New Album Birds of Prey

[Rod]

Hi everyone I joined recently to ask a question about my 5D & 24-70 lens. Consequently asked about 50/85 prime to help improve the pictures I wanted to take. Have had some good advice and thanks to all for that. I have posted these 16 pictures of Nadi our bengal Eagle Owl who I have trained and worked with since 5 weeks of age. She is currently 5 months and going very well. I have attempted CS2 to remove some unsightly Jessies and posts etc aswell as taking Colins advice and trying out some sharpening with CS2. They are all Jpegs and most are 35-50mm. I am tomorrow weather permitting going to capture again using manual focus and try improve my own skills and improve even more the end result. Any thoughts comments will be well received. Many thanks Rod

[Colin Southern]

And here are the links to Rod's albums ...

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/for...php?albumid=15

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/for...php?albumid=20

[Rod]

Thanks Colin, I learn slowly but do get there! I have tried Sharpen, more sharp and sharp edges in CS2 and the stamp so far! Thanks for your advise I welcome anymore thoughts comments you may post in the future. All the best Rod

[KentDub]

Some fantastic shots, Rod. Most of us only dream about getting that close to such birds

[Jim B.]

Hi Rod,

Great shots! Beautiful birds!The bird named,Mwala,is it a type of vulture?

[Dave Humphries]

As others have said Rod; Great shots.

For me, I found the backgrounds a bit of a distraction in some of the latest album, but I'm not sure what you can do about that. A wider aperture (to blur bg more) may not leave enough DoF for Nadi and of course makes focusing, or if manully pre-focused, timing, even more critical

Don't get me wrong, these are lovely shots I would have been pleased to achieve.

If the "jessies" are the dangling leather straps from the ankles, then you have done a reasonable job at removing them - at this size I didn't notice the cloning at all - well done.

Cheers,

[Rod]

Originally Posted by Dave Humphries

For me, I found the backgrounds a bit of a distraction in some of the latest album, but I'm not sure what you can do about that. A wider aperture (to blur bg more) may not leave enough DoF for Nadi and of course makes focusing, or if manully pre-focused, timing, even more critical

Thanks Dave and very much accept your creative criticism, with my 300 blurring is no great problem, however with my 24-70 I do need some advice & practice.

Originally Posted by Jim B.

Great shots! Beautiful birds!The bird named,Mwala,is it a type of vulture?

Thanks Jim and Mwala is a vulterine fish eagle or a palm nut vulture. In plain language she is a nut eating vegetarian who enjoys the dead flesh of animals she finds! So you can understand why explorers to Africa were very confused. Hence Eagle and Vulture.

Originally Posted by KentDub

Some fantastic shots, Rod. Most of us only dream about getting that close to such birds

Thanks Kent, Now you know it is very possible, visit us one day and I will put most of the birds on the end of your lens to challenge your skills.

Originally Posted by Dave Humphries

If the "jessies" are the dangling leather straps from the ankles, then you have done a reasonable job at removing them - at this size I didn't notice the cloning at all - well done.

Thanks again Dave as the jessies were not only dangling below the bird but I needed to learn to blend in shades on her legs to cover up her anklets

A question to dave and everybody is how can I blur out background with my 24-70 when firing away at 35-50mm? Will going up to iso 800 and lowering aperture to 2.8 help so I can get the shutter speed needed in flight? So much to learn and now the weather is bringing the gloom and grey! rain rain forecast this weekend here in UK and its end of October.

Happy Halloween or whatever you might be celebrating around the world just now

Rod

[KentDub]

Originally Posted by Rod

A question to dave and everybody is how can I blur out background with my 24-70 when firing away at 35-50mm? Will going up to iso 800 and lowering aperture to 2.8 help so I can get the shutter speed needed in flight?

When you open up the aperture you will need to correct the exposure by either (or both) increasing the shutter speed, or decreasing (not increasing) the ISO. The lower f/stop you use the more background blur you will have. This will make accurate focusing more critical, but without a doubt will challenge you to become even better!

Note: If you already have a very fast shutter speed (greater than 1/1000sec) then decrease your ISO to reduce noise on the image.

[Rod]

When you open up the aperture you will need to correct the exposure by either (or both) increasing the shutter speed, or decreasing (not increasing) the ISO. The lower f/stop you use the more background blur you will have. This will make accurate focusing more critical, but without a doubt will challenge you to become even better!

Note: If you already have a very fast shutter speed (greater than 1/1000sec) then decrease your ISO to reduce noise on the image.

In looking at my 'Nadi' pictures they are almost all 2.8 aperture on my 24-70 lens. Under trees along the river with then bright sunlight coming through the leaves etc. Most iso was around 400-500. I notice on a 200 or 300 lens the blur is very more significant, so is it also length of lens? I will experiment with my TV settings and select 1000 with iso 100. Anything else you would suggest to achieve blur?

[Dave Humphries]

Originally Posted by Rod

In looking at my 'Nadi' pictures they are almost all 2.8 aperture on my 24-70 lens. Under trees along the river with then bright sunlight coming through the leaves etc. Most iso was around 400-500. I notice on a 200 or 300 lens the blur is very more significant, so is it also length of lens? I will experiment with my TV settings and select 1000 with iso 100. Anything else you would suggest to achieve blur?

Certainly you need to be even more accurate with focusing at 300mm than 200, or less.

Also, any camera shake will be 'magnified' too. So I'd suggest as fast a shutter speed as you can, you may want to go to iso 800 or more, while still at f2.8, to get it up as this will reduce both subject motion blur and the effects of camera shake. Noise can always be removed later, at least fas easier than blur can.

Cheers,

[KentDub]

Originally Posted by Rod

Most iso was around 400-500. I notice on a 200 or 300 lens the blur is very more significant, so is it also length of lens? I will experiment with my TV settings and select 1000 with iso 100. Anything else you would suggest to achieve blur?

ISO is absolutly secondary to your shutter speed in your situation (secondary to apature too in this debate).
Longer focal lengths do not technically increase the blur, but the do compress the blur (thus increasing the percieved blur amount). That is why when you use your longer lens you are seeing a significant difference. If you are cropping your shots significantly - why not try to use the longer lens? Their is a big difference between a crop and a zoom.

Looking forward to seeing some new photos