    This is indeed a very fine skimmer shot. No nits from me. Congratulations.

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    Arash:

    Really is a perfect dorsal pose from this fellow. Appreciate your equip. thoughts as well. I won't be switching from Nikon, but will look forward to the Z9 when it comes up as an A9II competitor.

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    Looks perfect to me as do all your other frames. Nice vertical framing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    Hey Artie, at that time I had only tried the A7 cameras, which IMO, are not great or even quite usable for taking in-flight photos of dynamic subjects . The finder lag, rolling shutter, banding noise with e shutter and poor ergonomics really hold it back. I'd rather be shooting with D850 than the A7 cameras. And I do believe the Sony 200-600 is pretty much a pile of junk next to the Nikon 500 PF...heavy, pretty bad bokeh, mediocre sharpness, significant focus breathing, slow to focus etc. etc. What I hadn't tried was the Sony A9 II and the 600GM which is a very powerful combination and the only Sony gear that I would recommend any way. Sony needs to fill in the holes in their system as of now since the minimum ticket to entry is almost 18 grand. For stationary subjects and shooting off a tripod Sony hardly makes any difference to Nikon and Canon in my hands at least. they all get the job done superbly and the weight doesn't matter as much.
    Thanks for getting back to me, Arash. When you made your comment, you were not at all specific; you trashed SONY in general. I disagree with you on the 200-600 but only 100%. And a7r iv files blow away even D850 files for static subjects. Not everyone who photographs birds shoots birds in flight almost exclusively. Much of my photography involves clean, tight and graphic while working at 1200mm. As we both know, if you want a real piece of garbage folks should purchase the Nikon TC-E20 (their 2x teleconverter). Have you done any flight photography with the 600 VR/2X TC?

    with love and respect, a
    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.

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Thanks for getting back to me, Arash. When you made your comment, you were not at all specific; you trashed SONY in general. I disagree with you on the 200-600 but only 100%. And a7r iv files blow away even D850 files for static subjects. Not everyone who photographs birds shoots birds in flight almost exclusively. Much of my photography involves clean, tight and graphic while working at 1200mm. As we both know, if you want a real piece of garbage folks should purchase the Nikon TC-E20 (their 2x teleconverter). Have you done any flight photography with the 600 VR/2X TC?

    with love and respect, a
    Hey Arie


    yes I did use the Nikon 2X it wasn't good, but neither is my sony 200-600. I have been using the Nikon 500PF + Nikon 1.4X TC which is pretty tack sharp and blows the sony zoom out of the water any day in my hands in terms of IQ. it's much lighter too. you know that I am very particular about sharpness and 200-600 does not quite cut it for me. I remember you used to swear by the sharpness of the old old canon 400 DO MK I whereas to yours truly it was pretty much the same as the glass in the bottom of a coke bottle :)


    I agree A7R4 probably works fine for static subjects and with sharp optics delivers great looking files, but so does Nikon D850. I bet you won't be able to difference after processing the files. Plus the D850 does the action stuff much better. Without the A9 series SONY system would be dead in the water and pretty much as useless for someone like me who likes to shoot lots of intense action. It's amazing how this one camera changed everything.....I also like that it is priced right too, pretty sure i will never spend 7K on a DSLR again.


    maybe some of the A9 technology will make it to the A7 series down the road at which point it becomes a more compelling option for those looking at overall system

    cheers
    Last edited by arash_hazeghi; 06-18-2020 at 04:29 PM.
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    BPN Member Volkan Akgul's Avatar
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    hi Arash, this much! applause...

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    Arash, The Bokeh here (as I believe that you are mistakenly calling here, in other threads, and it in assorted e-mails) is less than ideal. That is why I smoothed the background in my repost and followed Gail's suggestion on the grass blades at the bottom of the frame. Now there is nothing wrong with the Boken of the 600 GMN/2X TC. The problems with the background here have everything to do with the distance from the bird to the background ...

    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.

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Arash, The Bokeh here (as I believe that you are mistakenly calling here, in other threads, and it in assorted e-mails) is less than ideal. That is why I smoothed the background in my repost and followed Gail's suggestion on the grass blades at the bottom of the frame. Now there is nothing wrong with the Boken of the 600 GMN/2X TC. The problems with the background here have everything to do with the distance from the bird to the background ...

    with love, artie
    actually the original BG looked better to me, I don't like blueing the BG's because I can tell it's a blur and not natural (to my eye). I like to have a bit of texture but not a harsh BG.

    when I talk about bokeh I mean the rendering fo the OOF shapes when we shoot the same subject from the same distance with the same BG behind it with different lenses. Of course the farther the BG, the smoother it will be but that's not what I was talking about

    cheers
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    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    actually the original BG looked better to me, I don't like blueing the BG's because I can tell it's a blur and not natural (to my eye). I like to have a bit of texture but not a harsh BG.

    when I talk about bokeh I mean the rendering fo the OOF shapes when we shoot the same subject from the same distance with the same BG behind it with different lenses. Of course the farther the BG, the smoother it will be but that's not what I was talking about

    cheers
    The BKGR in the repost here looked exactly like the BGKRs in the two images that you e-mailed me where the BKGR was much farther from the subject. Those you liked. Once you have your mind made up on something the deal is done.

    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.

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    The BKGR in the repost here looked exactly like the BGKRs in the two images that you e-mailed me where the BKGR was much farther from the subject. Those you liked. Once you have your mind made up on something the deal is done.

    with love, artie
    I like all of them as they come out of camera but I don’t like them when they are blurred in photoshop ;) it could be a close BG or a farther BG as long as the lens can render it softly.

    I will do a bokeh controller test between the Prime and the Zoom to (At the same aperture) to show the difference maybe I am just imagining things ;)
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