Once in a lifetime oppourtunity and.....I blew it (pic heavy)

Spuzzette · Jan 1, 2012

My husband and I were out for a drive with camera by my side. The weather is pretty strong here and pretty windy. So we headed down to the lighthouse to take some pictures, just so I could play around with my camera. Figure out settings and so forth.

Then we came up with the idea to drive down to another town so we could see what the wind was doing there. We live on a nice shoreline so we have quite a bit of options. Then he saw something....

"Look at that Turkey vulture!"
"NO! It's a Bald Eagle! Pull over NOW!!" I grab my camera....

Between my excitement, a diesel engine running, grabbing peoples attention who are now pulling over and some HORRIBLE weather....this is what I got....

These are completely unedited....what is your take on them and how would you fix them? They are what they are...but I just want some help with the editing to make them look better.

MK3Brent · Jan 1, 2012

Hey, very cool!
Is that a ankle tag on the bird?

Did you shoot these raw or jpeg?

My favorite one (Remote controlled bird!)

jaicatalano · Jan 1, 2012

What do you want to do with them? It's just a bird. I would say to move on and enjoy what you have.

petto · Jan 1, 2012

^^ looked like an antenna on his back to me too

.

Spuzzette · Jan 1, 2012

I didn't shoot them in raw and only remembered the put them in raw afterwards....so the rest of my pictures for that day are in raw LOL

I love that one..I only wish he had been sitting on the dead tree a mere 10 ft to the left. I think it's some sort of homing device I'm not sure but I only noticed it on him after I was looking at the pictures lol

petto · Jan 1, 2012

You could lighten them up a bit, possibly crop in a bit if the focus is sharp.

Sean1965 · Jan 1, 2012

is this from Alaska?

Destin · Jan 1, 2012

They're really not going to be improved much. They're decent enough shots for the circumstances, but you really needed a longer lens. Also... why were you are iso3200 and 1/1250th?

I'm thinking that like iso 2000 and 1/400th would have given better results. But I understand the whole no time to adjust settings because he's about to fly away thing. Over time you'll learn to change the settings faster and adjust rapidly as you shoot.

The thing that killed you is using aperture priority mode with a subject that is backlit that strongly. That'll trick the meter every time, even in spot metering mode. Really need to shoot manual for stuff like that, but again I understand the time contstraint and excitement factors that come into play. Been there, done that.

One thing I like to do (I bring my camera with me every time I leave the house) is to get my exposure settings for the current lighting conditions figured out before I pull out the driveway. Takes 10 seconds to do, and that way when I come upon something I need to shoot fast, like a bald eagle, I'll have my settings withing a couple clicks of the control dial from where they need to be.

photo guy · Jan 1, 2012

I love the eagle photos. You could try to make them just a touch lighter but not too much. You could also try a crop on the first one but be careful to not go to much as it might ruin it with pixelization. Good job though

davesnothere11 · Jan 1, 2012

I'd crop in and apply a vignette effect to focus in the eagle I believe.

You may want to check back around there as those twigs might be a nest in the making. That, or remains of one the power company removed.

MLeeK · Jan 1, 2012

I have some that look almost exactly like that.
When we lived in Alaska we were driving down the road just like you were and I grabbed and shot... Yeah, not so hot! Yours actually look MUCH more salvageable than mine!!!

SCraig · Jan 1, 2012

The bad thing about once in a lifetime opportunities is that they don't only happen once in a lifetime. I seem to run into one once every couple of months.

Couple of years ago walking around a lake in February I see a Red Tailed Hawk come slamming down on the ground about 10' away. He snatched something up and flew up into a tree about 50' away. Then I realize that what he grabbed was a snake. In Tennessee. In February. At 25 degrees. He just sits there on the tree limb eating his nice hot lunch and I'm snapping away, my camera happily mounted on a tripod for the ultimate in stability. So I go home happy.

When I get home I start looking at the shots and they are all soft. Not bad soft but disappointing soft. That's when I remembered that I hadn't disabled image stabilization before putting my camera on the tripod.

Trust me: It happens to all of us and it will probably happen again.

Edt ... If it's any consolation I love the first two of the waterfowl ignoring the huge wave. Plus your Eagle shots are better than my only Eagle shots.

Daf · Jan 1, 2012

Good luck with the eagle photos - I hope they turn out like you want them.

I really like the first photo - all the birds on the pier - what are those ducks and gulls? That is an interesting shot, especially nice if cropped and tweaked - could be the best in the bunch IMO.

Daf

MK3Brent · Jan 1, 2012

SCraig said:
The bad thing about once in a lifetime opportunities is that they don't only happen once in a lifetime. I seem to run into one once every couple of months.

Couple of years ago walking around a lake in February I see a Red Tailed Hawk come slamming down on the ground about 10' away. He snatched something up and flew up into a tree about 50' away. Then I realize that what he grabbed was a snake. In Tennessee. In February. At 25 degrees. He just sits there on the tree limb eating his nice hot lunch and I'm snapping away, my camera happily mounted on a tripod for the ultimate in stability. So I go home happy.

When I get home I start looking at the shots and they are all soft. Not bad soft but disappointing soft. That's when I remembered that I hadn't disabled image stabilization before putting my camera on the tripod.

Trust me: It happens to all of us and it will probably happen again.

Edt ... If it's any consolation I love the first two of the waterfowl ignoring the huge wave. Plus your Eagle shots are better than my only Eagle shots.

This! For sure.
I suffered from this.
VC hates to be on a tripod.

MLeeK · Jan 1, 2012

This is just with the web sized image that hasn't got much data to work with. I increased the exposure by 2 stops in camera raw, then pushed the blacks up to about 2. The original would probably turn out well.