Black crowned crane, my first bird picture

[Bob Sumitro]

I went to a bird park here in Jakarta (East Jakarta) last Saturday afternoon.
This was the first time I went out with the intention of taking birds picture. I spent about 3 hours there practically until they're close, taking lots of pictures of birds there, and back home deleted about 80% of them :D

This is a black crowned crane (?) ... there's no sign of the birds ID in the area nearby, if there is I sure missed it, so I had to do a google picture search to id this bird, and hopefully I id it right. Anyway, I took this inside one of a huge domed cages where they keep the birds.
This was also the first time I use my 100-400L, and I can tell you that coming from a guy who used 135L as his longest lens, it's quite difficult to use the 100-400L. I found out later that I shot wide open all the time (99%). I had no idea that the DOF is really thin @400mm.

So, here's my first bird picture. I didn't take a full body shoot cause the background is rather busy and quite close to the bird that I was afraid I couldn't blur the background, so I went with a head shot.

Canon 7D, EF100-400L, @400mm,f/5.6, ISO 800, 1/160. Pic converted from RAW using DPP with minimum processing cause that's all I can do with DPP at the time being, minimum processing. I cloned out a bright spot on the bottom left corner of the image. thanks for looking,
bob

Oops, I posted in the wrong forum. I intended to post it in the eager to learn forum.

[Randy Stout]

Bob:

Sharp on the eye and beak, well exposed, as mentioned, could use more depth of field for the crown. The composition works well for me. Some would suggest cleaning the debris off the beak.

If you want, jump in the eager to learn forum, and keep watching here too. You will learn quickly.

Welcome to BPN!

Randy

[Aiden Blake]

That's a nice portrait shot. You might want to remove the red spot at the upper left area, either cloning it or changing it to the green that surrounds it. It's nothing huge, just a minor distraction.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oops, I posted in the wrong forum. I intended to post it in the eager to learn forum.

Here you go, moved it for you;).

You did well to choose a tight portrait, considering the conditions you describe. The comp works well IMO. I love the alert pose, and the fully extended crown - well timed on your part. I wouldn't mind eliminating the reddish spot above, as well as the stray feather at bottom. You could also consider warming up the image a tad.

With a bit of practise you'll be more comfortable with this lens, and hopefully you will love it as much as I do mine!!

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bob

Agree with your approach to this image, going for the head eliminates lots of trouble. One think to consider is the focal ... 640mm with the camera crop. Tough to make a sharp image at 1/160 without a tripod. Eye area looks good but can be sharper. If the eye is critically sharp you can get away with shallow dof !!

[Lance Peters]

Hi - agree with AL'S comments - as a general rule of thumb in regards to shutter speed you want to be at 1 over your focal length as a minimum to ensure sharp images - so here 1/640th as a minimum, as you were already wide open only increasing the ISO would have helped - making a TRIPOD a necessity.
The blacks are blocked on the head (no detail) and the white patch on the cheek seems to have a bit of a colour cast??? Looks a little pinkish on my screen - of course that could be exactly how the bird is.

Deleting about 80% or more from a trip sounds about right.
I would suggest you consider getting Arties "The art of Bird photograhy ii" a ton of information in there - also check out the educational resources forum.

A big warm welcome to the BPN family :)
Looking forward to seeing more.

[David Stephens]

Welcome and great first shot. This is a wonderful subject against a perfect background (apparently cleaned up a little before I looked). I like showing so much of the really long neck. You already know that you might have stopped down a little and gone with a higher shutter speed and/or a tripod.

About your deletions, I took around 700 images last Saturday, deleted around 630, processed around seventy and have 7 to 10 keepers. Getting birds and animals to hold their heads just right, get in the good light, with a good BG (back ground) takes a combination of planning, diligence and LUCK.

The 7D is a great camera. Use a big CF card and the burst feature to assure that you have lots of head angles to chose from. For a static bird moving it's head, I'll do little burst of 2 to 4. For fliers, I'll do bursts up until the buffer gives out. :eek: This much increased my odds of getting my preferred wing position. Also, interesting things happen that you don't see with your naked eye, but show up when you're digging through the images.

Reviewing in DPP and many programs is really a pain; therefore, I take RAW plus jpeg. That way I can review a full screen image when I'm making my early passes, reviewing the day's work. The only negative is that it fills up my buffer quicker when shooting bursts. Still, it really speeds the work flow and 16 and 32G CF cards are not that expensive anymore. A 32G card seems just right for the 7D to me.

Dave

[Mark Adkins]

Nice composition and background. Agree with the others that overall sharpness would be improved with a tripod and greater DOF. Take lots of exposures! The delete rate is really high for this type of photography. Thankfully we have data cards and not film!

Mark

[Bob Sumitro]

Thanks very much guys. I learn a lot from all your C&Cs

@Randy: thanks very much. I sure missed that debris on the beak.
@Aiden and Daniel: the bright spot up there is similar to the one that I cloned from the bootom left corner. I'll pay more attention to similar things in the future.

@Al and Lance: I don't have a tripod at the moment but I'm considering getting a monopod. Stil considering if I should get a tripod or monopod. Anyway, I used 30d prior to 7d and back then I seldom shot at ISO higher than 800, I guess I'm still thinking like I did when I used 30d, i.e., not to use high ISO. I had ordered Artie's books and waiting for the postal to deliver it. Sometimes it takes longer from the post office to my address than it does from the US to Jakarta. Hopefully I'll get it this week, I can't wait.

@David and Mark: thanks, frankly I thought it only happens to me:D

bob

[Craig Markham]

Hi Bob, I think you have a Gray Crowned Crane (the Black CC has a darker neck, and in my Kenya/N Tanzania guide, the Black CC also lacks the red patch on the head above the eye). Nice first bird! Hand held at 1/160 and 400mm probably contributed to the slight image softness. You will find that a good camera support will pay off in IQ.

Looking forward to your next posts,
Craig