Lying Down on the Job

[Arthur Morris]

This Sandhill Crane colt lying on grass down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL was photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens and the EOS-5D Mark III. The lens was supported by a BLUBB that was resting on the grass. BPN's own Dan Cadieux was lying on the ground not too far for me.

ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode.

You can see three more of my images from the morning and read the whole story here.

Don't be shy; all honest comments welcome.

[Karl Egressy]

Great low angle, beautiful light and perfect HA.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Arthur! I like the low angle, IQ, lighting, BG and composition.

[adrian dancy]

Excellent work, colours , detail etc, all text book. I don't suppose you managed any wide angle images to get the crane family/group in their environment?

[Arthur Morris]

Excellent work, colours , detail etc, all text book. I don't suppose you managed any wide angle images to get the crane family/group in their environment?

Not this morning ....

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the shot very much indeed, I particularly like the exposure, colours and composition, a very clean image. I have a couple of questions if I may:
Given the bright light I am surprised you went for f5.6 on such a large bird and with such a long lens, nothing "wrong" with the image as is, but I wonder if a little more DOF would have been beneficial, I think more of the bird would have been in focus and the grasses would still have been out of focus. WDYT?
Was there any particular (i.e. beneficial) reason for manual mode as opposed to Av mode?

[Tom Rambaut]

Can you have evaluative metering + 2/3 stops in manual mode?

Lovley light and alert pose (HA spot on) - perfect situation for getting low.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Jon,

re:

I like the shot very much indeed, I particularly like the exposure, colours and composition, a very clean image.

Thanks.

I have a couple of questions if I may:
Given the bright light I am surprised you went for f5.6 on such a large bird and with such a long lens, nothing "wrong" with the image as is, but I wonder if a little more DOF would have been beneficial, I think more of the bird would have been in focus and the grasses would still have been out of focus. WDYT?

f/8 or even f/11 would have been options but with the bird angled towards me the differences in d-o-f would not have been great, likely not enough the sharpen the feathers. And more of the grasses around the bird would have been in sharp focus....

Was there any particular (i.e. beneficial) reason for manual mode as opposed to Av mode

When the light is relatively constant as it was, it can never hurt to be in Manual mode. What most folks do not get is that the right exposure is the right exposure whether you are in Manual or Av or anything else. There are lots of fine points on exposure that you can pick up by studying the similar images on the blog post linked to in Pane #1.... See my additional comments here below.

[Arthur Morris]

Can you have evaluative metering + 2/3 stops in manual mode?

Lovley light and alert pose (HA spot on) - perfect situation for getting low.

Hi Tom, Thanks. See in part my comments to Jon above. Whenever you push the shutter button when working in Manual mode the exposure level shows on the analog scale in the viewfinder.... If you are in Manual mode with Evaluative metering chosen, it reflects the difference in the exposure suggested by the camera and the exposure that you have set in Manual mode....

To explain another way. Had I been in Av mode I would have set +2/3 stop as my EC. When I created the image the exposure indicator on the analog scale was two clicks to the right of zero showing 2/3 stop over-exposure. As compared to the EXP suggested by the camera's evaluative metering system. In other words, as I said to Joh, Av and M are on in the same.

Folks who thinks that they are gonna get the right exposure because they are in Manual mode are delusional. You get the right exposure by understanding light and your camera's metering system, and by being able to correctly evaluate a histogram. Av or M makes no difference.

I have long suggested that all manufacturers include the exposure level in the EFIX data. The camera surely knows it....

Folks who do not understand digital exposure are directed to the two book combo here. I only wish the info available in ABP (exposure theory) and in ABP II (digital exposure and histograms) had been around in 1983.... It took me well more than a decade to figure it all out. And that was with film. Digital is 100 times easier. It is my position that if you have 15 seconds with a subject and cannot come up with a perfect exposure 100% of the time that you do not know what you are doing .

[Alan Murphy]

Great use of DOF here as the BG and FG are what set the bird.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, this is excellent. Angle is low as it should be. The bird is not covered much by the FG blur and behind the bird is nice OOF pleasing BG. perfect HA and comp. awesome.

[Marina Scarr]

Love the low angle, the HA on the SHC and the OOF FG. The BG colors are stunning...my only wish would be for no sky. That said, this is a special image.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. Very nice light, excellent pose, great shooting angle, and very nice details.
Well done.

[Troy Lim]

Sweet image over all, DOF is enough to capture a viewer's attention.

[Tom Rambaut]

Took notice of the analog scale while in manual mode today, Very useful watching this move around as I adjusted settings. I thought it was out of action when in manual mode. I found it useful today when shooting with a fixed SS and dof and changing light I would just adjust the ISO to keep me +2/3 on the anolog scale and this would give me the most data to the right on the histogram without clipping. I did not have to take my eye off the eye piece to do this.

[Arthur Morris]

Took notice of the analog scale while in manual mode today, Very useful watching this move around as I adjusted settings. I thought it was out of action when in manual mode. I found it useful today when shooting with a fixed SS and dof and changing light I would just adjust the ISO to keep me +2/3 on the anolog scale and this would give me the most data to the right on the histogram without clipping. I did not have to take my eye off the eye piece to do this.

Tom, Glad that I opened your eyes so to speak. With all due respect, working in Manual mode without checking out the analog scale is akin to driving blindfolded with ear plugs....