Hi Hazel. I don't mind the blue sky, although I might be tempted to tone it down just a bit. I like the similar wing positions of the two birds. I wish they were a little sharper; 1/200 is pretty slow for flight. I typically do flight photography at ISO 400 or higher; ISO 400 would have given you 1/800 shutter speed. I'd also like to see a better angle of light. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the input. I'm still studying the iso thing. I had thought that 100 would be for a bright sunny day, which this was, but there is a relationship with speed that I have to get the feel for.
Similar poses are interesting and stand out well against the blue. Blue looks a little more saturated than I can recall seeing in nature so may be worth trying a slightly desaturated version. I agree with Doug re sharpness - pushing your ISO to 400 as a starting point gives more latitude for adjusting aperture (to control DOF) and shutter speed (to freeze motion blur) ISO, aperture and SS are all interdependant and we need to select the variables to achieve the comnpromise that best suits our image. Was this framed as a vertical or is a significant crop? cropping also introduces softness which may be a factor here. Have tried a version desaturating the blues 20 points and dodging the darker areas - how does it look to you?
Excellent advice form Doug and Tony. For any type of bird photography I don't remember the last time I used ISO 100, even for static subjects, even in sunlight. Today's dSLRs offer exceptional IQ even at ISO 400 therefore I find it a non-issue and almost always keep it there...ready for the unexpected action sequences I may encounter.
I'm also curious about the cropping. If originally a horizontal perhaps an alternate horizontal crop (with more room at left)would work better as I feel the far bird is awkwardly placed in the frame. It has nowhere to go and cramped against the frame.
synchronized gulls
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote