I took this shot last week on the Pay-hay-okee trail. Not a soul to be seen
in any direction so the birds seemed to be totally not concerned with me
at all.
40d 100-400. Cropping, noise reduction is about it. I like the background
the brown grass and the dying cedar gives.
Hey Garry, What I see in the photo is that you are already studying "Best techniques." So you will probably not be surprised that head angle is important (just a few degrees more toward the camera,) however, you will need a lot of patients to achieve it when these birds are hunting. Second, is trying to have the sun at your back - or a Better Beamer to light up the shadows. Arts' books can be of great help in achieving your goals.
Welcome Gary! Good composition, and the colors are great. The camera settings are very important for us to know, and you haven't listed them. I looked up the EXIF for the image, but your listing it is so much easier and often EXIF can't be displayed.
The first thing I would be concerned with is why you needed noise reduction. The lil blue details have been smoothed out, and the likely cause is the image was underexposed, you lightened it, there was considerable noise, and you dealt with it by noise reduction. Although NR works pretty well for backgrounds, rarely for the main subject. Noise reduction smooths out details, and you may lose a considerable amount of them. In avian photography details are very important IMO.
I see from your EXIF you were shooting at ISO 200, shutter priority, 1/400 sec, F5.6. Aperture priority is a better bet, since it is less likely to underexpose. With shutter priority at a particular speed the aperture will be opened max, and there still will not be enough light. Underexposure is the #1 worst thing that can be done to digital images-- very often not recoverable since noise becomes a major problem. I'd try shooting at ISO 400, since the other side of the situation is that you might get correct exposure but at ISO 200 the shutter speed may be too slow and the image could be blurred as a result (#2 worst thing-too slow a shutter speed). Overexpose, but try not to blow the whites. Use your camera histogram and expose to the right of center. Overexposed images, when you darken them post-processing, show much less noise, and this alone allows the advantages of higher ISO settings with less serious noise penalty.
Hope I've been helpful. regards~Bill
welcome to the fun, garry! i only wish for a little better light angle to illuminate the back of the bird as well as all of it head. and a little more canvas on the bottom to not cut off the feet. the light here was nice and warm. bill had some good points about noise reduction on the bird and how it takes away details. i agree with you. i really like the bg!!!
Hi Garry,
A big warm welcome to the BPN family...I like the sweet soft background, which showcases your subject quite well. I agree with the sound advise given by Bill and Doctor Davis, and Rob...for your next one, please post your EXIF data so we can best help you...looking forward to your next one...:cool:
Main problem here was pointed out by Harold, light angle !!! .. exposure is correct for the front of the bird but the back is in shadows, we like to have light coming our shoulder if we can.... Arite calls it pointing your shadow to the subject !!
I like the angle, placement of bird in frame and that you have a clear bg !! Very nice image !!!
Little Blue Heron - Pa-hay-okee trail
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