The keys to make bird images stand out in colors are having good light and good clean background!
The keys to make bird images stand out in colors are having good light and good clean background!
Originally Posted by bburns223
I think Arthur Morris would look for a spot where he'd have the birds in front of him, and the sun and wind behind him. Because he'd have studied the map of where he was, he'd keep walking until he arrived at a spot that gave him that alignment (predominantly). Because he'd have studied the data of where he was, he'd know the sunrise/sunset times, predominant wind, likely spots, etc., and would then set up the longest lens he'd brought (probably the 800/5.6) on tripod, 400/5.6 on a shoulder, 70-200 on a third body somewhere within reach, and a 24-105 or 16-35 (lens only) in his vest. He'd also choose an amount of exposure compensation based on the notes in his books, or perhaps manual exposure if the camera meter is too dumb to get it right (with EC).
We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.
There is a simple tool to attach to your flash called the better beamer. i've read about it, but never used one until today. It increases the range of your flash by about 3X by focusing the light into a tighter beam. They cost about $40.00.
When mine came in the mail this morning, I tried it out right away. It does fill in nicely, which is necessary if there are shadows.
Here is a shot without flash. Bright sun, harsh lighting with lots of shadows, no matter how hard I tried to minimize them in lightroom.
The second one is taken with the flash, and shadows are much less of a issue, even with no manipulation.
That's INSANE!!! Same time of day and everything? HUGE difference. I guess I could put off a double cheeseburger or two to help pay for one. Are there any negative effects to using one? I'm sure it would focus the light to much to use on something right in front of you, but birds at a distance...sounds all good
Words get in the way of what I meant to say.
They were taken a few minutes apart. What happened was that my batteries on the flash were weak, and ran down so that a few shots did not get flash until I realized what was happening. With your eye to the viewfinder, you can't see the flash. It is hard to see in bright sunlight even if you are looking for it.
Ordered my beamer Thursday on your advice. Thanks for the tip.
Words get in the way of what I meant to say.
scalesusa, I love your flash shot. It's incredibly sharp, and your depth of field is bang-on. I would suggest one quick post-processing fix: Eliminate one of the two sparkles in the eye. A double sparkle looks a bit alien to me, and it also makes it obvious that you used artificial lighting. Just my personal taste. Cheers.
Jonathan Huyer
www.huyerperspectives.com
Thanks for your helpful comment. I revised the photo. It was taken with my new 100-400mm lens with 1.4X TC. Focuses kind of slowly on my MK III, but it can be used. With the TC and all, it is actually f14, but the background is nicely blurred becaus it is quite a way behind the bird.
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