ok.. this shot has problems... plenty of them.. does anyone think they can be overcome? around here we have a lot of places where our roads go right through the middle of a marsh.. in March the hoodies show up everywhere.. and its a lot of fun... they are pretty spooky.. though not as bad as some... these guys were obviously occupied... for some silly reason I shot this at ISO 100.... I thought shudder speed of 1/400 would be ok.. but there is plenty of motion blur here.. light was tough.. those blacks and whites are killers in full sun... so I have little detail in the white.. but to be fair I was far enough away that my 20D probably wasnt going to catch them much anyway.. were talking around 75 to 100 feet.. shot with a 500 F4 and a 1.4 TC.. handheld.. out of my truck window...
Ive done little to the shot except some curves, usm and smart sharpen.. no crops.. no clones... no extra work of any kind... if I decided to try and rescue Id clone out the female (shes half gone anyway).. the male in the back.. and see if I could sharpen or replace the eyes... even with all that.. the shot is probably marginal.....
orrrrrr.. as I say.. do you think I should work it out and see? my current plan is to await this march and go back with my Mark III and a higher ISO/shudder speed and maybe see if I can get a lower perspective... though that will probably be tough in this location.... maybe a little lower... 3 feet max... these marshes are very soft bottomed.. and jumping in will flush these guys in a second.... maybe I need decoys and calls? Im beginning to think so...
Well, I managed to bring out a little detail in the white on the heads with a couple multiply layers. Starting from the original and doing multiple conversions might be a way to go.
But, since you have fairly reliable access to the subject, your time might be better spent on other projects.
I like the three tenors and the light. The OOF male is a bit distracting and too bad you clipped the female. You could try a throw-over blind and sit there for a while. They might get comfortable after a while.
You're right, Kenn.....a lot of problems. This would be pretty cool if the bird on the right and the one on the top hadn't been there.....as it is, this looks like incredibly interesting behavior.....something I would love to see. We never see these birds up here (not that I've noticed, anyway). I'd say try again this year with your Mark III and you're bound to get some better ones!
Sing along?
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