First Flyer: Tell Me About The Bird; Ignore the Background :-)

[Jay Gould]

Where we are in Australia we are getting beat up by incredible storms and tides. Ran out today in between storms as I had to play with new toys - received the 2X extender yesterday. Handling that 300 is going to take some getting used to; most of the time I thought I was point at a bird - "where did it go"?

My wife thought it was hysterical watching me move the lens around trying to catch the smaller birds even when they were sort of stalled in the wind.

I think I am going to stick to slower bigger birds - pelicans - you are going to see lots of pelican images ;)

I know there isn't enough space in front of the bird; cropped our a tall yellow post at the edge of the LHS.

C&Cs welcome!

Camera: 40D
Capture date/time: 23 May; 34pm
Lens: EF 300 f/2.8
Extender: 2X II
Flash/Comp: none
ISO: 800
Mode: AV
Speed: 1/800
Aperture: f/10
Exp Comp: none
Metering: Evaluative
WB: Auto
AF Drive: AI Servo AF

Did some minor PP in LR2.

[Alfred Forns]

Jay the bird is sharp and well exposed I like seeing the back side Lens worked mighty fine with the 2X and you were able to stay with the bird and not the bg !!! Really good !!

Best to capture with a clean bg and have more room in from but I'm sure you were more interested in testing seeing if you could make the image !!! Can start thinking of bg and bird placement now :) Doing well Jay !!! btw tech wise you don't really need to stop down and if hand holding would much rather see a higher shutter speed !!! Metering wise you did make a good expose but manual would be preferred in this situation ... changing bg but bird in same light !!!!

[Mark Fuge]

Jay,

I like the bird, but not the composition and background. But as you ruled out comments on the background I would suggest you open up the area in front of the bird. I know this is a flight shot and you get what you get, That said, I would recommend that you want to have room for the bird into fly. I start with a minimum 2x the area behind the bird.

I would also crop the right side of the image a little. He's been there and won't go back, so no need to show that. ;)

I would add a little top and bottom as both are tight, in my view.

I would also check your bluish color cast on the white areas of the bird.

See attached possible composition for future reference.

You could also reclone the background and make this one work! ;) :D

Nice shot though. If you delete the background and open it up.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Jay. Handholding the bigger glass is indeed a challenge, but I know you are up to the task. Good job of capturing this one! I might also be tempted to shoot at f/5.6 with this setup, but the added DOF is nice. Al has the techs covered...

My wife gets a kick out me trying to shoot swallows in flight with the 400mm! One thing I've started doing is keeping my left eye open and sighting down the barrel of the lens to get a better idea of where to point it. Helps but sometimes they are just too "flighty". ;) I like the pelicans, looking forward to more.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Jay,
Congrats on the capture hand holding the 300mm...:cool: Your bird is tack sharp, I agree with the good advise given, would also like to see more room to the left of your subject...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Lance Peters]

All tech points covered above Jay - Just keep practicing :)

[Jay Gould]

Hi All and thanks for the C&Cs; as Lance says, I am having fun in the great out doors!

Agree that f/5.6 would have been a better choice and would have give me a faster shutter speed.

But as you ruled out comments on the background I would suggest you open up the area in front of the bird.

Mark, not ruled out; just knew it was crap the moment I saw the image! Agree with your comments.

I would also check your bluish color cast on the white areas of the bird.

How do I remove? In the original image the highlights were blow out and using the recovery slider in LR2 I eliminated the blown highlights. How do I - in PS - eliminate the blue color cast?

Glad the image is tack sharp - that was most important to see if I could accomplish that as a first step. I will tell you that I shot 111 images and this is the one "sort of" keeper!

As an aside, my brother wrote the following after reviewing this thread:

I'm very impressed with the BPN group that is giving you so much support. Forns is clearly a heavy hitter: your NANPA stuff arrived and the 2009 Expressions book has a lot of images from him.

I haven't met any of you yet; love you all - thanks for your assistance.

:D:D

[Mark Fuge]

[quote=Jay Gould;264970]Hi All and thanks for the C&Cs; as Lance says, I am having fun in the great out doors!

Agree that f/5.6 would have been a better choice and would have give me a faster shutter speed.

That and it will provide a shallower DOF, for the background.

Mark, not ruled out; just knew it was crap the moment I saw the image! Agree with your comments.

Understand... I've been there and done that! :D Just didn't want to hit you again with the obvious. Also understand how it is to try to shoot flight images, as I am still working on those as well. It's a lot easier when their talons are nailed to a tree! ;)

How do I remove? In the original image the highlights were blow out and using the recovery slider in LR2 I eliminated the blown highlights. How do I - in PS - eliminate the blue color cast?

In PS Elements, under Enhance/Adjust Color/Color Cast, you use the eyedropper to pick a non white, gray or black area of the image and click. The color will go way off. Then you click the eyedropper on a white, gray, or black area until it snaps back to the right colors. It is very easy and direct. I don't have PS yet, so if it is different one of the PSers will have to chime in for us.

Given that you indicated that you corrected a blown out area, it might not be possible to recover it. But others here may have a solution. I have a simllar image of a night heron that I shot years ago, with my 300L/2.0x/1.4x combo. Perfect shot, but the digital image as the blue cast from digitizing. You get what you pay for and I tried to get an inexpensive scan from a local outlet. Now I go with quality to get quality. Lesson learned. :o


Glad the image is tack sharp - that was most important to see if I could accomplish that as a first step. I will tell you that I shot 111 images and this is the one "sort of" keeper!

You could save it for a momento, and maybe get rid of the background all together. Paint it black or some complimentary color just to save it for personal enjoyment. It is afterall the start of your success at "on the wing" photography! ;)

As an aside, my brother wrote the following after reviewing this thread:

I agree with your bother. I've learned a lot and hope I've helped a lot as well.

I haven't met any of you yet; love you all - thanks for your assistance.

That's what we are here for, give and get to learn from others mistakes and not so. Thanks for participating and helping in areas of your expertise.