juv. black crowned night heron (was little green heron)
we got a new camera over the holidays, a canon 7d - and are starting to learn it. Love how much lighter the equivalent canon lenses are compared to the nikon ones, but am having a few challenges in learning to use the camera. I'm not doing great at getting the focus exactly where i want it yet. But its a fun problem to be working on.
This guy's eye looked nicely in focus in LR, but less so after very minor processing in CS5. so i'm doing something wrong that i need to figure out. Have been looking for information on the best way to handle post processing for the 400 DO - I bumped up contrast a bit, and clarity a small bit more in LR than i do with the nikon lenses - would love to hear from anyone who uses it regularly about how they handle post processing.
so this guy isn't as sharp as he should be, and he has just gone past me and his head angle is just past good, I was in aperture priority instead of shutter ---- all of which I know is wrong. But its a little green heron! and i love those perfectly aligned toes....
canon 7d, 400 DO, aperture priority, 1/4000 sec at f/5.6 0EV ISO 400
cropped in LR, with contrast, clarity and vibrance added.
ran NR against background in CS5 and some selective sharpening.
Last edited by pat lillich; 12-26-2010 at 06:19 PM.
juvenile black-crowned night heron. Aperture priority seems right to me; shutter priority is far too likely to produce under-exposed images since an aperture can only open so far. Manual exposure for BIF almost always best IMO. Most images need sharpening after downsizing for web presentation- smart sharpen in CS my preference.
regards~Bill
thanks Bill, that makes sense - there were a number of black-crowned night herons near by. I've seen a (real) little green there and was obviously being overly hopeful. I'll try the smart sharpen and see what it does.
I hear you Bill! but for me it remains the smallest heron that i've seen (in my very limited experience!) I'm afraid i'm going to keep thinking of them as little green herons. But I promise to try hard not to refer to them that way when i finally get a good picture of one to post!
Congrats on the new 7D. I'd be happy to learn your learning curve with settings bc I sure could use it! I'd be happy with this capture, but we all have to start somewhere! TFS, Ann
I also say congrats on the new 7D...it still remains on my wish list but I did finally get upgraded to CS5 so that's something!
Pat, for all that is "wrong" with the image it's still very nice! You've got an excellent wing spread and great detail from head to toe. It's a wonderful pose (just heading in the wrong direction) but it is still just a wonderful and bright image to look at. I'd be thrilled with it!
Now, for all of you that got gift certificates and don't know what to use them for...might I recommend the Sibley's Guide book for birds? It's fascinating to read and really helps with identifying the birds that live in your particular area. It also shows the differences between males and females and juveniles and adults. There's another Sibley's on bird behavior and my father highly recommends that one as well.
Great sharpness Pat, and you caught the wings fully down. I never use shutter priority; 99% manual mode and 1% aperture priority. Check out my online 7D setup guide for help with all of your settings. I'm sending the 1.4x up to Alan this week.
Beautifully sharp, well exposed, just wish it were turned a tiny bit towards the camera. Somehow it seems that birds spend a lot more time flying away from cameras than towards them.
hey Ann, I know if we keep reading the posts here the learning curve will be shorter. my problem is retaining the good advice when i'm in the field, a bird is flying beautifully at me and i'm madly clicking away instead of fixing my settings...
Thanks Julie - now I just will need to have the brains to go research the bird in the guide before I post too....
Doug - if you keep saying it often enough, eventually it will stick (though in my feeble defense, I've been sticking to manual mode with the nikons - i got kind of overwhelmed with possibilities with the new camera. today I went back to manual mode. of course - there was no sun.) really looking forward to trying the 1.4 (and the 2x that Alan got too) !
thanks Bill --- I appreciate hearing if they are sharp. I'm not sure if its funny or pathetic, but Alan and I peer at the screens trying to decide if the pic is sharp or if we are wearing the wrong glasses.
That's really funny, Pat. I do the same thing. If I change glasses, maybe this will look better..........
I think the image is great. It's very sharp to me and the wing angle is lovely. Congrats! I knew it was a night heron juvenile, but I can never remember the subtle differences between the juvi yellow crowned and black crowned. I usually just look around for the parents :o
juv. black crowned night heron (was little green heron)
