Post your best bird shots!

[Kayaker72]

Thanks Bill. Right there in Auburn along 121 is where I took a number of my fall photos last year. Nice drive. I was going to head out to Great Bay today, but you changed my mind. Meeting up one day sounds great.


Thanks,


Brant

[Joel Eade]

This is somewhat more heavily cropped and enlarged close up of a red bellied woodpecker taken with the 1DMKIII at 420mm (300 + 1.4tc) Taken from about 20 feet at even with only a 10mp sensor you can still retain good detail.


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[JJphoto]

it was my first shoot w/the 1.4x, 500 combo and I
was a little disappointed w/the overall sharpness of my pix.....I just
wished I'd done a better job w/the action shots.

Bill,
nice shots!, the pictures do look a little soft to me though, by looking
at your shutter speed of 1/1250, it seems more like lose some of the
details because of cropping too much and/or using of the TC other than
a motion blur.I'm just guessing. I often use my 500 with the 1.4X TC,
all I can say is the closer you get the better result you (more details)
get.





Joel,, when you crop your picture like this heavy, how big you can print your picture without compromise the the IQ? how do I know the MAX size I can print for a given size of file without losing IQ? thanks!

[Bill W]

Thanks JJ....I hear ya about filling frame, but it's tough to do when there's about 70 yards of water between myself and the loon...it's still too cold to go swimming around here. [:P]


They were rather soft before the cropping......I blame operator error and the excitement (moving too fast) of finding the loon.


Bill

[Joel Eade]

Joel,, when you crop your picture like this heavy, how big you can print your picture without compromise the the IQ? how do I know the MAX size I can print for a given size of file without losing IQ? thanks!

I am not entirely sure, I haven't been printing very much .... but I would not be afraid to try 16 X 20 .... If you are truly interested in big prints and you have not read about or seen Genuine Fractals ( I think they changed the name of it now) I would highly recommend you look at it .....it does impressive enlargements without IQ loss.


I have 9 16 X 20 prints in my office that I ordered from mpix.com but I used Genuine Fractals on the image files and saved them as an 8 bit TIFF prior to having them printed and they printed fantastically (IMHO)


Joel

[Fast Glass]

Joel,, when you crop your picture like this heavy, how big you can print your picture without compromise the the IQ? how do I know the MAX size I can print for a given size of file without losing IQ? thanks!

Take the resolution and divide it my the width of your print and you can figure out the dots per inch. Generally you don't want to go lower than 200 DPIwhich looks good an a larger print (13x19 or so). 100 DPI is about as low as you want to go for a larger print counting enlargement software, with out enlargement software 100 DPIit looks pretty soft. Also larger prints can get away with lower DPI, 100 DPI on a 4x6 looks terrible! But 100 DPI would look great on a 60x90.Ahigher contrast image also looks a bit sharper than a lower cotrast image.


It also depends on your personalstandard for what's exceptable,if I canI don't like to print anything lower than 300/350 DPI depending on the contrast of the image. But that's not always possible.


If you have a good printer such as the Epson R1900 or the canonPRO 9000/PRO 9500 you have a lot more control of the quality and colors of you print. Plus it's a bit cheaper with Canon inks and lot cheaper with third party inks.


You can also use higher quality paper than most printing services which can make a bigger difference than the printer. I really like the EpsonPremium glossy paperwhich isEpsons bestpaper.The Canon's Platinum is very good too and cheaper, but not quite as glossy and smooth. Most people regardtheEpsonas thebest photo paper regardless of theprinter. And I agree!


John.

[Kayaker72]

So, the Loons are still at Lake Massabesic, right along Rt 121 as Bill said. I saw 3 of them at different times, but the ice has continued to reside and they are pretty far out. But, I did find some other birds closer by. These are my three best, I am going to post a few others under the "current" thread.


All photos: Canon 7D, 100-400L @ 400 mm, 1/1600, f/5.6 ISO 400


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C&C's are welcome

[Richard Lane]

Joel, the Woodpecker shot still looks good! Nice colors and contrast, as well as good feather and eye detail.


Rich

[Richard Lane]

Rich; it was my first shoot w/the 1.4x, 500 combo and I was a little disappointed w/the overall sharpness of my pix.....I just wished I'd done a better job w/the action shots. Guess it's just another learning curve for me to flatten.

There's always a learning curve with a new lens. I like these shots!


I guess some other things to consider, would be to shoot either earlier or later in the day, or consider a CPL. The birds also look slightly backlit, so try and find the Sun and position yourself with your back to the Sun if possible, so then your subject will find the light, but hey these birds probably didn't read the same book that I did.


The water looks calm, so I don't see any wind. Try stopping down, a stop or two, perhaps that will increase your sharpness.


Even better.., would beif you could catch both of their eyes looking at the camera. Good luck with that one!


I can't wait to see more!


Rich

[JJphoto]

thank you very much Joel and John for your reply.


I need to print some big sized pictures of my kids and birds shots later, I don