My First Sandhill Crane BIF

[Mike Kuran]

This is my first post and hopefully there will be more to come :) Went over to Indiana as we heard the cranes had stopped there on there way down south! The first day we got there had to be at least 4000 of these cranes standing in the water just after sun up. Took pictures most of the day and went back the next day and most had already moved on :( Here is one of the shots I took.

D300
600mm VR
1.4tc
ISO 200
1/500
f6.3




Thanks for looking,
Mike K

[Juan Aragonés]

Mike wellcome on board :)
Viewing the thumbnail of this image I didn´t expected something special because I had the impression that the bird was flying away.. but I have to say that the image at full size looks much, much better. In fact, I like it a lot. Very, very clean, fantastic eye contact, head turn and superb exposure job. Composition is just a bit tight for me and I would add a touch of additional sharpening just for web presentation. Hope to see more of yours images ;)

[Arthur Morris]

Agree that you were fortunate to have the bird look down and back at you. And yes to more aggressive sharpening and too tight. In other words, an excellent critique above by Juan :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wow, I too did not expect to see a proper head angle from the thumb...good one! I agree with the above comments. One tip I could offer is to not be afraid to bump up the ISO for better shutter speeds when taking flight images.

Oh, and welcome to BPN Mike!:)

[Mike Kuran]

Agree that you were fortunate to have the bird look down and back at you. And yes to more aggressive sharpening and too tight. In other words, an excellent critique above by Juan :)

Thanks Art & Juan, Here is another ver recomposed and added a little bit of High Pass sharpening. Does look better to me :)
Thanks agian,

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Mike. It does look a bit sharped but would probably look better still with some Eye Doctor work.

[Mike Kuran]

Thanks Mike. It does look a bit sharped but would probably look better still with some Eye Doctor work.

Thanks Art, I just got your book about 2 weeks ago and your ver 2 on CD as well. I have seen where you have made this similar comment about Eye Doctor work is this something you covered in your books or CD as I might have missed it or can you tell me what you mean? As I stive to get better :) Thanks

Mike K

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Mike, The Eye Doctor techniques are covered in Digital Basics. Basically, you create a Quick Mask of the pupil and darken it, and then create a QM of the iris and lighten it (if needed). Sometimes I then create a QM of the face and run a Contrast Mask on it: Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0.

Thanks for your purchases and get studying! :)

[Mike Kuran]

Wow, I too did not expect to see a proper head angle from the thumb...good one! I agree with the above comments. One tip I could offer is to not be afraid to bump up the ISO for better shutter speeds when taking flight images.

Oh, and welcome to BPN Mike!:)

Thanks Daniel! My Girl friend turned me onto Art as she went to one of his 1 Day workshop and I have been hooked ever since :) I was out of town for work and plan on attending one for sure next time there is one that's close :)

Mike K

[Mike Kuran]

Thanks Art!!! I have been reading and rereading lol your book and book on CD! One thing that has me puzzled is the Exposure compensation Section. I find meself looking at the page 503 in the easy reading pdf and is there an easier way to remember that when out in the field taking pictures? When you make mention of Situation #2- Sun at full strength, darker than a middle tone: -1/3. Are you looking at your histogram to fingure that out?

I also purchased your Digital Basics now and will have to look at what your talking about :)

Thanks again :)

Mike K

[Mike Kuran]

Hi Mike, The Eye Doctor techniques are covered in Digital Basics. Basically, you create a Quick Mask of the pupil and darken it, and then create a QM of the iris and lighten it (if needed). Sometimes I then create a QM of the face and run a Contrast Mask on it: Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0.

Thanks for your purchases and get studying! :)

Art I have another question is the material on the APTATS cd ver 1 & 2 Different ? Do I need both? I don't mind buying both if they both have different material. Thanks I have it ready to buy but I want to here what you have to say thanks Mike