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Thread: Australasian Darter drying

  1. #1
    Ákos Lumnitzer
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    Default Australasian Darter drying

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    I captured this lady a couple of months back at my favorite local lagoon. Slight crop only and I removed a couple of very small intrusions beneath the perch nearer to the edges, they were just there and I could have trimmed, but didn't want the tail too close. Funny, there is a thread about different monitors' sharpness in the General Forums here and while this image looked quite OK at home on my lovely new laptop, it looks not so nice on my work monitor so now I am a bit stressed. :D

    30D, 300/1.4x, ISO400, f/6.3, 1/800th, HH, 0 EC, 430EX with beamer, flash at -1,

    PS. Also, this is my happy 4,000th post. I think if I add all my posts from various forums together they would probably add up to this much - if they would at all. Love this place, what can I say. The best bunch of photographers from around the Earth. Both as people and as skilled craftsmen (and women of course) always happy to share and teach one another how to become more competent in this wonderful genre of photography. :cool: So thanks to each and every one of ya for helping me along! :)

  2. #2
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    Hey Akos, Congrats on 4000 posts. I have a while to go before I get there.

    Sweet pose, light, and HA. The wing looks a little sharper than the head IMO, and I wish that the wing didn't intersect with the neck, though there's nothing you could've done about that.

    Keep them coming!

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    Hi Akos! Very good composition,and the image has number of good points, but I see problems. IMO F6.3 is too shallow a depth of field. The right wing and tail are in sharp focus, and the rest of the bird was out of the focal plane. Anhingas seem to be morphologically identical, only the colors different(anhingas have red eyes), and if thats the case, it is a fairly large bird, at least when it stretches that snaky neck out, and you would need a considerable depth of field. (F9/F11)
    Another troubling aspect: I can make out no detail in the back feathers, and I don't think this DOF related. I realize these feathers are fine, and it is difficult to get detail out of very dark feathers anyway, but you used an external flash and I would expect more detail. I don't know a whole lot about flashes, but I know they can be tricky to set up correctly. I suspect you would have needed more light. regards~Bill
    Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 08-18-2009 at 09:33 PM.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Huge congrats on 4000 bro. Comp works well, and a typical darter pose captured. In most cases, we strive to expose these guys to get the detail from the darker plumage. In this, I feel its a little over exposed and I would darken him a tad. With regards to sharpness, its there, but would maybe selectively sharp him around the head and neck. Cheers.

  5. #5
    Ákos Lumnitzer
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    THanks guys. I wasn't all that certain either that the head area is as sharp. I will double check the RAW file. Interesting you think it's a little overexposed Stu. I did pay particular attention to the red and yellow channels in the histogram and desaturated them to bring them back from clipping. Will check the hist again.

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    Szia Akos,

    First of all congratulations for the 4000th post. Always a pleasure to see your images and read your advice. And on the top of it you are Hungarian :-).

    I see the head soft as well and it is too light on my monitor too, but I think your darters are different than ours in Mexico. Congratulations again.

  7. #7
    Dave Barnes
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    Hi Akos congrats on all your posts.
    The head does look a bit soft on my screen but I think with a bit more contrast and sats the image may pop a bit better.

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    Big congratulations on 4000th post Akosbhai
    lovely image for the milestone , for me only SS on head , rest is fantastic
    TFS

  9. #9
    Ákos Lumnitzer
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    I agree, had a better look at the RAW and the wings indeed are sharper, so I sharpened the head/neck in the master psd file. Then added some contrast then saved for web. What do you think now? Still not 100%, and a retake will definitely will be more carefully done next time.

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    Repost looks better Akosbhai
    TFS

  11. #11
    Rob Drummond
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    G'day Akos - congrats on 4000. i think the exposure is OK, the female is pretty pale but i think the dof could have been increased a little

    cheers
    Rob

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    Lovely Bhai, The Op has the head details well, the repost has the feather details well, you need to reach somewhere inbetween i feel bhai, loved the HA and Pose, congrats Bhai...

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    Akos, Big Congrats on your 4K!!
    I like the pose and HA. I also like your framing. Agree w/ comments already given.

  14. #14
    Axel Hildebrandt
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    The repost looks much better, I would only go for a slightly wider crop.

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    Love the repost Akos. Congrats on your milestone Bhai!

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