A few more birds before I return to learning landscapes

[Brownbear]

Just sharing because I like these. C&C not expected because I'm posting a lot of photos.

I know I shouldn't clip birds but that will come with practice and better timing.

That said on this set of photos while editing I sharpened more than usual, and added contrast, and saturation or vibrancy so if I have over-sharpened or added too much contrast, or too little I would appreciate knowing this, so as I learn to post-process this feedback will help me.

Blue Footed Boobie




Pelicans

I think this first one is over sharpened?

1.


2.

Fun with Egrets

The worst of the bunch but I like the pose, a first for me with an egret... ie a bench mark



The Best of the Bunch, I think because of the light on the heron...

Heron

This one I cropped even though I loved the beautiful background (because I used center pointed focus)




And I will be moving back on to my learning landscapes project, so that will be it for birds for a while, unless an eagle comes around.

Thank you to all for your help and feedback this year. Truly appreciated.

[Saorsa]

Snowy Egrets seem to be the goofiest flyers I've seen. They make a lot of short hops and actually fish while 'walking' on the water in deeper areas.

The light on the GBH is great. Those are the moments that make you feel happy.

[Brownbear]

Yes, indeed they are pretty goofy with hair-dos to match

Snowy Egrets seem to be the goofiest flyers I've seen. They make a lot of short hops and actually fish while 'walking' on the water in deeper areas.

The light on the GBH is great. Those are the moments that make you feel happy.

[jamn4ex]

I love that Blue footed boobie! The birds will miss you.

[Brownbear]

Thank you. I will continue to photograph birds and nature, always as they are my first photography love. But because I want to continue learning and trying new things and I live in a city full of beautiful landscapes, I'm will be prioritizing my time on this forum to learn more about landscapes. Mine are pretty dismal and I know I will learn a lot from trying.

I love that Blue footed boobie! The birds will miss you.

[rtbaum]

I look forward to your landscapes, but will miss the birds. Maybe an occasional bird to ease the withdrawal.

[JBW]

Just sharing because I like these. C&C not expected because I'm posting a lot of photos.

I know I shouldn't clip birds but that will come with practice and better timing.

That said on this set of photos while editing I sharpened more than usual, and added contrast, and saturation or vibrancy so if I have over-sharpened or added too much contrast, or too little I would appreciate knowing this, so as I learn to post-process this feedback will help me.

Blue Footed Boobie




Pelicans

I think this first one is over sharpened?

1.


2.

Fun with Egrets

The worst of the bunch but I like the pose, a first for me with an egret... ie a bench mark



The Best of the Bunch, I think because of the light on the heron...

Heron

This one I cropped even though I loved the beautiful background (because I used center pointed focus)




And I will be moving back on to my learning landscapes project, so that will be it for birds for a while, unless an eagle comes around.

Thank you to all for your help and feedback this year. Truly appreciated.

Small aside my clan is Eagle. Your last photo you said you cropped because you used centre point focus. How does that change what you capture?

[Brownbear]

Randy... Thank you. For sure, and hopefully it will be an eagle.

Brian.... Well for sure I will have to post an eagle and I will do my best to make it a nice one.

For birds in flight I find it easier grab focus using center point focus but lately I have been trying to use different focus points for a different composition, ideally with no cropping. I suppose that is because it is thought that compositions where the main subject is set at a different point in the image is said to create a more interesting composition, especially if something in the photo leads your eye to that point. ie; the white egret is on the left third of the photo but alas no leading lines.

I'm still learning so hopefully someone else will jump in and explain this much better than I can.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done. I was going to mention the awkwardness of some of the birds, but Soarsa beat me to it.

[Saorsa]

I think the lighting on the Great Blue Heron works because of the darkness and texture of the dark rock behind it are a beautiful contrast to the bird. The amount of detail you have captured in the plumage is fantastic. It needs the large 'empty' space to the right to give a sense of direction and speed of flight. It's brightness compared to the background pulls the eye to the bird as though it just appeared in your peripheral vision.

I thought the water might be a bit too soft for the image but when I tried to crop it out, by using more of a panoramic aspect ratio, it lost its sense of place.

It's a great shot.

[Saorsa]

Randy... Thank you. For sure, and hopefully it will be an eagle.

Brian.... Well for sure I will have to post an eagle and I will do my best to make it a nice one.

For birds in flight I find it easier grab focus using center point focus but lately I have been trying to use different focus points for a different composition, ideally with no cropping. I suppose that is because it is thought that compositions where the main subject is set at a different point in the image is said to create a more interesting composition, especially if something in the photo leads your eye to that point. ie; the white egret is on the left third of the photo but alas no leading lines.

I'm still learning so hopefully someone else will jump in and explain this much better than I can.

Here is an article from imaging.nikon explaining the AF system of your camera. You get your fastest focus with cross type sensors and Nikon has concentrated these in the center area.



Of all of these sensors only 11 are available to see in the viewfinder.



On my D300 I can set a delay before AF tries to refocus. I'm not sure if the D7100 does this.

[FrankMi]

Hi Christina, more experienced folks than myself might differ but oversharpening can often result in an overly textured look. Although "overly textured" can be a personal evaluation, you will definitely want to avoid presence of (1) halos at the edges of high contrast surfaces, (2) a kind of salt and pepper looking 'noise', (3) straight thin lines that get converted to zigzags, and (4) circular shapes get cubic transitions.

If you did selective sharpening on specific elements I may not have caught every location where sharpening was applied but for my taste, none of the images were noticeably overly textured at these image sizes.

If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at Colin's excellent tutorial explanation of sharpening: Sharpening and Noise Reduction Sequence

[Downrigger]

Hi Christina, more experienced folks than myself might differ but oversharpening can often result in an overly textured look. Although "overly textured" can be a personal evaluation, you will definitely want to avoid presence of (1) halos at the edges of high contrast surfaces, (2) a kind of salt and pepper looking 'noise', (3) straight thin lines that get converted to zigzags, and (4) circular shapes get cubic transitions.

If you did selective sharpening on specific elements I may not have caught every location where sharpening was applied but for my taste, none of the images were noticeably overly textured at these image sizes.

Agree, to me these don't seem oversharpened at the size i view them. They are quite lovely to me (esp last heron) and simply seem nicely "crisp", for which term I doubt there is a technical rubric.

[Brownbear]

Thank you John, Saorsa, Frank and Mark for your comments and for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Truly appreciated.

Saorsa, I was not aware that the fastest focusing points are in the center, and that is a good thing to know for BIF. I'm not sure if I have a delay feature but I will look that up in my manual. Thank you for the link on the focusing system.

Frank and Mark, thank you for your input on sharpening, and for the link by Colin which I have reviewed a few times and likely need to review a few more times. I'm still learning to post process and I want to make sure that I don't go from under-sharpening to over-sharpening. For birds I typically sharpen just the bird, selectively in Lightroom, and then in Adobe Elements I apply an un-sharp mask after downsizing.

Frank, thank you for those extra tips to look out for. That first pelican is very textured and I guess he looked like that in real life, ie; messy, wet and rumpled.

Thank you to all for your comments and input, very helpful and informative.

[Saorsa]

Saorsa, I was not aware that the fastest focusing points are in the center, and that is a good thing to know for BIF. I'm not sure if I have a delay feature but I will look that up in my manual. Thank you for the link on the focusing system.

I just checked the menu on my camera. On the D300 the feature is a4 Focus Tracking with Lock On. The options are Off, Short, Normal, Long. It controls how quickly the AF system tries to initiate refocusing after a loss of focus. I find it useful shooting BIF because if I pan following it the camera does't decide to refocus as I pass by a tree or grass or some other short term obstruction.

[Brownbear]

Thank you. I have found the feature in my camera. I have it set to normal. To make sure I'm understanding this correctly, if I set it to short that means my camera will refocus faster on the BIF, after losing focus to a another object?

The link on Nikon is very informative. Thank you.

I just checked the menu on my camera. On the D300 the feature is a4 Focus Tracking with Lock On. The options are Off, Short, Normal, Long. It controls how quickly the AF system tries to initiate refocusing after a loss of focus. I find it useful shooting BIF because if I pan following it the camera does't decide to refocus as I pass by a tree or grass or some other short term obstruction.

[Saorsa]

Thank you. I have found the feature in my camera. I have it set to normal. To make sure I'm understanding this correctly, if I set it to short that means my camera will refocus faster on the BIF, after losing focus to a another object?

The link on Nikon is very informative. Thank you.

It focusses at the same speed as determined by any other settings. What that feature does is make sure that it doesn't start to refocus too soon.

Using your heron picture as an example, you were using the center focus point. If, while tracking the heron, you missed a little and the center point moved to the rock in the background, the camera would try to focus on that and the heron would be out of focus. As soon as you got the point back on it would try to regain it.

There is a better, more detailed explanation at this blog.

[Brownbear]

Thank you.

It focusses at the same speed as determined by any other settings. What that feature does is make sure that it doesn't start to refocus too soon.

Using your heron picture as an example, you were using the center focus point. If, while tracking the heron, you missed a little and the center point moved to the rock in the background, the camera would try to focus on that and the heron would be out of focus. As soon as you got the point back on it would try to regain it.

There is a better, more detailed explanation at this blog.

[mstrozewski]

All of them are nice, but I really like the last two Nice captures!

[Bobobird]

Beauties all. Please divide time between landscapes and birds. Keep this camera handy for the birds and the old one for the landscapes.