Playtime - House Sparrow

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks:

Put Gina on the plane for England this afternoon, splurged on some Ice Cream and played around with a sparrow photo I took this morning.

Comments always welcome & warmly appreciated.

Uncle Gus aka Mad Artist :eek:

#1 Original Cropped & resized.

Olympus E-520 IS, Zuiko 70-300ED @600 mm HH
Aperture Priority

F/5.6, 1/160s, IS) 200, 0.00eV, Auto WB

[Gus Hallgren]

#2: Changed BG using CS4

[Gus Hallgren]

#3; Aged using ACDSee Photo Manager 2009

[Cheryl Flory]

Gus, how did you change the background in CS4?

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Gus,
Did you use a TC to convert the 300mm lens to 600mm or is this crop factor in the camera?

Nice shot, I love the sparrows. Maybe more ISO could have increased shutter velocity (always easy to say after the fact). Was the weather overcast and did you consider flash. I am experimenting more and more with TTL since working with Al and Fabs. Anyway, a beautiful baby thanks for sharing and I like the habitat background in #1.

I noticed auto WB, I use this setting most of the time. I wonder, do you change this (sunny, cloudy etc.) or play with in post production?

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Cheryl:

I mentioned how I did it a couple of posts back
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=37117

Any questions, feel free to email me

Uncle Gus

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Jeff

Olympus cameras have built-in IS, and lens have a factor of 2, this lens with a 1.4 TC will give you an equivlent of 840 mm. I always consider Fill flash with my TTL, Living at 3000' surounded by mountains, 2 peaks over 9000' there seems to be a golden moment for flash light for the 30 to 40 minutes before the sun works it way over the mountains.

You have picked the best with the Maestro and the Wizard of artistry to guide you in your pursuit of excellence. IMHO, you often get more value than the year's paltry fee in one set of crtiques from the kind Guru's of BPN.

Keep up the good work, your refreshing active desire to learn will definitely pay off.

Smiling

Uncle Gus

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Gus I like the original best I think the bg is so neat and unusual .... at least for me :)

.... flash wise I would hide it at that time unless you have the slightest of fill in !! Does tend to overpower the sweet soft light !!!!

When you were describing your place I was reaching for a bag to pack and relocate !!:) Wishing Gina a safe trip to the Continent !!!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Gus,

Thank you for the kind words. I learn from BPN every day, you have been very helpful as well. Your home sounds great. Of course, one more question so I can learn. When you use flash, is it usually hi-synch and TTL as opposed to manual (hope that makes sense).
Thank you sir,

Best, J$

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Jeff

TTL

UG

[Harold Davis]

UG, the first works best for me! the bg adds a lot of interest for me and the others with the clean bg look too sterile. there does seem to be a magenta color cast in the first one?

[denise ippolito]

Gus, Another vote for #1. Well seen w/ the cactus!

[Gus Cobos]

Uncle Gus,
your first one takes the ticket...I like it...good show...:cool:

[Dave Phillips]

Hi Gus, #1 definitely best presentation IMO.
I would like to take a closer look at your overall exposure and PP.
Looking at the histogram, the image is all stacked in the middle. By extending
the range wider, you can gain some more range and detail. Also did a bit of saturation
increase and applied Unsharp Mask(USM) for local contrast enhancement @ 6/50/0
and then a bit of selective sharpening
on feet and body. I hope you can see the difference and it meets with
your approval

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks:

Thanks for looking at my Sparrow, appreciate all your comments, and redo by Dave.

Keep smiling

Uncle Gus