Originally Posted by Sinh Nhut Nguyen
I'll be the slim white guy about 5' 9" wearing a tan hat and carrying a 5DII with vertical grip and 70-200 f/2.8 IS.
I'll be the slim white guy about 5' 9" wearing a tan hat and carrying a 5DII with vertical grip and 70-200 f/2.8 IS.
Mof, the pictures are great, I like them both.
And Sinh Nhut Nguyen, I don't know what to say - your bird pictures are truely amazing.
Rodger: i love that picture you did of the sunrise!
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Not great, but interesting. I was shooting the bird's mate on a nest maybe 300 ft away (not so great, given the distance--see below) when I heard this one calling from quite close. I turned and there he/she was, maybe 40-50 ft away, net. I had my 100-400mm L lens on the 30D and starting shooting rapidly, in case the bird would leave. Many of the first 50+ were terrible because the wires got in the way, but I didn't want to move in fear of spooking the bird. Gradually, I was able to move a bit, as the bird seemed not to notice--or, at least, not to care much. (I was beside my car, but moved a short distance into a field.) I was also constrained by the sun--you can see that it was essentially directly behind the bird. I was able to clone out the wires in some shots, including the first one above. The light was very strong, with deep shadows, about 2pm standard time near Eugene, OR (about 44 deg N). I lightened the shadows in Photoshop Elements 4 to show more detail on the bird's body. The color difference may have been due to the exposure compensation: 0 in the first shot, +0.7 in the others, all ISO 100. The first two were taken with the 100-400mm L @ 400mm. As the bird seemed to be staying around, I switched to a 70-200mm f/4L IS, including for the third shot (at 189mm). All the shots were cropped. I have most in RAW, but, given my "skill," I'm not sure that would make much difference. (I tried one, but didn't improve it.)
The three below are of the mate on the nest, taken with the 100-400mm L + 1.4x teleconverter @ 560mm. I've included the uncropped shot to give an idea of how far away the bird was. That necessitated manual focus (at f/8), which was not easy. (I wish that I had a 500mm f/4L IS!) I tried to focus on the sticks in the nest, as I couldn't see detail on the bird that well. I had IS turned off, as I had the lens sitting on a Kirk "Fat Bag" on the roof of my Prius. It probably should have been turned on or I should have used a tripod, though this was a lot faster and hid me from the bird. (It also allowed me to react immediately to the appearance of the other bird, very close and at a high angle.) These are cropped--no adjustments. (ISO 100, exposure bias 0.7 in hopes of getting more detail, given the bright sky.)
All told, I shot over 400 photos. Thank heavens for digital cameras! I pale to think what that would have cost with film.
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George Slusher
Lt Col, USAF (Ret)
Eugene, OR
Green Heron @ Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, CA.
40D, 400 f/5.6L, Aperture Priority, f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 400. The bird waslit by 5pm sunlight. The water was much lower than the bird and in deep shadow. Thanks for viewing and commenting.
Larger version http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=8024232&size=lg
Took this long ago in my front yard.
Canon Rebel XT 350D, 1/750 second, F/4.5, 192mm, ISO800
There's a weird shadow on the rocks of that bird. Combined with the lighting direction that should cause that shadow, and the lighting of the bird itself... it's off. Weird. It looks like there are two light sources to me: one that caused a small strip of shadow on the rocks (coming from behind the bird) and one that illuminates the bird) coming from in front of the bird, aka the camera).
The lighting is interesting, but it looks incredibly artificial to me. Still a pretty nice shot though!
Garrett: The black 'n yellow color scheme of your picture is very beautiful.
Madison, which one would you refer? Original JPEG or Original Raw? Give me your e-mail I'll send it to you, I'll also let you know my minimal editing on this image[]
Sinh
Hey! Why would I want your files? I am just saying the lighting looks weird, it happens. I've had more than a few moments behind a camera where some buildings were lit beautfully and teh background was dark dark sky and it looked like I flashed the entire building (which is technically not possible, yet it did look like this). This is what light can do sometimes. Even natural light can look off or artificial. I don't need your files, but thanks.
PS: I am intrigues by your name. What is your ethnic background if I may be so bold? It sounds so mysterious.
PS2: Your picture reminded me that I once shot a heron too. It made a circle with its neck:
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A cicada pirched on a plastic rope.
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40D, EF-S 60mm, f7.1, 1/10, color corrected & sharpend in PS Elements 6.0
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