Rock Dove

[Matthew Latini]

Canon EOS 550D, Canon EF 70-200 f/4L USM.
Manual Exposure - 1/1000, f/4.0, ISO 400, 0EV.

I was getting off the freeway on the way home from work and saw a large group of these off to the right. They were very active so I stopped for about 45 minutes to try and practice some BIF shots.

I did a few adjustments in Lightroom.
There were some hot spots in the breast area so I brought the recovery all the way to 100 and still had to reduce the exposure by .50 to eliminate them completely. I pulled up the contrast a little bit, added some clarity to give it a little more punch, cropped it, and sharpened.

Looking forward to some constructive feedback.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Matthew,
The image isn't showing for me!

[Matthew Latini]

I posted a link to an offsite image. Apparently the link I copied was a link to the image preview and not to the image itself. Is there a way I can update the original post with the correct link (I can't seem to find a way)?

Hey Matthew,
The image isn't showing for me!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Matthew,
You should be able to do it in edit post>go advanced.......but that feature is not working right now:(. Copy and Post the link in a reply to this message and I will get it entered for you

[Matthew Latini]

This should do the trick.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5006/...4beaf9df_b.jpg

Hey Matthew,
You should be able to do it in edit post>go advanced.......but that feature is not working right now:(. Copy and Post the link in a reply to this message and I will get it entered for you

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Matthew,
Welcome to the forum! It should be fine now but if you have any issues in the future don't hesitate to PM me or one of the mods here.
Now the image......here the #1 thing working against you was the BG......as it was pretty busy and bright. These guys are rockets......so you did well getting it sharp. One thing elese to keep in mind is the light direction.....wind and light at your back make for perfect conditions......so just keep that in mind when you go out next time.

[Julie Kenward]

Matthew, its good to see you posting! Roman is right - you did very well at getting good detail and freezing the action - you just need to work on getting the sun in the right place and getting some kind of eye contact with the bird. You always want to scout out the location first looking for the angle of the sun and then where you can get the best BG and THEN capture the birds that are in your line of fire.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[Matthew Latini]

Thanks Roman and Jules for the comments. I just got all excited when I saw so many birds and I started firing away, not really paying attention to the background. Next time I'll scout the background first and let the birds fly into my line of fire.
Any suggestions on how I can make the background a little better or should I just accept it as is and move onto to something else...
I was out at Bolsa Chica this weekend and I'll have some more up from there soon...