2nd spin around the block - c 'n' c -have at 'er!

slapshot · Jul 19, 2008

Prologue...

Mmmmm'k

Sunday evening after supper (7-ish) I headed a few miles out of town looking for some action. I came to the bottom of a small valley with marshland on both sides of the bridge. I was in my glory - shore birds, song birds, water fowl and a beaver dam & lodge. Had a blast with the evening light (those of you in the lower latitudes have to remember in July it doesn't get dark here in Alberta until 9:30-10:00 pm!).

I'm still getting accustomed to my new Nikon D300 and I become more comfortable with each outing. Some of the bird shots aren't worthy of posting but here are a few shots you can critique to your heart's content....

Epilogue

I turned around and there was a flock of American White Pelicans flying towards me. My heart stopped just for a brief moment and just as quickly, my mind began to race. "Shutter speed, shutter speed, damn, I'm on aperture, damn", I fumbled with the dials (still not quite familiar!). The birds flew in closer like a squadron of aircraft looking for a place to land. "Oh no! If I don't get any shots now I will be facing the sun and that certainly won't work!" I zoomed the 18-200mm all the way and focused on one bird and kept a bead on him as I tracked the flock overhead. Zip, zip zip, zip went the shutter.....

*wipes sweat from brow*

LaFoto · Jul 19, 2008

slapshot;1316754 said:
*wipes sweat from brow*

Oooo, how well do I know THAT feeling when it comes to "Hey, cool birds flying by" photos. I rarely have ANYTHING to show for all my hasty attempts and gushes of sweat in the end. Not even ONE decent photo, like your one of the four pelicans flying by. (I mean, if it were PELICANS here, I'd bite myself into my own ... erm ... derrière, if I missed out on those! They'd be downright sensational in my area!)

And I like each and every photo you're showing us but my favourite can only be?

Hm?
Hm?

Three!
Of course.

(Why "of course"? Well. Guess...)

tirediron · Jul 19, 2008

Great images; well done. Really not much to critique, other than to suggest that #s 1 & 3 might have been even better with the use of a circ-pol and grad ND filters.

Trenton Romulox · Jul 19, 2008

Number three is by far my favorite. If you just pump up the contrast and vibrance a bit, and darken that blue...wow, it'll go from a good shot to a great shot.

Nice series.

P.S.
It said it's okay to edit, so here's my take on number three, to give you a general idea of what I mean with the contrast and vibrance. If you don't want this edit up, I'll take it down ASAP.

LaFoto · Jul 19, 2008

This edit goes beyond "natural". And I feel an important part has been cut off... that shadow was part of the picture and I miss it her. Plus the harsh contrast now make the lines of the field dance before my eyes...

Trenton Romulox · Jul 19, 2008

LaFoto said:
This edit goes beyond "natural". And I feel an important part has been cut off... that shadow was part of the picture and I miss it her. Plus the harsh contrast now make the lines of the field dance before my eyes...

Why was the shadow important? It drew the eye and threw off the balance of the image.

I'm not going to completely disagree with you about the 'natural' bit, but it's not like such colors are impossible in reality, because they aren't. And the lines are only dancing because this image is of a small size, if it was bigger the sharpness wouldn't be nearly as intrusive.

I'm curious to see what the OP thinks. He'll probably just agree with you. Which is fine by me.

Computer_Generated · Jul 19, 2008

The places you shot are fantastic, I know you couldn't help it but having telephone poles and wires really ruin the beauty of the photos. Just as my personal opinion I like the crop that was done on that field, but I have a hard time seeing things until they're done so it might look good with that shadow.

slapshot · Jul 20, 2008

Thanks for the comments.

First off - who is/what is the, "OP"? Original Photographer, would be my guess. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway....

The rolling fields of green wheat and yelow canola I struggled a bit whether or not to incororate the darker shadow in the forground. I left it in to balace with the upper yellow (as part of the RO3 - that's my acronym of rule of 3rds - HA!). I think it was one of those, "you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't", kinda things.

As far as a CP filter - I rarely shoot without one. When I don't, I have a UV filter on the end of the lens for protection. Yes, I'm from that school of thought. Due to the angle of the sun's rays the CP didn't do much with the rolling filed shot.

Sidenote: For my birthday yesterday my sweetie bought me Adobe Elements 6. I guess it is some place to start. It will take some time for an old dog like me to get comfortable post-processing on the laptop.

Again, thanks for the comments. I have no problem with critiques - that's how we learn, right?

EDIT: Also, regarding the power poles/lines. I intentionally incorporated them into the shot at that diagonal. I failed miserably as the wires are practically invisable.