From the deck of Capt. James Shadle's pontoon boat (The Hooptie Deux)
EOS 1D MK III
500mm f/4L IS USM
Tripod + Wimberly II gimbal head
manual mode
evaluative metering
1/1250
f/6.3
iso 400
processed with ACR and CS5 on a macbook pro
Reddish Egret landing
From the deck of Capt. James Shadle's pontoon boat (The Hooptie Deux)
EOS 1D MK III
500mm f/4L IS USM
Tripod + Wimberly II gimbal head
manual mode
evaluative metering
1/1250
f/6.3
iso 400
processed with ACR and CS5 on a macbook pro
A nice and slightly amusing image - the posture reminds me of people when they are about to slip over on something like ice.
I would try work a bit on the shadowed far wing if possible and also tone down the white spots on the beak.
Hi Joel - Nice... Like the landing pose and the water reflections on the Bird - Good HA, Sharp and BG looks good.
Rear wing does not bother me much.
Doing real well!!!!!
P.S. Might be worth mentioning why you were working in manual mode for the benefit of others :)
+1 on pose. These graceful birds are not always perfect. :p
Do you have a fame before or after?
Thanks to all for comments & critiques.
Lance, while we started shooting just at sunrise James postioned the boat near a sand bar frequented by several local bird species, in doing so he was careful to have the sun at our backs and we were also lucky to have a wind from the east which meant the birds would more or less take off and land toward us.
It was a clear day, using a computation from the Sunny 16 Rule in manual mode with the central sensor only I started at f/8 iso 400 1/2000 sec. (my first lesson from by Mr. Shadle) As time passed and the light changed or if a darker bird came along I adjusted exposure accordingly .... I was reducing exposure by approx 1 1/3 stops for white birds and increasing exposure by about the same for darker birds like this one. Of course I blew it several times but there were lots of opportunities and I eventually got the hang of it and came away with some sharp, well exposed shots.
So in essence manual mode was used to get the correct exposure on the subject with varying backgtounds and varying light levels. You have to stay on your toes because we had lots of different birds moving in and out and the light was slowly but steadily changing as well.
Troy, I do have several frames in a sequence as the egret came flying in but this was one of my favorites.
It was an excellent learning experience for me. My first time on any type of guided workshop and my first time with any type of formal instruction. Even though it was just one day it was well worth the time and investment, not to mention it was really fun meeting James and being out on the water.
Originally Posted by Joel Eade
Hi Joel - EXACTLY - Manual mode is great for when the BG is changing (Light constant) as you set the exposure for the subject - does not matter what the BG is - Often great for BIF when the bG might be constantly changing as the birds moves.
:)
Joel is either a quick learner or a sandbagger;).
I've been up to my eyeballs lately but have had a chance to sneak a peak at your images( I know you are in good hands here).
Based on your images and comments, I do believe you have it. As you mentioned, I remember you blowing it a few times. The great part was you immediately realized you blew it.
Once exposure theory starts to sink in, it just practice and recognition.
I recommend Joel's company to everyone. He a cool guy, fast learner and the weather "gods" must love him (the day Joel came out was perfect, the first and last perfect day in a month).
Love the composition and exposure! Great timing to capture this at this point
Thanks guys for this post. Firstly - I love the image, lighting, BG and subject exposure realy nice. Secondly - thanks for the tutorial. I have read about the Sunny 16 rule and thought 'that's nice' but merrily go on never thinking about why I would ever use it and never using manual mode. The above makes it all clear and makes me a bit dispondent. I thought I was getting there but have just realised that (as with most things worthwile in life) the more you learn the more to have to learn. So instead of sitting here bemoaning my inexperience, the weekend is coming and time to put this tutorial into practise.
Thanks again for the lovely shot and thanks to all involved in this amazing web site.
Michael
Alafia is one of my favorite places to go.
James, nice to see you on here again.
Troy, since you asked I stitched together some of the shots of this Reddish Egret coming in for a landing....the image quality on the final product seemed to be poor when I reduced the size but you can see the other frames fairly well, I had not tried photomerge before so perhaps I didn't perform it properly.
Joel, thanks for posting it. The frame before is my favorite...:)
Troy,
ETL is my passion. I try to help when my other forum responsibilities allow.
At the same time I have complete confidence in the ETL Staff and I try not to get in their hair(too much;)).
I meant to point out that while most avian images are most pleasing when captured at eye level, this image is an exception.
Joel stayed in the boat for this series. Joel had enough focal length and the bird was far enough from him so the image looks closer to eye level than it really was.
The real advantage here was, by being a little higher Joel eliminated some real nasty background that would have otherwise been an image killer ( to use a quote from my partner;)).
Lovely image, Joel! I do find that back wing to be a bit awkward - the position of the bird makes it almost feel like it's unrelated to a point. That said, I'd be happy to have this one in my collection! I especially like the light patterns bouncing off the bird's feathers and the splash point at the feet. Nicely done!
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