Life In The Lot (5)

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Canon 40D & 400MM 5.6 L
HH
EV=1/3
f/5.6
1/2000
ISO=400
Morning light
Almost full frame
Used light meter to find exposure, switched to AV and used EV compensation.

LRII --->CS4

This is part of my "Life In The Lot Series". Birds interfacing with hand of man elements, metal, cement, infrastructure and things of this nature.

[Harold Davis]

well, you by far exceeded my expectation for this one. i had no idea what you would get next and this is absolutely perfect!!! the look back is perfect and the perch is proper for your theme. nice job!

[Gus Cobos]

Hey Jeff,
I like the compositional value here...the diagonals, triangles and lines gives this an unconventional twist out of the box feel...well done your bird is placed just right and shows very nice sharp details and a perfect spread wing pose...good show...:cool:

[Lance Peters]

Hi Jeff - Well done - love that over the shoulder look back and placed just right in that metal structure.
Different but cool.
:)

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Thanks for the positive feedback, I had to get up early to catch them drying their wings in the early morning light. The structure is part of a power-line tower, the vultures hang out there (Black & Turkey). I have seem over 50 of them in one sitting.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Wow Jeff! Really well done. I love the contrast of the organic and the man-made. It makes for a nice theme:)

__________
Cheryl

[Kerry Perkins]

Nice one Jeff! I like your idea with these and this one really illustrates the theme well. Love the geometrical patterns of the tower framing the TV. What kind of meter are you using? Exposure is excellent!

[Alfred Forns]

Best one so far Jeff !!! Looks like it was posing for you :)

Really nice exposure and feather detail You are doing great with the series !!!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Kerry,

I am using Manual and AV mode and Eval and some times Spot patterns. My normal setup is to use a light meter (incident) to check out the light on the subject if possible. If same light is on bird, I will usually go manual. Taking a reading from an area close in direction to the light source.

In this case, I used light meter (incident) Eval metering and Manual mode. I had issues with the reflections on the metal. I feel better using compensation which is not available in manual mode (just make adjustments). Which is easy enough but then I started playing with DoF on the BG and switched to AV and took the shot.

After working with Al, Fabs & Chas, I spend more time evaluating things like sunny 16, light, and metering than before. I even drop to ISO 200 and use it in conjunction with the Sunny 16 rule. I know simple is good, I just have more options now. Av, Eval-Metering and AL-Servo are my defaults, but I consider options based on light, subject size and environmental variables. I like to use Spot if warranted, for example if the image has a high brightness range or if the BG is much brighter that the foreground, depends on light. Thanks for the kind words. As you know, I love your work.

[Kerry Perkins]

Thanks Jeff. Your thorough thinking on exposure is helping us all! That image is very challenging, given the large tonal range present, and you did a great job with it. Thanks for sharing your insights!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Kerry,

I used high pass sharpening on this picture prior to smart sharpening, have you used this method?