Osprey rising like a phoenix
Shot this the other day, using a 200mm and 2x converter. It is sharp ... well sort of but I like the blur of the wing tips.
If you look closely you can see the tail of the fish that the osprey caught.
How about help and suggestions on cleaning up this image and getting somewhere near the standards of this site. (If that is possible with such an image)
Hi Gavin- well, I'll say first that the image has a lot of potential and a lot going or it. I really like the action portrayed here. You know what the bird is doing without being told. Love the spray too and as you say the sharpness is there.
First it would be useful to see the exposure and processing parameters so that we can better understand what you did.
You ask about cleaning the image up, but maybe we need to step back to the photography session itself. I'm seeing a contrasty image with hot patches of highlights and some blocked shadows. This is hard to deal with other than avoiding harsh lighting conditions altogether. Using a low ISO setting will give you more dynamic range to handle an image like this. Fill-flash can lower the contrast. The Recovery slider in Adobe Camera Raw may help to cool off the highlights. Once you have the "RAW" material in your camera you can set above processing the data. Here I would put more emphasis on the bird by cropping tighter to the right and below. Ask yourself what the negative space adds to the image and if it's not much, get rid. Same with below. You might want to keep some space below if you had a strong reflection but you don't.
Thanks John, sorry I should have given more detail here...
Lens: Canon 70-200 f/2.8 and a Kenko 2x converter
Flash: Canon 430 EX II
Handheld
Bird was lit by the Flash and the Better Beamer
Exif:
Camera Model Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Firmware Firmware Version 2.0.9
Shooting Date/Time 8/17/2011 10:18:45 AM
Owner's Name Gavin Slabbert
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/2000
Av( Aperture Value ) 8.0
Metering Mode Center-Weighted Average Metering
Exposure Compensation -1/3
ISO Speed 400
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x
Focal Length 400.0mm
Image Size 5616x3744
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
AF Microadjustment 5
Picture Style Faithful
Sharpness 0
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space Adobe RGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 2:Strong
Highlight tone priority 0:Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Disable
Dust Delete Data No
File Size 23812KB
Drive Mode Continuous shooting
Live View Shooting OFF
The photo is already cropped by about 50% and I have really done very little to the image from a correction prospective, but I did use Art's duplicate the image , ave blur the duplicate, then use curves to set the color balance on the original.
I too thought that it came out somewhat contrasty so I backed the contrast down some, but I guess that I did not back it off enough. I will take another shot at it and post that a little later.
Thanks for the suggestions, and now that you have some additional info maybe you can some more info out to me.
TIA and it is most appreciated.
Gavin
Gavin, I'm not so sure about your comment regarding the flash, as your exif data says the flash was off. Even if it were on, given the lighting conditions (bright direct sun), shutter speed, and distance (at 400mm and 50% crop you were pretty far away) I don't think the flash would be doing anything in this image. Unless you are very close, flash cannot outshine the sun even with the beamer. I agree with John on the issues with the image, more to think about in the capture than the PP.
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com
Kerry I saw the EXIF data but it is absolutely incorrect. I had my 430 EX II on and enabled , set to +2 FEC plus I had a better beamer on my flash and that combo throws light pretty darned far. Far enough, well I dunno but all I can say was that it the flash was on, it was used and it did fire.
Do you have any more in the sequence, maybe coming out of the water. I would have the shutter pressed for several seconds, sure you did the same. What was the time of day and were you in a boat or shore line.
I love the action, love to see nature and this is a special moment in food chain survival (my heart would have been pumping). The large crop hurts IQ and whites are blown over 255 in several areas. This can happen for several reasons, in this case light looks harsh and only shadow areas contain detail, always set compensation for highlights. I am sure histogram is clipped on right side. Anyway, John said it best. Focus on exposure and light technique first and post production second. Looking forward to seeing more for you. Take a few test shots and get light correct and remember to set exposure for highlights, they must be protected.
Jeff I do have a sequence of shots, but the Osprey was essentially turning away from me. Also I was using my 5dMKII which shoots 3 fps in RAW mode, vs my 7D which gives me about 8. As a result the Osprey with fish in claw really has it's wings in weird positions. Really got to do with the timing sequence.
As far as the flash not showing up in the EXIF, after giving it some thought, Kerry may be correct, my apologies Kerry) I bet that because I had the flash set to high speed sync so this shot may have been shot during the flash recycle time which which would explain why it was not showing in the EXIF data.
I am going to add a shot that is SOOC (straight out of Camera) except for a crop and the flash also did not fire, hmmm maybe I need to check something ...
I would REALLY like to understand what is going on here and why my birding images are not near the quality of the shots that I see on this site, and I shoot wedding and portraiture professionally so I do have an idea of what I am doing (well in that world anyway) LOL.
and folks THANK YOU so much for the help, it is much appreciated.
Gavin,
Thanks for sharing. With nature, as you know the lighting can be challenging to manage. Often, we shoot in the early morning and evening to leverage the soft colorful light. Exposure management can be a bear as well. Lot's of folks use AV with exposure compensation and expose for the highlights. Like using the zone systems IMO, where one would meter off the brightest part of the image and compensate as needed. In your example, the whites needed to be protected and the correct compensation must be dialed or be blown (as they were). Practice and post is the cure here. We have a great Education and Tutorial Forum you can visit too. Look at a thread at the top named "Why Don't My Photo Look Like That",. great read.
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...e-photographer.
Thanks Jeff, I will be sure to read that
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