Spent 2 weeks in Brazil this time last year on business. Took my cameras as usual and spied a large black bird sitting on many roof tops. Went out in the weekend to get a good shot of this bird and spent all day trudging around in quite oppressive humidity with no result. Eventually headed back to the Hotel very dissapointed when behold, on the fire escape of my hotel was said black bird. Asked at the from desk for permission to get onto the fire escape and managed to capture the attached. We don't have anything like this in Australia, its one ugly bird with a face only its mother could love... The Brazilians call it 'Uburu' or something similar. I was very happy with the sharpness of this image and its been my benchmark since.
Canon 10D, 70-200 L IS @ 200mm
1/350 @ F4
ISO 200
Eval metering, 0 bias
No Flash
Full image presented
RAW, processed with levels, curves, H&S, selective colour.
All comments appreciated...
DON
Last edited by Don Railton; 05-05-2010 at 06:37 AM.
Reason: forgot the image..!
Spent 2 weeks in Brazil this time last year on business. Took my cameras as usual and spied a large black bird sitting on many roof tops. Went out in the weekend to get a good shot of this bird and spent all day trudging around in quite oppressive humidity with no result. Eventually headed back to the Hotel very dissapointed when behold, on the fire escape of my hotel was said black bird. Asked at the from desk for permission to get onto the fire escape and managed to capture the attached. We don't have anything like this in Australia, its one ugly bird with a face only its mother could love... The Brazilians call it 'Uburu' or something similar. I was very happy with the sharpness of this image and its been my benchmark since.
Canon 10D, 70-200 L IS @ 200mm
1/350 @ F4
ISO 200
Eval metering, 0 bias
No Flash
Full image presented
RAW, processed with levels, curves, H&S, selective colour.
Don, Very nice BG and sharp details. I might take a tiny bit off the right side and darken the pupil. And maybe lighten the Vulture slightly. Very nicely presented.
Last edited by denise ippolito; 05-05-2010 at 09:51 AM.
Hi Don Your right on all counts Image is sharp, bird is ugly and only a mother could love :)
I think these backlit images need a flash to work out best unless you want to go with a silhoutte but then we would loose the beauty of the best :D Might try lightening but it is tough, lots of times the darks turn into much !!! Like how you worked this bird and was able to capture !!!
Hi Don, ugly bird but lovely composition, and tack sharp. Agree with above comments. Like Al says, lifting the darks can be tricky but, IMO, even if you just lighten the eye a bit I think the image will improve dramatically. Nice job!
BTW, TFS the odyssey you went through to get the image.
Hi Don, your comp is well executed(just a small bit added to the bottom) and the backround is beautiful. Agree with Al regarding the use of fill flash. You would of still held the backround but brought up the bird...
Hi guys
Thanks for all the comments and encourgement. I have learnt the value of fill flash since this image was captured... I will rework and repost tonight (I just got to work...!) as I think I can lighten overall slightly without the wheels comming off and will try and work on the eye also..
hi Don - couple of quick changes - lightened the bird and added some subtle sharpening to enhance the texture a bit.
One ugly bird - nicely captured :)
Thanks for this Lance.
I did a little rework excersise at home last night for my own benifit but did not repost as i thought the moderators have a huge volume of images to deal with as it is... After looking at your repost and from my rework last night I think my monitor need calibration. Two out of my three submissions were considered 'dark' when viewed by others on their computers.. I have just bought a new machine with a video card that allows adjustment, is there a procedure for this that you could link me too?
Black Vulture
