These varied thrushes are so beautiful, and infrequently seen that you just have to capture them when found. But the background here is pretty bad. Is this just a record shot?
50d, 500f1.4 +1.4x, at f5.6, iso400 1/200 sec tripod and sidekick.
What would you do?
These varied thrushes are so beautiful, and infrequently seen that you just have to capture them when found. But the background here is pretty bad. Is this just a record shot?
50d, 500f1.4 +1.4x, at f5.6, iso400 1/200 sec tripod and sidekick.
nice bird Ben.....I have seen many of the VT where one sets up feeders and they
become quite habituated to them.
For personal image I love to play OOTB and clean 'em up......good pp practice
if you do this sort of thing. This is not all cleaned up, but you get the idea.
Use any bg!!
Man you have the quick mask down!!. I have tried it with a few images, but never as extensive as this. Thanks for showing me what it could look like. I guess your answer to my question is that it is a record shot as presented, but could be fixed.Originally Posted by Dave Phillips
I have extensive feeders, but have only seen these guys 3-4 times in 18 years of feeding.
good morning Ben....probably a record shot. The bg tree/limbs are big bold shapes
that really distract. You could do a gaussian blur on your original bg and have a nicer image.
all just IMHO of course.....btw, I used the new Topaz ReMask with some small tweaks
to extract you VT
here is blur of original bg:
good morning Ben....probably a record shot. The bg tree/limbs are big bold shapes
that really distract. You could do a gaussian blur on your original bg and have a nicer image.
all just IMHO of course.....btw, I used the new Topaz ReMask with some small tweaks
to extract you VT
here is blur of original bg:
What is Topaz? Where do you get it? Does it work in Photoshop or is it a LR deal?
Topaz is a line of PhotoShop plugin products......the ReMask is a new one recently
and runs best via an action. You can download any of their products on 30 day trial
I believe. Important to watch their tutorial videos and follow directions exactly,
especially with ReMask. It has a small learning curve for best results and surely
will have refining development. Get on their mailing list and you can receive hefty discounts too.
http://www.topazlabs.com/products.html
Thanks for the Topaz link, I will check it out. I have read and practiced the QM tutorials, but never quite get it right for complex images.
Hi Ben - Lovely details and colours in the bird - sharp as a tack also. Nice work from Dave on the reposts - Just uo to your personal ethics on what you are comfortable with - If you do go down the path of replacing backgrounds - always disclose the fact that you have done so when posting your image.
Looking forward to seeing more :)
Hi Lance, I have a real hard time with such extensive replacement of the background. But I suppose our ethics are sort of borrowed from the community we live in, right? This is sort of a rules thing, and as you say, full disclosure is one of them.
Still, I will prefer to get the shot in the clear, and work harder to do so. For 4 years, and until micro adjust, just getting focus was all I could think about. Now I have time for composition and let the AF do its work.
That reminds me, should we say feeder bird in our posts? Also is it ok to post old stuff so long as it was never posted here? My bird photagraphy is a winter (eagle) and spring (all other) thing with nothing but feeder birds in between. So to participate here, I need to post older work most of the year.
Also, I post stuff I know is not so great just to calibrate my visual judgement.
Last edited by Ben Egbert; 10-06-2009 at 10:37 AM.
Post anything you like Ben - doesn't matter if its old - IMHO it is good to mention if it is a feeder setup - just so that anyone else who may be looking knows that this is how the BG was obtained.
As far as ethics go, its a personal thing and depends on what you want to do with your images - for competitions for instances most manipulation is not allowed.
Only 1 way to learn -- jump right on in :)
Thanks Lance, I appreciate the feedback.
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