The Snack
Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters are resident in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. They are fairly predictable in their behaviour of hunting off a perch, then returning to it with the pray item, where they either swallow it of batter it soft/senseless before swallowing it. The problem is not shooting them, the problem is to get them within range and to not disturb them, otherwise they fly immediately off to a new perch.
D300; 200-400 F/4 + 1.4TC; ISO800; F/8; 1/400; +2/3; 17h27, handheld.
Callie:
Nice catch, great colors, prey item, intense look of bird on grass hopper.
The eye is very sharp, but the feathers above it aren't, which seems odd for f/8.
Did you use fill flash here? If not, I am curious about the natural lighting.
thanks for sharing!
Randy
Hi RandyOriginally Posted by Randy Stout
Thanks. I actually do not know whether it is the jpeg compression that does it, or the harsh light, but I find that many of my images suffer from a see ingly smooth/soft finish, especially noticeable on fur. I selectively sharpended the bille and eye more than the head and shoulder. No fill flash used. It could also be the 1.4 TC that does it.. Any suggestions, help to get it right, will be appreciated. I bit the bullet and have been shooting RAW since this year, maybe that will solve it. Best regards
Callie
Nice catch for both you and the bird, the image has a lot of potential but something seems to be off in post processing either to much saturation and over sharpen or maybe a large crop?
Don Lacy
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There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs - Ansel Adams
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Great timing and a nice catch. Good detail and color as well as excellent eye contact. Many thanks for sharing Callie.
Super close up and lovely colours, a great catch as well
Chris Kotze
Hi Callie, another subject I need in my files. Lovely juicy meal he's caught. Shooting RAW will definately help in processing. This seems a large crop, as the finer detail and sharpness is not there. Colours look a tad over saturated too. I could be wrong.
Callie:
Sorry for the slow response. Some good comments above.
There can be multiple reasons for lack of detail in an image.
I shoot a D300 so know the camera pretty well. In looking at your techs, certainly the fact that you were handholding a potentially 840mm effective focal length combination can make it tough to get critical sharpness. You didn't mention your actual zoom setting.
Large crops degrade image quality, as does underexposure with subsequent post processing work.
Perhaps the easiest way to get a handle on this is to post a straight conversion of the raw file to jpeg, no cropping or post processing work, and we can perhaps pin down where the issue might be. This image is certainly worth some extra work:)
Cheers
Randy
Hi Randy
Thanks for coming back.
This is a Jpeg, not RAW. This is a large crop, I cut the bottom 1cm off. I checked various shots, including a lot of fur, and the smoothness is there. This was 840 mm affective FL, handheld. What gets me is the eye and bill is sharp, even the grasshopper, but the plumage has a soft sheen over it. I find this a lot. Can be the FL and Handheld, the Jpeg, a combo or the light and heat. It was around 44 C! I will be back in the bush end of March for two days, and will shoot RAW to see if there is an improvement. Maybe the TC needs a service.
Thanks for all the comments guys, I appreciate, take note and am learning!
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