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Thread: Andean Condor

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Jay Gould's Avatar
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    Default Andean Condor

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    In 2009, when we were in South American, we visited the breeding grounds of the Andean Condor near Bariloche, Argentina. This thread (http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...Condor+Country) shows where we climbed so that I could attempt to photography the condors. We were driven to a road about 1/2 mile up and to the left of the image; then we went down onto the rocks. There is a pinnacle in the center; we were on the flat to the right of the pinnacle. The shoot was early in the morning before the sky when it was very grey and overcast.

    Camera: 7D
    Capture date/time: 14 Dec 09; 9:23am
    Light condition: cloudy; overcast
    Lens: 300 f/2.8
    Focal length: 600
    Extender: 2X
    Distance:
    Tube: none
    Flash/Comp: no
    ISO: 1600
    Exp Prog: Av
    Speed: 1/2500 sec
    Aperture: f/5.6
    Exp Comp: none
    Metering: Evaluative
    WB: Auto
    AF Drive: AI Servo
    Tripod: no
    Filter: None
    Crop: About 20% off of the top

    Processed in LR4, CS5, Nik, Blow-up

    All C&Cs gratefully appreciated!
    Cheers, Jay

    My Digital Art - "Nature Interpreted" - can now be view at http://www.luvntravlnphotography.com

    "Nature Interpreted" - Photography begins with your mind and eyes, and ends with an image representing your vision and your reality of the captured scene; photography exceeds the camera sensor's limitations. Capturing and Processing landscapes and seascapes allows me to express my vision and reality of Nature.

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Jay:

    I like the pose, slightly bedraggled look, big talons, even the white washed perch seems appropriate for him.

    I would consider running some NR on the BG.

    If I didn't need space for the extensive sig lines, I would def. crop down more from the top.

    Cheers

    Randy
    MY BPN ALBUMS

    "Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy" Sir Isaac Newton

  3. #3
    Lifetime Member Jay Gould's Avatar
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    Hi Randy, thanks for taking the time to comment. I did run Nik Define on the entire image; I will run it again on the background.

    I was about to ask "sig lines" and then ; screw the sig lines - I will also shrink the sig and do the crop. Let's first see what else other want me to do too.

    Love this place! (BPN that is!!)
    Cheers, Jay

    My Digital Art - "Nature Interpreted" - can now be view at http://www.luvntravlnphotography.com

    "Nature Interpreted" - Photography begins with your mind and eyes, and ends with an image representing your vision and your reality of the captured scene; photography exceeds the camera sensor's limitations. Capturing and Processing landscapes and seascapes allows me to express my vision and reality of Nature.

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Jay, very nice.
    I would also take some off the top.
    Great species to get a photo of.
    Dan Kearl

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    I would like a slightly tighter composition too and also a little boost in saturation perhaps. else the pose is great and nice details on the subject.

  6. #6
    Roman Kurywczak
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    Hey Jay,
    To add to the above suggestions...might tone down the "poop" rock a touch too. Nice to see you posting!

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    Love the pose of this one. Nice detail, too. It must have been an adventure going up to photograph this species.

    The colors appear muted on my screen and I agree on running NR on the background. Out of curiosity, why were you shooting ISO 1600 and 1/2500 sec?

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Hi Jay,
    I like to see unusual birds posted. Very nice look back pose and I like the slightly "wet and bedraggled (sp?) " look. I have never seen this bird in real life but wonder if there is a slight magenta cast? The BG has a "ground glass" look and I am unsure if this is due to noise or atmospheric conditions. Very nice to see the loose feather on the chest,
    Gail
    PS Why such a high ISO with the 7D?

  9. #9
    Lifetime Member Jay Gould's Avatar
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    Hi, RP based upon suggestions:

    Cropped down from top.

    Background: OP: Define default on whole image; RP: Define default on whole image; created a CASE layer (Ctrl-Alt-Shft-E) so that I could run Define a second time only ont he background; deleted the CASE layer to keep file size down.

    Darkened the poop perch! Thanks, Roman!

    Gail, I learned where the magenta cast came from; see next post.

    ISO: Couple of things about this moment in time. I had only been a photographer - whatever that means - five months and had the 7D for three months. Would I use the same ISO today knowing what I know about the noisy 7D above about ISO 800? Probably! At ISO 1600 I was shooting wide open (f/5.6) using the 300 with a 2X TC. I was HH and standing in the wind on that mountain top - did you look at the location I referenced? - shooting the flying condors. They would land in front of me - well sort of in front of me and preen, do their business, and off they went. I was happy to be able to get 1/2500 in those conditions. Clearly, you do not need 1/2500 when they have stopped and perhaps with more experience I would have quickly backed off the ISO and lowered the SS for the perched shot.

    What do you think of the RP?
    Cheers, Jay

    My Digital Art - "Nature Interpreted" - can now be view at http://www.luvntravlnphotography.com

    "Nature Interpreted" - Photography begins with your mind and eyes, and ends with an image representing your vision and your reality of the captured scene; photography exceeds the camera sensor's limitations. Capturing and Processing landscapes and seascapes allows me to express my vision and reality of Nature.

  10. #10
    Lifetime Member Jay Gould's Avatar
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    Gail, good catch on the magenta!

    The two images: the left image is in CS5 on the desktop; the right image is the result of a CS5 Save For Web.

    I had already reduced the file size using a program called Alien Skin Blow Up and converted to sRGB 8 bit. I then opened the image in SFW to optimize to 250kb and when it opened I immediately noticed the color change - YUK!

    Cancelled that and saved as a jpg; did an export in LR4 to my hard drive to increase the quality and posted the RP.

    Save For Web is off my workflow!!
    Cheers, Jay

    My Digital Art - "Nature Interpreted" - can now be view at http://www.luvntravlnphotography.com

    "Nature Interpreted" - Photography begins with your mind and eyes, and ends with an image representing your vision and your reality of the captured scene; photography exceeds the camera sensor's limitations. Capturing and Processing landscapes and seascapes allows me to express my vision and reality of Nature.

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    Beautiful portrait, great pose and colours.

  12. #12
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    lovely species Jay, and one well worth the effort to see and photograph...
    the repost sorts out the noisy BG but I would sharpen the head some more in that version

    I have never had PS change colour in an image when I use "save for web" - did you have "convert to sRGB" ticked and "embed colour profile" ticked?
    Morkel Erasmus

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