The shot I missed!

[jfrabat]

I just wanted to share my frustration with you... Today I was setting up my gear to take a pic of a waterfall (which ended up horrible, by the way! The angle I had to shot it from was simply not working!) here in Costa Rica, when I hear all this commotion above me. I turn to see a pair of red macaws, so I set up my camera in 2 seconds and shot away... I could only manage 3 shots, and since I had turned my steady shot off, as well as the object tracking off, and did not set the camera to burst (I barely had time to adjust the speed! Oh, did I mentioned I only had the camera in JPG???), this is the best I came up with:



I just wish I would have gotten this same shot with the right exposure! I saw 3 more pairs of macaws flying by (they tend to fly in pairs), so it may be well worth a return trip to get that shot.

 

[Netskimmer]

Can't gettem' all my friend. I love photographing birds but haven't yet been able to get a good bird of prey shot. I was shooting plant macros in a field and a hawk swooped down and grabbed some small creature not 15 yards directly in front of me!
If only I had my 70-200 on my camera... :gah:

 

[greybeard68 41]

You got a shot, it wasn't perfect but it is infinitely better than nothing at all. I fooled around with it in PS and did get the sky toned down and the birds popped up a bit. I think with some time and PS skills that it has real possibilities. Don't give up on it.

fast and dirty edit...............

macaws-Edit

 

[jriepe]

We've all missed shots. Last month I took a trip to Tennessee and while driving down a two lane highway saw a very narrow gravel road to the left with a sign stating that was the road to a waterfall and at a distance of three miles. As I'm driving very slowly up the road hoping to not meet another car I saw this big bird fly towards the car and land in a tree very close to me. I could see it was an owl very close and facing me. My D7000 which was in the seat next to me had the 17-50mm lens on it but my D80 which was sitting on the floor had the 70-300. I reached down for the camera, took off the lens cap, turned it on, checked the settings, rolled down the window and started to take aim. It was right at that moment that the owl flew away. I was so upset because it would have been a nice shot and my first of an owl. Oh, and the road led to the trail head to a waterfall with no other information as far as walking distance so I turned around and left.

Jerry

 

[jfrabat]

I just wanted to share my frustration with you... Today I was setting up my gear to take a pic of a waterfall (which ended up horrible, by the way! The angle I had to shot it from was simply not working!) here in Costa Rica, when I hear all this commotion above me. I turn to see a pair of red macaws, so I set up my camera in 2 seconds and shot away... I could only manage 3 shots, and since I had turned my steady shot off, as well as the object tracking off, and did not set the camera to burst (I barely had time to adjust the speed! Oh, did I mentioned I only had the camera in JPG???), this is the best I came up with:

View attachment 6900

I just wish I would have gotten this same shot with the right exposure! I saw 3 more pairs of macaws flying by (they tend to fly in pairs), so it may be well worth a return trip to get that shot.

Oh, I tried to fix it... the original is just 2 shadows of the birds...

 

[WesternGuy]

jfrabat, your story is one of many that a lot of us here could probably tell. This may be one of the first ones you have missed, but I can tell you from plenty of experience, it will not be your last one - get used to the frustration . The only consolation is that your recovery wasn't too bad, at least you got some pics. I have been in a similar situation a number of times and not gotten any pics.
_______________
WesternGuy

 

[Bynx]

If you are going to play with the pic, how about just changing the positions of the birds?

 

[greybeard68 41]

If you are going to play with the pic, how about just changing the positions of the birds?

Nice edit.

Here is about as good as I can do.


2 birds corrected

 

[Bynx]

I dont know how bad the original is but this pic is really not salvageable in my opinion.

 

[Joel_W]

Greybeard, nice try, but you went way past saving it. The birds have a really bad halo around them, their colors are way off, the tree's leaves are now purple. Got to agree with Bynx that the picture just isn't salvageable.

 

[greybeard68 41]

Well, you can always posterize.

 

[kyleweeks522]

Just a little quick edit to bring out the colors a bit. Only took a few minutes.

 

[Dominantly]

I like how it turned into a "what not to do in PS" thread.

 

[marmots]

yeah, if the birds weren't so noisy it mat be doable, but not in this situation, i made the bird a little smaller, it may kill the composition, but it hides the noise a little

 

[jfrabat]

I think I will go back sometime to take the shot, and accept the fact that I missed the opportunity this time. I tried for a lucky shot snd missed. I rather take that than try to force it...