Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Veterans Oasis Park (Chandler, Arizona)
I love the action but the photo seems way off quality wise. I have serveral pictures of this same type and they look about the same. I am not sure if the problem is in the capture or post processing.
The sun was about an hour from sunset yet quite bright. My shadow was to the right of the shot. I moved a bit as my earlier shots failed to get eyes in both birds.
1/3200 at f5.6 and ISO800 +2/3 EC
Bigma at 313mm
Canon 40D
I shot at 313mm because I wanted to get the action in the frame when earlier shots at 500mm was clipping the wings of the incoming adult. This left the birds smaller in the frame for a bigger crop. I was at EC +2/3 thinking I would get more detail in the darks. The birds are almost the same color as the sky.
I cropped at the following ratio (in pixels). Orginal = 3888 x 2592 = 10,077,696. Cropped = 2149 x 1433 = 3,079,517. So about a 30% crop (crop / original) = 31%
Focusing issues when it looks like the brids are at their sharpest, ther is a focus ring around the birds. I don't remember having this issue before. And not sure how to handle it. I am also disappointed at the muddiness look of the underwing.
I will have another opportunity for feeding shots the next couple evenings as I have located the feeding tree and know the feeding behavior. I am looking for suggestions to improve my technique. This is too good an opportunity to mess up again.
Thanks in advance and I listen to any / all advice
Hi Scott. This is an excellent capture of the swallows feeding! I agree with your self-critique as far as the image being "muddy". It is a tad underexposed and seems to have a slight green/yellow cast.
I took the liberty of doing a curves and color balance adjustment and adding a bit of sharpening to it. What do you think? :) I may have thrown the sky color off a bit (probably needs a shot of red), but I did this really quickly to give you the idea...
Thanks Kelly the color is more natural and sharpening is improved. I'm thinking the muddiness is due to the 30% crop? I am able to get within 20 yards of the birds and will go back to 500mm and work really really hard on getting it all in the frame.
First of all great action shot, nice job, clean background and perch. IMO, I like the +2/3. I have been trying to move my histograms more to the right. I read that most digital camera sensors can record about six "stops " of dynamic range from pure black to pure white. The article continues to say, 75% of the levels of tonality that an image holds are within the brightest two stops (Outdoor Photography - Canada - Spring). Hence, the plus EV helps in this regards, assuming you do not clip the right axis.
I do not fully understand the focussing issues, could you elaborate more?
I do not like to use ISO above 600 with my 40D, but thats probably just me. Kerry's repost brings out the detail you preserved with the nice exposure setting. This is a very nice nature shot. Do you have a post production workflow? For example: Crop, Optimize Contrast & Detail, Color Balance, Cleanup, Noise Reduction & Sharpening (just an example). Al and other moderators can help out big time with this. I purchased "Digital Basics"' and it really helped me, great reference book. Then, you can ensure all the critical steps needed to optimize your great photography have been addressed. When you post again, spell out the workflow. Sometimes missing or not correctly sequencing events can affect outcomes.
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 05-30-2009 at 05:27 PM.
Love the action - agree its a little under - use your histogram and get data into the last box on the right
IMHO - The shot you want here is just before they start feeding - Bird on the branch with its beak open - mummy bird just about to go into the open beak - will give more separation between the heads and make it easier to see straight away whats going on.
Like the composition - like the action - looking forward to seeing more :)
The first thing I would try is looking at the histogram I'm guessing its a little under At this time of day the compensation should be over one and at times closer to two !!! Kerry did well in opening the image but brings out a bunch of problem which degrade quality. Jeff has the key Move the histogram to the right Make sure you have data on the last box to the right
The use of fill flash will help with sharpness but it all depend on your shutter speed setting, if you go high like you did here don't even bother since it will not reach. Try a couple at 1,000 and do some fill flash. Either way will be tough to stop the wing motion !!!
Stopping down to eight will give you a little edge in getting the eye sharp but need to have both in the same plane which is just luck !!!
Hope you have a favorable wind for your next try which is the key for nailing one of these image !!!!
I had some better luck on the technicals tonight by trying to stay around f8 with ISO 400 -- that put the shutter speed at 1/1000 to 1/2000 a second. I used the full 500mm and with the bird bigger in the frame I had much better luck. Seems like a bold move to be going plus 1-2 full ECs in bright light but will be checking my histogram tomorrow night.
However, as luck would have it, I was unable to get the eyes of both birds and with the shots I did get there was no catchlight. The birds seem really cooperative and I will try again tomorrow night. Its really fun shooting these guys and I seem to be zeroing in on the technique.
Jeff makes a good point here. Fact is, the last box on the right of the histogram is where 50% of the detail in your capture will be. The next box to the left will have 25%, hence the number of 75% in the two right-most boxes. Walking the tightrope between nothing in the right box and blown hightlights is the difficult dance of digital, but when you nail it - it is like magic.
Hi Kerry,
I like the captured action...I agree with the techs. and the advise given...I would like to see something in between your first and the repost...looking forward to your next one...:cool:
Swallow Feeding
