Shot at a local beach early this morning.
Nikon D300
200-400mm + 1.4x at 550mm
ISO 400
f/8
1/2500
I used a monopod for support, as low as I could get with it.
Comments and suggestions appreciated!
Willet
Shot at a local beach early this morning.
Nikon D300
200-400mm + 1.4x at 550mm
ISO 400
f/8
1/2500
I used a monopod for support, as low as I could get with it.
Comments and suggestions appreciated!
Looking good...exposure, deatail and sharpness are fine. Would maybe like to see a little more room for the feet (virtual).
Bill
Lovely image, Maureen! I like that both the water and the bird are pale - it gives a real sense of peacefulness to the image. You might also want to play with bringing up the darker tones in the water against the lighter tones in the bird and see if you like that less or more. Both could certainly work here!
Nice choice of aperture - bird is nicely sharp and you get a sense of the water behind him without it being distracting. Nice catch light in the eye and good HA. I like how low you got - don't be afraid to handhold at 1/2500 - you can do that if it will give you an eye level angle on the bird!
very nice image. looks great to me!
I have never seen this type of bird before, so I don't know how it actually looks, but if it fits with reality, I would try adding black to the blacks or neutrals in the body's shading to add some contrast/punch. and maybe the water too.
But then again, that would work against the nice softness in the image. (by softness, I do not meaning that it is not sharp.)
Like the detail, pose and HA. Agree with Bill a little more room for the feet. Would be of interest to see what just a little more contrast on the bird would do.
TFS
Ray Rozema
Thank you for the comments.
I was going for a rather muted feel here. Willets strike me as a very gentle bird (always hanging with the smaller birds, seldom quibbling with the skimmers or gulls who share their space) and I wanted to portray that. I appreciate the advice for adding some contrast, and it might well improve the image but I think it might also counter what I was trying to capture. Interesting. I guess I need to give some more thought to this.
I definitely underestimated the position of the feet. I don't have more canvas there, so will have to remind myself in the future to keep the hidden feet in the frame!
Great advice above - dont know your circumstances, but laying on the sand providing a even lower shooting angle might have been the only way to improve a already good image. If you go this route - just remember sand and camera's dont mix really well - I use my elbows to move around and hands never touch the sand.
Like the slight head turn towards you and detail looks good.
Has a light and airy feel - if that is what you were after - have achieved it!
Keep em coming :)
Thanks for the advice, Lance. I wonder if there is some sort of lower support I can get for this camera/lens combination. The monopod only goes down to about 26 inches. If I were to have laid in the sand handholding to get this image, I'd probably still be there trying to get myself up :confused:
I believe there is - Think Artie has something at Birdsasart.com - Really right stuff also make a ground pod - tiny little tripod that can support my D3S and a 800mm lens and can be down to a inch off the ground - expensive but quality gear.Originally Posted by Maureen Allen
Great shoot.
For lower than monopod support I recently retired a 12 inch frying pan. Took the handle off, drilled a hole in the center of its bottom and bolted my Gimbal head to it (pan up side down, Gimbal head on the "hot" side of the bottom). Decided to try it this way first since the edge of the pan digs into the gravel and minimizes wobble. On sand using the pan right side up should make it easier to move the rig around. Haven't tried that yet.
Any lower and I would have to bring a small shovel to dig a pit for my chin .....
This is not my own "invention", seen it on the web a while ago. Just took me some time to find the perfect frying pan to make it happen ;)
Ulli
P.S. Make sure the rest of your gear is parked above high water mark, and keep an eye on the rising tide ......
Last edited by Ulli Hoeger; 10-05-2010 at 08:07 PM.
Oh I love this. I'm going out frying pan shopping! Thanks Ulli!
Great idea from Ulli! I like the Willet image a lot too for the reasons given above. Agree that more room below would be a good thing. Nice work Maureen. I feel there is slight softness in the head area of the subject that could be removed with a round of subtle sharpening, masking off the other parts.
Thank you John. I'll try a little sharpening.
I really appreciate all the feedback!
I have seen two homemade low skimmers.....one was mad with a large Frisbee and the other was made with a medium size trash can lid (about 12 inches).
Bill
D3S and 800mm lens
Slightly off topic, but I wanted to know what 800mm lens you had that fit on a D3S? I know Canon has one, but that is the only one I know about except for the Sigma zoom.
thanks
/jon
Jon Saperia
Sigmonster 300-800 zoom!
Thanks for that - it was the only other alternative that I could think of.
Jon Saperia
really beautiful and gentle. look forward to seeing it with a little more sharpening. my husband made something like Ulli mentioned, but with the dog's frisbee - it works well for medium sized lenses....
The item in the BAA store is called Paning ground pod. Little pricey but well built works well with heavy lens
Posting Permissions
