two birds from today...C&C

[stanton3]

1. Uncropped

2.

C&C please!

 

[AgentDrex]

Would you give out the specs of this shot or is it a magician's secret?

 

[stanton3]

Haha I wish I knew some secrets!

Canon 20d with a Tamron 200-500 f5-6.3.

1st- 1/800, f6.3, iso 200, 500mm

2nd- 1/1250, f6.3, iso 200, 500mm

 

[SCraig]

I love the first one, but it looks a little bit, a very little bit, soft. It looks like the point of focus was on the clump of berries by the bird's right foot, which left his face slightly soft. Regardless, it's a beautiful shot. Well done.

 

[stanton3]

Thank you! I agree. Not sure why it came out like that because I know for a fact I had the focus point on his eye. Very possible it was a little camera shake from me, though.

 

[SCraig]

Thank you! I agree. Not sure why it came out like that because I know for a fact I had the focus point on his eye. Very possible it was a little camera shake from me, though.

I don't think it was camera shake from you. The berries by his right foot as well as the feathers on his left wing appear to be in focus. Birds are tricky and fast as lightning. It's quite possible he twitched his head to look at you when he heard the mirror plop. It wouldn't take much movement to give it that softness.

Hint: Add a good bit of unsharp mask sharpening to his head. It makes a big difference. I'll show you if you don't mind me editing your photo.

 

[stanton3]

Please do! I would love to see some editing from someone with experience! I am only using Picasa, so I don't have too many options.

 

[SCraig]

The only edit was some sharpening using an unsharp mask.

 

[stanton3]

Wow, that is much better, thank you! What editing program are you using? PS?

 

[SCraig]

Wow, that is much better, thank you! What editing program are you using? PS?

That was done with Nikon Capture NX2, which is what I prefer, but I do have Photoshop and several others. It's a pretty straightforward editing technique that most editors include, even Gimp, which is freeware, implements it.

 

[stanton3]

I have gimp..I will try to use it. For some reason I can't get my pictures to open in gimp though. The are as cr2 files when they get uploaded from my camera.

Thank you for the tips SCraig!

 

[SCraig]

I have gimp..I will try to use it. For some reason I can't get my pictures to open in gimp though. The are as cr2 files when they get uploaded from my camera.

Thank you for the tips SCraig!

CR2 is a Canon RAW format. I don't know Gimp's capabilities for handling RAW files so you may have to use something to convert the RAW files to TIF or some other lossless format before editing in Gimp. I do that sometimes myself. I use Capture NX2 for most of my edits but if I need some of the functionality of some other software I convert the image to TIF first so I don't lose my edits.

 

[WesternGuy]

stanton3, these are great shots, but as noted, the first one is a little soft which is necessarily a bad thing, however, I do like Scott's sharpened version. Being an avid bird photographer, I always like to know the names of birds that people post here. I am pretty sure that the second one is a Great Egret, and the first one is, I think, a Northern Mockingbird - they do like berrys. Can you, or anyone else here, confirm the id of the first one. Thanks.

WesternGuy

 

[SCraig]

The first one is a Northern Mockingbird.

 

[stanton3]

Thank you westernguy! You are correct, northern mocking bird and great egret. I will include the names next time.