Translucent Snowy Egret

[justinsnapp]

I am a total beginner to bird photography. I rented a 300mm f/2.8 non-VR lens from the local camera store to try out with my TC-17EII teleconverter for birding.

Thought(less) Process: This was taken in the sunny morning around 7:30am at the Don Edwards NWR in SF Bay. I had actually just shown up, gotten my lens mounted on my monopod, and hadn't even had much time to check all of my camera settings when this egret came and landed nearby. I am horrible at tracking birds in flight at this point; need to walk up the learning curve.

Camera settings: Nikon D300 with Nikon 300 mm f/2.8 (non-VR), TC-17EII at 500 mm, 1/2000th sec at f/7.1, ISO 640, 1/3 EV center-weighted average metering, aperture priority. Monopod. No flash.

Post Processing: The image is from a RAW file processed in LR with some slight adjustments to the black clipping and fill light. I also dodged the water background a bit to provide a bit more contrast between the light bird and darkened water. Sharpened in LR (Looking at feathers in RAW files has made me today realize I need to learn the technical art of sharpening much better than I have at present.) This image is un-cropped.

This is my first post (I just paid a 1yr membership today) so please let me know if this post errors from the ETL guidelines and BPN expectations.

[Jon Saperia]

Hi Justin,
I have only been posting here for a bit over a year, so I am relatively new as well. I also have used some of the same equipment as you - so here are some thoughts.

I really like the translucent effect you get with the primaries on these birds, and that effect you have well. There are lots of details one could discuss on any picture, but the two I would point out are the slightly cropped wing and getting sharp images with a 1.7TC, even though you had a great shutter speed. Both issues are related.

I think your actual focal length was 300 (the lens) x 1.7 (for the teleconverter) x 1.5 (the crop factor for the D300). By my calculation that is 765. I know we all like to get as close as possible, but you might have been better off without the 1.7 in this case so you could be sure to get all the bird in the image.

The second point has to do with the 1.7TC. It is great to have the extra reach and the exposure values you have show there was no problem having enough light, even with the TC, but it does get harder to take a sharp picture as you add magnification with TCs. I have found that a 1.4TC does not impact this too much, but a 1.7TC (I have one and love it) is a tad more difficult and requires more discipline in terms of lens/stability technique. A 2.0 is harder still.

I am sure others will have very helpful things to say as well. I just wanted to note this one point. Also a VR lens when taking flight pictures can be very helpful. Next time you rent ask if they have one. I have the newer generation of the lens you used with VR and it is very good.

/jon

[Cheryl Slechta]

Justin, welcome to BPN! I'm a Canon user so I can't speak to your equipment. The wing clipping has been pointed out by Jon. This is a great place to learn about editing your image. You'll learn from other posts as well. One of the forums is specifically about workflow and I spend a lot of time there trying to soak up as much as I can.

[justinsnapp]

Thanks Jon and Cheryl for your replies! I will definitely scour the workflow forum as well as looking at all of the great critiques of photos being posted on this site.

I definitely am planning to buy a VR version of any super telephoto I might buy. The rental cost for the 300mm f/2.8 non-VR (they don't rent the VR version alas) was a mere $75 for the weekend and that seemed quite reasonable to me.

I really wanted to try out the new 300mm f/2.8 with the new 2x TC as I have heard it is quite workable. I am gravitating towards buying a 300mm lens for BIF and spontaneous photo expeditions and just plan on renting monter super telephotos (a 500mm or 600mm) for occasions when I have a real particular trip or application planned.

The wing being clipped is a problem that is true. Such a small amount is clipped I could almost photoshop it back in and create some extra background. I am not sure I have that kind of manipulation skill (and the ethics of of it.)

[Jon Saperia]

One additional comment, I would recommend holding off getting a 2xTC for now. As I mentioned getting sharp images with a 2XTC is doable, but it really takes some good lens technique. There are some good resources on the site about that as well as other places. If you search past bulletins you will find good information as well.

That said, I have the new f2.8 300mm Nikon VRII and it is stunning. I routinely use it with a 1.4 TC and sometimes with a 1.7TC and it is still sharp and fast. This reminds me of another reason for holding off on a 2.0 TC for now. You can get the 300 to autofocus with the 2xTC (My 600 will as well), but the autofocus speed is reduced so if you want to do flight photography that would be a bit of a problem.

Another alternative is to look for the last generation 300 f2.8 if that is what you are interested in. That previous version did have VR. Both Nikon and Canon Lenses tend to hold their value quite well, but I think you might be able to find one at a more comfortable price.. I would invest the $$ you would spend on the 2xTC into the lens.

Lastly, in terms of 'ethics', I think the basic rule of thumb here is to be honest about what you did to the image. If you were to post an image that you added some canvas to and cloned in a wing tip, it is OK to do that, but you should say so in the post along with other things you may have done.

One last thing you might think about depending on you wallet. That is the Nikon 200 - 400 VR Zoom. It is an f4. I did have had that lens and it is quite flexible, but on the heavy side. Depending on how strong you are, you might be able to use it for flight. I know there are some people that hand hold 500's for flight, but I am not one :-)

I hope this is helpful. There are many knowledgeable folks around. They may have other/better views.

Finally, it does not matter what you have for equipment, the best thing is to get out and use it often, that is how we all get better :-)

/jon

[arash_hazeghi]

Hey Justin,

Nice grab for the first try! Location wise I like Palo Alto Baylands better than Don Edwards, it is 20 min from SNF. When I was on campus I used to stop by at the baylands right after sunrise to grab a few frames before heading to CIS.

As far as 2X TC it is not really usable for flight, sure you get nice perched images when stopped down but for flight it will be tough to get critically sharp photos. I would stick with 1.4X and try to get closer, in Baylands it's pretty easy.

You can def rent the 300VR for a few bucks more from borrowlenses.com, you can pick up in Redwood or Sunnyvale. their prices are good and their gear is in good shape.

Now to the image, your exposure is good, did well in challenging light. the far wing is clipped which is not ideal, the bird had already passed you, capturing it while angled towards you is ideal. The critical focus point seems to be on the tip of the wing as opposed to the head/body area. The foam on the water is not super attractive.

With respect to processing, I use NX2 for my Nikon files. I am actually going to be at SNF tomorrow AM to run the LTO, if you are around bring your laptop I can show you how to sharpen this.

Cheers,
Arash

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Justin,
Welcome to the forums! Good points covered above about the gear, but I will add one additional one that is very important when starting out: Even though you can make excellent images working against the sun angle, as a relative newcomer, pay special attention to the sun and wind angle.......keeping both at your back will help improve your success rate as they land and take off into the wind and by having the light at your back, this allows you to maximize your chance of getting great lighting on the birds also. Artie has preached this as long as I can remember (and that's a long time) and once you become more comfortable seeing the light.......then you will surely see how to go out and break that rule!
I just find it is easier for people getting into BIF to keep the sun at their back whenever possible.
Welcome again and looking forward to more! BTW......hanging out with Arash is sure a great way to learn!

[Richard Stern]

Hi Justin,

I think this kind of image is spot on for the ETL forum, as there are points that we can all learn from, and that's what this forum's all about!

I agree with the other comments already made about this image, but I also recommend lurking as much as possible in this forum and the others in BPN to look at comments about everyone's images. I also recommend getting the Digital Basics pdf file for $20 from Artie - excellent detailed tutorials on how to expose for whites, fix up eyes, post-procees images etc.

Richard

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Welcome aboard. I like the translucent effect here. You got some great advise already. My advise is to practise as much as possible...esp. flight photography. And dont be disheartened if you dont achieve critical focus on many images. To start with, its a good idea to focus on large subjects that fly slow and predictable( herons, egrets, pelicans, geese, cranes) against clean BGs like sky, water etc. And learn how to set exposure manually. Its very important for flight photography.