Pied Avocett in flight

[Gerald Kelberg]

Staked out a pond early Saturday morning to try and get some nice Avocett images as they are really quite special birds with a lovely "graphic design". This is probably the best I managed but not really what I had in mind - really wanted images on the water, but they were very skittish, probably especially so because of the juveniles.

ISO was set for earlier in the morning, so a bit too high - meant having to do some NR on the sky background. On the plus side, I am pleased at controlling the whites and I like the full up-stretch of the wing. Bit of cropping, but I think the detail is still good - I don't go for a lot of sharpening.

Technicals: 1D MkIII, 500 f/4 with 1.4 ext, thus 700mm. 1/5000 sec at f/5.6 ISO800
PP: converted in LR2 and some work in CS4 - multiplied layer to get more from whites, Noise Ninja on Sky

Comments welcome along with any suggestions on how to get closer to these little devils!

Gerald

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Good exposure one the white, love the wing details and wing up position. I think the high ISO makes you lost the shadow a bit (less DR). Might try to warm this image a bit.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Gerald. You did very well here. Great wing position and excellent sharpness. Exposure looks quite good for a bird that's challenging to expose properly. I would try to bring out the eye by lightening the blacks around it just a little.

[Nick Palmieri]

Great BIF. Since I am just learning to shoot BIF I appreciate how tough it could be. Nice job!

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanaboon, what do you mean by "I think the high ISO makes you lost the shadow a bit (less DR)."?
Are there more reasons not to use high ISO in addition to that it introduces more noise?
Thanks!
Cheryl

[Harold Davis]

doug nailed it for me. just work the eye for a little more detail. great wing position and some nice details too. you did really well with the exposure!

[David Thomasson]

Nice capture, for all the reasons others have stated. If you set white point on the bird, it'll add a bit of warmth to the whites. In addition to enhancing the eye, adding a gentle gradient to the sky will create more of a sense of depth than you get with an even-toned sky.

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image Gerald. The others have given you good advise and an example of the eye treatment.

I like the body position in the frame. Nice to see it off center, closer to the lower 1/3 area.

Thanks for posting. Nice to see you here. ;)

[Gerald Kelberg]

Thanks for all the positive comments and ideas. Too late to make the adjustments tonight, but certainly will. Like the idea of lightening around the eye - thanks Doug - and I think the gradient is a super simple idea that really makes a big difference away from the boring plain sky - so big thanks also to you David.

Best wishes,

Gerald

[Gerald Kelberg]

Thanks, Mark! Good to be here! See - I'm learning already!!

Best wishes,

Gerald

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Gerald,
I like the capture, love the raised wing position with the fine details...Dave's repost puts it over the top...congrats...:cool:

[Mark Fuge]

Thanks, Mark! Good to be here! See - I'm learning already!!

Best wishes,

Gerald

Knew you would! ;) :D

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Cheryl,
I have read in one of the e-book that your dynamic range (DR) decreases as your ISO goes up.
Dynamic range is the range of brightness that a camera can capture, before you cannot distinguish the details in black or white.
I think noise is the reason why DR decreases when you increase ISO. I did a google search and you can follow the link below for more information on ISO and DR.
http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00DbHu

[Lance Peters]

Davids repost rocks. Pose is spot on - love those wings - Doug nailed the critique.
Looking forward to seeing more :)

[Cheryl Flory]

Thank you, Thanaboon. Your explanation is very helpful.

[Alfred Forns]

Great threat !!!! Lots of good points

One that I think is obvious is how well the eye shows in the re post by David !!! A clearly visible eye is important in bird images !!!

From the tech side I don't think you need that much shutter speed and would have close down one stop !!! ISO was fine and don't hesitate if you need to go up some more !!!