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Thread: Mr. Lover lover

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    Default Mr. Lover lover

    Hi,

    I had uploaded this to ETL, however I think it is not possible to open the link so I will try again here.

    Last Saturday I had just taken a series of pictures of a Flamingo in flight when I had turned and the "mounting act" was just staring so I dropped to my knees while focusing and fired away only having the time to change the SS settings. Picture was cropped and slightly worked on in lightroom.
    I appreciate your comments on what to improve next time. As I am new to birding I don't have much experience and I don't know what kind of bird it is so if anyone knows please let me know.

    @MOD, please delete the thread in ETL, thank you and sorry for the trouble.

    Thanks in advance
    Niels

    EXIF info, 5D Mark iii, EF 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS USM + 1.4 TC, focal length 500mm at F11, ISO 600, SS 1/800 free hand

    Name:  Mr. Lover Lover.jpg
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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    you got the nice mating behavior, good composition too but the harsh light is holding this frame back. The blacks have lost detail as a result of deep shadows and I wish the pupils were lit. Try to photograph when the sun is lower in the sky and ideally directly behind you

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    You have nice mating behaviour, and you did well to get a balanced vertical composition for this scene. I am really liking the water and the quality of its little waves. Good poses by both individuals. The main issue is the light - its quality (harsh) and angle (with shadows on the faces and the eyes left in the "dark").

    I'm not an expert in Old World birds but these seem to be Black-winged Stilts.

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    Forum Participant christopher galeski's Avatar
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    Agree with comments above,the crop,could do with a bit more room on the right,looking forward to seeing more images.thanks.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Niels, well timed to capture the mating behaviour, and your vertical comp works well. Maybe a little more space on the RHS. Good advice above regarding the light, and I agree with Dan, these are Black Winged Stilts.

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    Hi Guys,

    thank you for the advice and naming the species. This weekend I will try to find a better time and better spot at the lakes to get the lighting right, only need them to repeat the action.

    Cheers,
    Niels

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    Lifetime Member Marina Scarr's Avatar
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    Lovely stilts and you captured amazing behavior. This species mates in early morning and late afternoon light as well, and it is very difficult to capture them well unless you are in lower light b/c of the blacks and the whites. Love seeing the male feet on the female's back. I was photographing mating behavior with stilts last April and returned 15 times to photograph them waiting for the right light, positioning and behavior. It's not easy but your patience WILL pay off.
    Marina Scarr
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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    All good advice above. If possible, please send me the RAW file for this image. You will need to use a sending service like Hightail. If you can figure a way to do it, send the link here: samandmayasgrandpa@att.net
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Niels kindly sent the RAW file as I requested. In fact, he sent four of them. Though it would be pretty hard to tell looking at the original post, the RAW files were all significantly over-exposed. I picked my favorite pose and started from scratch.

    Lately I have seen a common theme from beginning nature photographers: over-exposed RAW files that are then cropped to the max.

    As I posted in several spots here recently, folks need to study exposure. Digital exposure could not be any easier and it takes only two minutes to learn. Work in manual mode. Push the histogram to the right as far as possible without getting blinkies on the subject; folks need to learn to watch for and avoid blinkies on the subject. They are a mortal sin. Folks need to learn to point their shadow at the subject. And lastly, folks needs to learn to avoid the huge, huge crops; they destroy image quality. And crops like Niels' crop here are totally unpleasing. Nobody but beginners want to see a bird stuffed into the frame... Heck, I did the same thing 33 years ago :) Give the birds room to live in the frame.

    I put in ten minutes of work to make this one presentable. RAW conversion in DPP 4. -.17 on the Brightness. -2 on the Highlights. +2 on the Shadows. Once in Photoshop I had to use extreme measures on the hot WHITEs: Detail Extractor followed by some refined Quick Masks to cover the WHITEs that could not be saved. Then some Patch Tool work to smooth things out and a reverse S-curve to reduce the contrast.

    Best of all, these exact topics were covered in detail in a blog post from two days ago; check out Machine-gun Mike's Best Shot and Lots of Exposing for Bright Whites Lessons for All... by clicking here. If you do not subscribe to the blog I can guarantee that you will after reading this post.

    Want to learn; try these for starters:

    ABP to learn the basics.

    ABP II to learn digital exposure.

    The DPP RAW Conversion Guide--DPP is fast and simple and yields the most accurate color.

    Digital Basics to learn to keep from ruining your images in Photoshop. DB includes dozens of great PS tips.

    APTATS I and II to learn Quick Masking and Layer Masking.

    While the list above might be daunting all of the material is actually easy to learn. My great strength is in writing clear how-to. I can only wish that everything above had been around when I began 33 years ago...
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Notice the beautiful underwing detail that was there from the get-go. I am sure that Niels darkened the image in an attempt to save the un-save-able WHITEs...
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










  16. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Niels kindly sent the RAW file as I requested. In fact, he sent four of them. Though it would be pretty hard to tell looking at the original post, the RAW files were all significantly over-exposed. I picked my favorite pose and started from scratch. Thank you for offering Artie and thanks for showing in this example of what I need to change and I prefer your image

    Lately I have seen a common theme from beginning nature photographers: over-exposed RAW files that are then cropped to the max. Guity, when it comes to the cropping, it is difficult for me to leave more space as I want to show the object bigger in size.

    As I posted in several spots here recently, folks need to study exposure. Digital exposure could not be any easier and it takes only two minutes to learn. Work in manual mode. Push the histogram to the right as far as possible without getting blinkies on the subject; folks need to learn to watch for and avoid blinkies on the subject. They are a mortal sin. Folks need to learn to point their shadow at the subject. And lastly, folks needs to learn to avoid the huge, huge crops; they destroy image quality. And crops like Niels' crop here are totally unpleasing. Nobody but beginners want to see a bird stuffed into the frame... Heck, I did the same thing 33 years ago :) Give the birds room to live in the frame. After seeing your videos on youtube I have changed to back focus and use manual mode, however when the mating action started I was too excited and the pictures was overexposed.

    I put in ten minutes of work to make this one presentable. RAW conversion in DPP 4. -.17 on the Brightness. -2 on the Highlights. +2 on the Shadows. Once in Photoshop I had to use extreme measures on the hot WHITEs: Detail Extractor followed by some refined Quick Masks to cover the WHITEs that could not be saved. Then some Patch Tool work to smooth things out and a reverse S-curve to reduce the contrast.

    Best of all, these exact topics were covered in detail in a blog post from two days ago; check out Machine-gun Mike's Best Shot and Lots of Exposing for Bright Whites Lessons for All... by clicking here. If you do not subscribe to the blog I can guarantee that you will after reading this post. Thank you for the link, I will look into this and incorporate.

    Want to learn; try these for starters:

    ABP to learn the basics.

    ABP II to learn digital exposure.

    The DPP RAW Conversion Guide--DPP is fast and simple and yields the most accurate color.

    Digital Basics to learn to keep from ruining your images in Photoshop. DB includes dozens of great PS tips.

    APTATS I and II to learn Quick Masking and Layer Masking.

    While the list above might be daunting all of the material is actually easy to learn. My great strength is in writing clear how-to. I can only wish that everything above had been around when I began 33 years ago...

    Thanks Artie for the help.
    cheers,
    Niels
    Last edited by Niels Hag; 05-21-2016 at 02:32 AM.

  17. Thanks Arthur Morris thanked for this post

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