Birds In Flight...C&C Appreciated

[jprzybyla]

Barred Owl...



Laughing Gull...






Brown Pelican...

[Momo]

That owl is simply amazing. I would donate some body parts to get a shot like that. Good job!

[jeeperman]

Joe I think you have done quite well here. I prefer the owl even with the somewhat busy background because of the detail captured. In the Gulls I am guessing it was a bit of a crop? It seems to be nice and sharp but lacking fine detail....noise removal perhaps?

[kaneohebud]

Joe: Beautiful work! All are great with terrific feather detail and tack sharp.

I am interested in how you got the light on the underside of the brown pelicans? I will be shooting pelicans, herons, egrets over the next week. I always seem to have a problem with the light sky background leaving the underside of the birds darkened.

[Polar01]

Joe: the image of the owl is brilliant, not much of a bird person, however very nicely done.

Cheers:

Allan

[jprzybyla]

That owl is simply amazing. I would donate some body parts to get a shot like that. Good job!

Thanks Darren, please keep your body parts...hard to do photography without them. I'll tell you how I got the shot of the owl. The owls were nesting in the large dead tree you can see in the background behind the owl. They had a fledgling in the nest and kept bringing food to it. My wife and I spent hours waiting for them to return. When shooting birds I always use aperature priority f/8 or f/11 if the birds are stationary but I always have the shutter priority setting set to a shutter speed of 1/1600 or 1/2000 depending on the light. Then it is easy when seeing a bird in flight to switch, just one click. When the owl landed bringing food back I anticipated it flying off again. Now here is the dumb luck...it flew straight at me. We were across a canal about 100 feet away. I got off three frames before it was gone. Works for me...thanks for viewing and commenting Darren.

[jprzybyla]

Joe I think you have done quite well here. I prefer the owl even with the somewhat busy background because of the detail captured. In the Gulls I am guessing it was a bit of a crop? It seems to be nice and sharp but lacking fine detail....noise removal perhaps?

Hi Paul, thanks for viewing and commenting. The owl was deep in woods across a canal...I had to shoot it where it decided to go, background uncontrollable. Actually I just concentrated on focusing and following it as I clicked the shutter. The Gulls were shot flying over a fishing pier that extends out into the Gulf of Mexico about 1000 feet. So not much of a crop. I think the lack of fine detail is because of the angle with them approaching...not like a Snowy Egret with wonderful plumes and fine detail. No significant noise removal because the IS0 was between 100-200 even with a shutter speed of 1/1600. The same with the two Pelicans.

[jprzybyla]

Joe: Beautiful work! All are great with terrific feather detail and tack sharp.

I am interested in how you got the light on the underside of the brown pelicans? I will be shooting pelicans, herons, egrets over the next week. I always seem to have a problem with the light sky background leaving the underside of the birds darkened.

Hi Bud, thank you for viewing and commenting. What you speak of...the undersides of the birds being in shadow against a bright sky is a common problem. When I shot the Pelicans at 1/1600 shutter speed I had the camera set for Matrix Metering the exposure SOOC was for the sky leaving the underside of the birds in shadows. I used Adobe Lightroom 4 for post processing and set the exposure for the sky. Then using the Shadows slider I opened up the shadows as much as possible (the only shadows being on the underside of the Pelicans). Then using the Adjustment Brush tool setting the sliders to lighten the shadows and to brighten the exposure I brushed the undersides with a soft feather brush with the Density and Flow set at 50% so I could control how much with the brush strokes until I had the look I wanted. It took several tries to get what I considered acceptable. Thanks again Bud...hope this helps.

[jprzybyla]

Joe: the image of the owl is brilliant, not much of a bird person, however very nicely done.

Cheers:

Allan

Thank you for viewing and commenting Allan.

[kaneohebud]

Then using the Shadows slider I opened up the shadows as much as possible (the only shadows being on the underside of the Pelicans). Then using the Adjustment Brush tool setting the sliders to lighten the shadows and to brighten the exposure I brushed the undersides with a soft feather brush with the Density and Flow set at 50% so I could control how much with the brush strokes until I had the look I wanted. It took several tries to get what I considered acceptable. Thanks again Bud...hope this helps.

Thanks for the detailed answer. I'll work with that some more in Aperture. This week will be my first with the 400mm f/5.6L (and a TC 1.4 and TC 2.0) so I'm excited at the prospect of some sharp shots. I'm going to a little known heron and egret rookery on private land in California. The chicks just hatched this past week so it should be great. I'll try to remember to post a few shots......

[Bobobird]

Cool set Joe, well done.

[jprzybyla]

Cool set Joe, well done.

Thanks Bobo, I appreciate you taking time to view and comment.

[WJT]

Thanks for the detailed answer. I'll work with that some more in Aperture. This week will be my first with the 400mm f/5.6L (and a TC 1.4 and TC 2.0) so I'm excited at the prospect of some sharp shots. I'm going to a little known heron and egret rookery on private land in California. The chicks just hatched this past week so it should be great. I'll try to remember to post a few shots......

Hi Bud,

I'm really interested in that lens you have purchased and will be keen to see the results. Let me know what you think about it, it my next lens when I can afford it.
Cheers

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Joe,

Good series here - I really can't suggest anything to improve them.

Becky and I would love to shoot a wild owl like that - we've yet to even see one, let alone get a shot such as this - but then we said the same of a heron catching a fish and our luck changed there recently

Cheers,

[Jack R Mann]

Great set joe, just wow!

[jprzybyla]

Hi Joe,

Good series here - I really can't suggest anything to improve them.

Becky and I would love to shoot a wild owl like that - we've yet to even see one, let alone get a shot such as this - but then we said the same of a heron catching a fish and our luck changed there recently

Cheers,

Thanks Dave, your advise has always been spot on, your praise is valued. There is a story about the owls. There is a large hollowed dead tree in a nature preserve where the owls have nested for the last two years. It draws nature photographers from far and wide when the word goes out that the owls are back. This is the first year my wife and I were aware of it, last year we were doing digital photography as a serious pastime. The dead tree that is used as a nest is about 125 feet away in deep forest, across a canal that cannot be crossed. When we were there we saw several photographers with 400-600mm Canon and Nikon lenses, Wimberly mounts, and tripods to match. We looked out gunned with our Nikon D90 and D7000 with 55-300mm lenses. But, we had one thing they did not...patience. They left, we stayed. The image of the owl is our reward. My wife has images that are equal. Below is another from that sequence.

[jprzybyla]

Great set joe, just wow!

Thanks Jack, I appreciate you taking the time to view and comment.