Oystercatcher Lands

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 7D
500mm
1/1600 sec at f/8.0
ISO 400
Gitzo 3530LS Wimberley II

American Oystercatcher comes in for a landing, Alafia Banks, Tampa. Taken a couple months ago on my outing with James Shadle. Shot from the water. I kept the other two oystercatchers in because I liked the bookend quality of them, but wondered if others think they're a distraction and should be cloned out. Also wondering if there's enough detail in the wings.
In CS4 I did a Linear Burn, some Highlight Recovery, some Curves, cloned out a strip of distant mangroves on top, and some junk on the beach (but not all), Smart Sharpened, ran NR on background.
Thank you so much for comments and suggestions!

[Richard Stern]

Nice capture of the moment, and well timed. I feel that the whites are a bit hot on the underside of the flying bird's wings, but it's all nicely sharp and well focused. Would have been a real stunner if the left hand bird had also been facing the camera, or if both birds had been facing towards the center!

Richard

[Mikko Viljamaa]

Perfect timing and a nice capture. I agree with Richard about whites. You could change the composition or do some cloning if the two other birds bother.

Mikko

[Craig Brelsford]

Nice capture. If you want to play Superman and make the earth spin backwards, you can lose the oystercatcher left and add canvas right. The whites on the underside of the wings are too hot.

[Jim Crosswell]

Nice image Melissa! I like how the two birds are leaning out to make room for the incoming one. I also agree on toning down the whites.

[Troy Lim]

Like the wing position, incoming look. Somehow the sharpening appears to be applying to a slightly soft focus on the subject.
TFS.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks a lot guys. Any suggestions on what else to do to tone down the hot spots on the wings? Tried highlight recovery and linear burn.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Melissa, for the repost I did two passes of the burn tool (range: midtones, exposure: 8%, soft brush) then a slight S/H to taste. Working on a full resolution image would be better and I think I went too dark on the "armpits", but hopefully you get the gist of what can be done.

I love the landing pose (great job tracking and timing it!), and I like the two other oystercatchers...I do feel there needs to be a bit more room right and left for them though - maybe about doubling the current empty spaces.

[Troy Lim]

Love the PP work, Daniel.

[Melissa Groo]

Wonderful job, Daniel, you have vastly improved it. I'll try that process for myself, hope I can do as well as you! So very helpful, thank you.

[Arthur Morris]

Dan's repost looks much better but the WHITEs as posted were toasted.... Best to reconvert and make sure that the highlight clipping warning box is active and that you use the Recovery Slider to bring all the WHITE RGB values below 237....

There are lots of great tutorials on saving the WHITEs in the ER. What I recommend above is detailed in the latest update of Digital Basics.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: Dan's quick fix made detail-less WHITE into detail-less GREY. Also, you should easily be able to recover the whites upon re-converting as 1/1600 at f/8 is at least OK for WHITEs in sun.

[Ofer Levy]

Hi Melissa, very nice shot. I don't feel the bird on the left adds much. I think whites are OK in your RAW file - just reconvert. This is another example to why manual exposure is so much better in most occasions. Just take one or two shots of the birds, even from far, check the whites and make sure they are OK - then you are safe. It is a good idea to check every now and then in case light slightly changes.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks very much for the instruction, Artie and Ofer!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Melissa, very nice shot. I don't feel the bird on the left adds much. I think whites are OK in your RAW file - just reconvert. This is another example to why manual exposure is so much better in most occasions. Just take one or two shots of the birds, even from far, check the whites and make sure they are OK - then you are safe. It is a good idea to check every now and then in case light slightly changes.

Ofer, #1: Melissa did not state what exposure mode she was using....

#2: As I mentioned, 1/1600 sec at f/8 ISO 400 is generally a good exposure for bright whites in the sun (except in very strong sun where I sometimes need 1/2000 at f/8 or even 1/2500 at f/8 on rare occasion.

Your advice on using Manual mode here is good. BTW, just being in Manual mode is no guarantee of getting the right exposure.... And we do not even know here that she did not have the perfect exposure (combined with a poor RAW conversion....

Melissa, what mode were you in?

[Melissa Groo]

Artie, good question. I was in Manual mode as per James' suggestion. With his prodding, I remember checking the whites from time to time but please note this was the very first time I had EVER used Manual so I don't really think it's a good case of Manual working in this instance or not.
One more thing to mention here, and I apologize, I should have mentioned it at the outset, but had not remembered at the time--this was an extremely rare occasion that I was shooting in JPEG only format. I had been shooting RAW all day but as this had been a very fruitful day out with Shadle I had filled up three cards and was working with precious little space. I had no choice but to switch to JPEG to allow more space in the last hour, or I would be stuck. And no time to chimp....
That said please don't think you wasted your time telling me how to go about the reconversion in RAW. That is still tremendously useful, I can apply it to other images where I need to save the whites.
Thanks again for the feedback and guidance and please excuse my rookie errors. Rest assured I am learning tons from this site and from Digital Basics.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Melissa,

re:

Artie, good question. I was in Manual mode as per James' suggestion.

That just proves my point.... The photographer determines the exposure, not the mode.

With his prodding, I remember checking the whites from time to time but please note this was the very first time I had EVER used Manual so I don't really think it's a good case of Manual working in this instance or not.
Have you done back and re-converted? I am still betting that with the exposure that you set that the whites are at least recoverable.

One more thing to mention here, and I apologize, I should have mentioned it at the outset, but had not remembered at the time--this was an extremely rare occasion that I was shooting in JPEG only format.

That is a criminal offense punishable by fine and incarceration. JPEGs are more contrasty and the WHITEs when burned cannot be recovered...

I had been shooting RAW all day but as this had been a very fruitful day out with Shadle I had filled up three cards and was working with precious little space. I had no choice but to switch to JPEG to allow more space in the last hour, or I would be stuck. And no time to chimp....

And you paid the price... Here is a lesson for all. Your camera cost you about $1700. Your lens about $6,000. Storage is cheaper than ever. The Delkin 32gb cards that I use cost only $134.95.... Can you say penny wise and pound foolish? To learn why I use these large cards click here. A 32 gb card costs just 1.75% of the total cost of your rig :)

That said please don't think you wasted your time telling me how to go about the reconversion in RAW. That is still tremendously useful, I can apply it to other images where I need to save the whites.

YAW

Thanks again for the feedback and guidance and please excuse my rookie errors. Rest assured I am learning tons from this site and from Digital Basics.
All good and thanks for your purchase. We do tell folks in Digital Basics never to use JPEG capture. :)

[Melissa Groo]

Aiiii.. the lashes are smarting..
It was an exceptional circumstance and I hated to do it, but had to. It was either JPEGs or nuthin. And yes, have learned my lesson, came home and instantly bought another 16GB card. I had 4 cards with me that day out with Shadle and had thought it would be enough (about 32GB worth total). It was my first time using the 7D (I'd been using a 5DII) and I did not account for the big change in fps and how fast that would rack up!
In the next day or two I will use your and Ofer's recommendations to work on a pic of a spoonie that has a couple challenging white areas on it, and will post the results. Thanks again.

[Arthur Morris]

Sometimes I need to go to the whip to drive home my point :)

Do check the link to learn why I use and recommend only 32 gb cards and choose to put all my eggs in one basket.

YAW.

[arash_hazeghi]

Awesome landing pose Melissa, I would crop off the two birds on the side and concentrate on the landing one, Dan's repost has brought out the white details nicely.