Wanted to try a long lens, so I rented the EF600 and took some shots at the local lake. It was a good learning experience. I got a few flight shots and wing flaps of cormorants, geese and a colorful shoveller or spoonbill duck that I'm working on. I thought this American Wigeon was worth keeping.
crop, edited a ripple shadow, S&H, levels, curves, color sat. & sharpening
Looks good Brendan. Love the open beak. The white on the wing could maybe be toned down a little and I would like to see a little more canvas on the bottom.
Very nice, a long lens does help. I agree with toning down the white on the wing, also the nice green of the head really doesn't show. I first di a burn and dodge with Tim Greys mehtod then utilized a quick mask and selective color to add some more green to the head
Thanks for your feedback guys. Agree about toning down white feather and I debated on doing that much crop, but the rest of reflection in original was pretty broken up and thought it distracted from subject. Didn't realize how much green was hiding in that black, it prob looks better bringing it out in the original file of course.
It seems a bit tight on bottom for the virtual feet paddling away. I think even a bit of broken reflection and a bit more room on bottom would feel better.
Hi Brendan. Pretty good low angle and composition. To me the most important thing for succesful avian photography is the quality of light, and specifically the "harshness or softness" of the light. To be more precise, and since there are many words describing this, it is high contrast vs low contrast light. High contrast, as seen with direct sunlight, has an extreme range in brightness ( darkest to lightest) , and with subjects with dark and light plummage the dynamic range of camera sensors can not capture all of it. In other words there will be little or no detail in the lightest and darkest parts of an image. The exposure can be shifted on a histogram to the left to capture detail in the lightest parts or shifted on a histogram to the right to capture detail in the darkest parts, but not both. This is a big problem! You can take more than one image to capture both, and combine them into one image, and this is called HDR, or high dynamic range.
On the other hand in low contrast light, in which overcast, clouds, mist, or even smoke has diffused the light by scattering it, the range from light to dark is reduced, and the dynamic range of camera sensors can capture all of it.
Therefore it is best to shoot when it is cloudy, or overcast, and when you have clear cloudless skies realize your keeper rate will drop precipitously. It is almost imossible to expose properly birds with both very dark and light plummage (such as the wigeon) under high contrast conditions, and even with other birds you will have to be very aware of the suns position as to avoid including shadows, including shaded parts of the subject, which will be dark and contain lttle detail. regards~Bill
regards~Bill
Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 12-24-2010 at 02:08 PM.
Nice detail, and I love the open beak. The repost is an improvement. Bill's dissertation is spot-on; light is the issue here. This would have been better with the light behind you, and better yet if the light were softer. But I'm sure all of shoot sometimes in less than optimum conditions, and take whatever we can get.
Thanks Bill and Bill. (Man, there are a lot of Williams and Bills on BPN!)
Another great explaination from Bill M. in understanding the why. Even though I have a basic understanding of this concept, explaining how it relates specifically to the birds plumage detail and my struggles to salvage a not so perfect shot gives me a much clearer understanding.
I was wrestling back and forth with both the exposure levels in RAW, and with the shadow & highlight in PS for what seemed like an eternity!! Its kind of like the wack-a-mole game.
Much easier when you get it right in the camera first.
I forget to let you know that it is Lake Guajome, Guajome Park, in Oceanside, CA. Small lake, with a rookery island, no watercrafts aloud, that's why I tried the 600m. I have to get down to Santee Lakes and La Jolla, but all in good time.
Brendan, the only thing that bothers me about this is the bird being angled away from you instead of towards you. You still have eye contact but I, as the viewer, feel like he's leaving and that makes me want to disengage from the image in some ways.
That said, you got some killer detail here and the repost is a nice step up. If his head were flat to the focal plane I think you'd have a better overall head shape and more of the viewer's attention but this is still a keeper in my book. Nice low angle...beautiful water...good details!
American Wigeon
