Birds at Mangalajodi.

[ksasidhar]

I went to Mangalajodi on December 31. It is a brackish water lake where we see a large flock of migratory birds this time of year. I took a boat ride on the lake and started capturing the images at 6:30 AM. I was hoping for the sunrise, but the weather remained hazy. The images were captured using a Canon EOS 6D with a 100mm-400mm zoom lens. I am using this camera and lens for the first time. I could not get the setting correct. Most of the images felt slightly out of focus. I used RawTherapee to process the images as best as I could. The setting details and post-processing methods I tried are listed separately for each image. I will appreciate your comments to improve both technically and artistically. All the images were taken in manual mode.

This image was captured at a focal length of 176 mm, with a shutter speed of 1/400 sec, and an aperture of f/8. I processed the image by using haze removal with a strength of 61 and a depth of 16. I then increased the exposure compensation to 2.1and black to 1345. Artistically, I would have wanted to capture the flying birds against the backdrop of the brackish water lake. I don't feel scenic enough to my liking.

The idea of this image was similar. I wanted to capture the activity of the birds with a backdrop of the entire landscape. This image was captured at a focal length of 124 mm, with a shutter speed of 1/320 sec, and an aperture of f/8. I processed the image by using haze removal with a strength of 56 and a depth of 18. I then increased the exposure compensation to 1.06. I used a graduated filter to increase the brightness of the sky portion of the image.

 

[zombiesniper125 25]

I will lump both images in the same critique as they are close enough that individual critiques wouldn't be needed. You didn't state how new you are to photography. I may have been lazy here. I didn't see a welcome post but you are posting in the beginners section so I'll use that to guide my answer.
Warning long answer coming. Shortened version at the end for others that want the cliff notes.

Focus:
It's hard to tell with these images since they are overall soft due to the lighting/fog and the background but you may be correct that they are not in focus.

One issue for focusing is how many focus point you use. I almost exclusively use single point. This ensures the camera is only trying to focus on what I want and not hitting any distractions. This become doubly important in images like #2 where if you use to many focus points the camera may choose a background bird instead of the one you were wanting. Some new mirrorless cameras have evolved beyond this but us old DLSR users still need to pick and choose our focus points wisely.

Another issue is you are attempting crips images in a very difficult environment for someone relatively new to the gear and possibly this type of photography. There are many people with moderate skill that would still struggle here. The better the light on the subject usually aids in sharper images. The current lighting is also coming from behind the subjects. It's ideal to have the primary light source at your back. I know this isn't always possibly however judging performance in a less that ideal condition can lead to less than ideal diagnosis of the issue. I would be willing to bet that most of the softness in the image would be from the washed out lighting and on a brighter day would have turned out better.
I would like to see the image without any post production to get a better understanding of how challenging the conditions were.

The last one I'll go over is front or back focusing. This is where you focus on a subject but the image shows either the foreground or background near the subject to actually be in focus.
This is something you can test and fix if you find the focus to not be on the intended subject.

Look for "AF Microadjustment" in your menu and then follow the video below.​

Framing:
With the available zoom you had left in the lens itI probably would have doubled the zoom to about 300mm. At this zoom the first image would have had the birds take up about 80% of the frame. This would accomplish two things. One it would bring in the subject closer. This would give the sensor the opportunity to use more pixels to resolve more detail in the subject. On the second image it would also have removed AF distraction if you were using multiple focus points.
With flying birds I usually try (Read my opinion only so if you try it and don't like it that's okay) to frame them so they are flying into frame. So with the first image I would place the birds in the upper left third of the frame like below.
Short eared owl flight by Trevor Baldwin, on Flickr

Exposure:
"All the images were taken in manual mode."
Not all manual mode are created equal. If you are new to photography, you have really dove into the deep end. This is not always a bad thing. Everyone will learn their own way and speed.
II would suggest keeping eye on the exposure meter and carefully consider the metering mode the camera is using to calculate exposure. Whole frame, centre weighted average, spot can each have drastic differences in the suggested outcome.

Coles notes version.
This is a difficult environment with semi backlit subjects in what appears to be a foggy environment. Zooming in, controlling the single focus point and using an appropriate metering mod can aid in combatting the environmental conditions. Checking AF for front/back focusing and adjusting may be completed if needed.
Framing moving object so they move into frame and I like using thirds to accomplish this.

Like I said on the original post. Good first set. It was't the easiest lighting condition so don't beat yourself up.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

P.S. See why I don't do large groups of images. lol

 

[ksasidhar]

Thanks for such an elaborate reply. It is very helpful in understanding some of the issues. I encountered the issue of AF micro adjustment when capturing birds resting on land. I thought I had them in focus, but I later found that the grass in front looked sharper than the bird itself.

I am attaching an image of the original, unmodified image, similar to the 2nd image. Both were taken at the same instant. The shutter speed was 1/320 and aperture was f/8. This image should give an overview of the kind of weather on that day. I was hoping for a sunrise which I could not see in a long 3 hour boat ride.

I had also captured some images at almost 400 mm. The image below was captured at a focus of 371 mm, with an exposure of 1/400 sec and an aperture of f/8. Your suggestion of front-view capture looks great. But the birds seem to be flying too fast for my comfort. I have a hard time getting the correct settings and framing in that span of time. Photography of this kind has not slowed down for me yet. Your feedback on this image will also be very helpful.

The only image similar to the frontal view image I have been able to capture was the one attached below. However, this image has grass that is sharper than the bird itself. This image was taken as 400 mm focal length with 1/320 s exposure. I had removed the haze and increased the exposure compensation to 1.6 in RawTherapee.

P.S: I understand the problem of adding more images in a post, but hopefully it explains my issues better. Thanks for the detailed comments.

 

[zombiesniper125 25]

Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner. Not sure how I missed your reply.

Still unsure of how many focus points you were using. In this environment with a 6d I would choose either a single focus point or a nine point grid focus. This will give the best chance to hit the subject without the environment affecting it to much. If you had already done a focus adjustment, having focus point that happen to hit the background can also affect images like above.

I would also recommend setting the metering mode to either centre weighted or spot. This will help the camera meter for the subject and not the whole scene.

Lastly if you are still shooting in manual I would suggest trying ISO auto to give you one less thing to try and keep up with.

If you have gone out since I would like to see how you did in better lighting.