straight out of the camera( NO PP) - from last night - have quite a job ahead of me finding the best shots -- this is just to give a quick look at this guy - sure was a beauty :)
BG and surroundings are what they are - was happy to get this guy in this setting.
D3
Nikon 200-400 VR With 1.4 converter @460mm
F8
1/60TH
800 ISO
-1.0EV
SB900 manual flash @ 1/16th power
Handheld
Manual Focus (Too dark for auto focus) set the focus before it got dark
Flash as main light.
I like the capture Mr. Peters...you got it right on the money...this is a sweet image, I like the fact that you pre-focused before it became dark...well done...:cool:
Hi Lance, I can easily see why you got so excited. What a beautiful bird and a great opportunity. I know I would have taken a zillion shots if I were there! I'm glad you chose to post an unedited image; it'll be instructive to see how you will handle the PP. I'll bet you can't wait to get to work on them. It looks like you nailed the exposure and focus. I like it a lot, and can't wait to see what you post from this session.
HI Ron - one of the great things about getting 90% of it right in camera is it makes PP quick and easy. Just minor tweaks and sharpening and cropping.
:)
Desmond - By this stage there were intermittent heavy downpours and it was pretty much dark as dark (Had my shirt off draped over the camera and flash to try and afford it a little protection) made the choice to adjust my exposure through the use of the aperture as it was easier to do this under my shirt.
After a couple of episodes of shooting in the pitch black - I find its more productive to change as little as possible in these circumstances as long as the result is in the ballpark on the LCD - As it was dark I also knew this guy wasn't going to be hanging around too long.
Not perfect technique by any means - but Ill use what ever gets me the result I want regardlesss of what is or isn't proper technique based on the situation at the time - Gotta be flexible.
SOC - Barn Owl
