I captured a couple of hundred images over three outings at one of the local lagoons of our Darters (Anhinga melanogaster - aka snakebirds) flying over me. I think this is the only one I would really keep. The top wing was just clipped on the edge and I added 200 pixels of canvas above. I didn't feel the need to add the tips, they look real enough. WHat do you think?
This is a female. And she is as gorgeous as...... ;)
Captured on 4/26 at 16:43.
30D, 300/4L and 1.4x, ISO800, manual mode, f/6.3, 1/1600th, zero EC, no flash. Minimal PP. 80% of FF.
Great wing spread and nice light on the eye. While the quality of the light is good, the angle makes for some dark shadows. I'd try to bring out a bit more shadow detail.
Great pose and nice species ad detail. I love the spread of the wings and the great detail on the dark areas, although a think that the brighter areas ar a tad hot and IMO a little less contrast might help recover these areas without loosing any detail in the dark ones. Nice diagonal. Light angle was not ideal but you managed the light you had beautifully. I think that a crop from the left woul improve comp.
Congratulations!
Akos, this is a very nice looking anhinga. Thanks for sharing this image.
I might suggest to try to recover some details in the blacks or hope next time to have a better light direction.
Great composition and details. Unfortunately you had high contrast light, and the light direction has little to do with it. You need overcast conditions, ideally, yet a few clouds to filter the light would have helped. You did well, under these conditions, however details in the shadows are most likely unrecoverable. You might be able to coax a bit more detail in the light areas using multiply or something similar.
Fill flash is a possibility to bring detail out of shadows under high contrast conditions, however the distance to the subject is a definite limiting factor. Hopefully next time you'll have what is referred to as softer light, which means lower contrast or "less harsh" light.
regards~Bill
Akos, I forgot to say "in my opinion". Anyway I might add that how late in the day does not effect contrast. If there are no clouds, mist, smoke, etc., you will get high contrast images. This means that shadows will be very dark and contain no detail. Ambient, non-directional light, is best created by the diffusing effects of clouds, and is what causes soft shadows and brings detail into them. Lower contrast, also known as soft light, IMO, is what distinguishes excellent avian images from very good ones. regards~Bill
Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 07-20-2009 at 11:10 PM.
Akos, I like it, framed well. I think the lighting is very nice on the eye, sharp too. FYI, this anhinga look fatter than those we have in Florida. It almost looks like a duck!
Connie
Hey Akos, superb wingspread and love the golden afternoon light. We call them darter's here too. Did you dial any +EC on any of your other images. Over time, I learn which subjects need a +EC, especially the darker guys, to try and bring out detail. But you knew that anyway, didnt you.
Anhinga down under...
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