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Thread: Great Tit (Parus major)

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Default Great Tit (Parus major)

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    A dull and miserable lock down day, image taken from my garden hide.

    Olympus E-M1X
    Lens focal length : 300 mm
    Focal length in 35 mm film : 601.0mm
    Exposure mode : Manual exposure
    ISO Sensitivity : 1600
    Exposure compensation : 0.0 EV
    Shutter : 1/400 sec
    Aperture : F5.6

    LR/TopazDNAI/PSCC

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    Love seeing these birds on here. A nice pose and a nice perch. Detail on the bird looks quite nice.

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    Hi Jonathan. Another very nice image! Excellent pose, HA, perch and BG. Just wondering if it needs a little brightness to the overall image? I've been watching another Australian photographer recently who makes a valid point about having more dof in order to get the tail in focus. I'm fine with yours as is, but wonder if you had used say f8 then the tail would not be oof. WDYT?

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Such a sweet little bird.
    Nice head turn and good look at the feet.
    It would be nice to have the tail in focus but even at f9 , the tail would still be out of DOF but perhaps a bit clearer as you had the 300mm lens out.
    Looks like you were struggling for light but your F stop and SS. Agree with Paul that maybe 1/3 stop of exposure increase might look good.
    Good clean BG with soft muted colors.
    Because this is a set-up, I would have liked to see a branch that does not have the end bluntly broken. I spend hours looking for the perfect perch and then more hours hoping the bird lands at the "perfect" spot. But when in lockdown
    we have all the time in the world!
    Gail

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Paul, Gail, thanks for your comments. I posted as is because it reflects the gloomy low light we are currently experiencing here, it is dull grey and most days now it also rains. The aperture is always a topic for debate, f5.6 on a 4:3 camera equates to about f8 in full frame terms, the 300mm lens equates to 600mm so the DOF at this distance (i.e. magnification) is going to be somewhat limited. The tail in or out of focus doesn't really concern me too much - as I mentioned previously the main point of interest is the head and if you were to look at a bird it is unlikely you would be able to concentrate on the head and tail simultaneously. If the tail was in focus what would really be gained, I am sure it would just to be to say , "tail's in focus!" To get the two in focus would be a mixture of smaller aperture and orientation. I don't like to go much below f8 because diffraction will start to rear it's ugly head, I prefer f5.6 and maybe adjust the perch angle a little (or my seating position) or simply move the perch slightly further away to reduce magnification.
    I will be putting up different perches and I will have to move the feeding station intermittently to avoid a build up of pathogens in one particular area.
    Last edited by Jonathan Ashton; 01-14-2021 at 09:30 AM.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Morning Jon, I do like the content & framing, the Great Tit IMHO gave you a nice head turn too.

    I know light isn't on our side currently, but I do find it a bit 'sooty' and I'm not referring to Contrast, more that they image has a slight masking to my eye, concealing the colours. Now I know you like to 'fiddle' as you put it in our conversations, however, I do think you are perhaps missing something, but without knowing the WF on this it's hard to say, albeit I might have on negative on one slider? Now I see you have paid attention to the legs in terms of values, but to me the yellow is carrying a red 'hue' (and not not related to the slider) and also please don't say you made a grab for the Vibrancy slider... I think you had a bit more to the right on that Histogram.

    The DoF looks bang on, but agree that as this is a set-up the end of the perch is not great, as any set-up in it's own words should be perfect, with no distracting elements, the ideal perch, distance and DoF.

    I just wonder Jon, a hint of opening up the shadows a fraction, using an Channel Curve, lightening the image (NOT via exposure) and addressing the yellows may help? Just some thoughts if you are bolstering the folder for the RPS dinosaurs.

    Hope you have more success today.

    TFS
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Morning Jon, I do like the content & framing, the Great Tit IMHO gave you a nice head turn too.

    I know light isn't on our side currently, but I do find it a bit 'sooty' and I'm not referring to Contrast, more that they image has a slight masking to my eye, concealing the colours. Now I know you like to 'fiddle' as you put it in our conversations, however, I do think you are perhaps missing something, but without knowing the WF on this it's hard to say, albeit I might have on negative on one slider? Now I see you have paid attention to the legs in terms of values, but to me the yellow is carrying a red 'hue' (and not not related to the slider) and also please don't say you made a grab for the Vibrancy slider... I think you had a bit more to the right on that Histogram.

    The DoF looks bang on, but agree that as this is a set-up the end of the perch is not great, as any set-up in it's own words should be perfect, with no distracting elements, the ideal perch, distance and DoF.

    I just wonder Jon, a hint of opening up the shadows a fraction, using an Channel Curve, lightening the image (NOT via exposure) and addressing the yellows may help? Just some thoughts if you are bolstering the folder for the RPS dinosaurs.

    Hope you have more success today.

    TFS
    Steve
    Agreed on most points.... here's a repost I have addressed the "sooty" and possibly any red you saw. Whilst I appreciate set ups should be pretty darned good I don't altogether subscribe to "perfect" because visually/compositionally perfect set ups usually do look like "set ups".

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    here's a repost I have addressed the "sooty" and possibly any red you saw. Whilst I appreciate set ups should be pretty darned good I don't altogether subscribe to "perfect" because visually/compositionally perfect set ups usually do look like "set ups".
    Better overall, but the yellow..., however how far do we go?

    Vibrance - Just don't always go to that slider Jon as a first port of call, 'need to be more astute' - you said it Jon, but now you know the options available to you.

    I was referring to the perch & location Jon, no way can you plan for the subject, just like animals, they will always do, or go to the wrong spot as you know only too well. I do think having that lighter backdrop creates a nice separation
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    All you needed was some rain, Jonathan. I like the original post. Having not seen this bird in person, I did a bit of research, and from what I can see the Great Tit seems to have fairly muted colors. Under the overcast I would agree the OP is quite accurate. I also like what Steve reposted, and your last repost.

    Geoffrey




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