Raptors, average to why

ginger_55

I enjoy experimenting, and since the subject of raptors was on another thread, I decided to work one up. Am learning about blending modes. I enjoyed the bother, but the photos are not special. So if you are busy and all, I do understand. ginger




Adult raptor.

Below is the same shot I posted last night. Ironically, it is not grainy. Really, maybe just a bad shot. But I did some stuff with blending. I don't write down, I experiment. I am guessing that I used the "find outlines" in filters, the fade in edit in the multiply mode. I thought that might make him stand out better and look less grainy.



The next one is where the osprey left the nest. Night was coming on. moving to leave seemed like a lot of work in the heat, so I just stayed until I really felt guilty. Anyway, I didn't realize how dark it was, but the wings blurred. I don't think that is a bad thing, I am the one who likes blur. Shows motion, to me. And the shot is bluish, but that is night coming on. I learned that last year at the beach. I tried different blending modes, I think I used several. I enjoy doing this stuff out of Ben Willmore's book that Lynn sent me.

I named it "Night", and I framed it, just wanted to.



An adult, a kid and a flyer. In the end, it appeared that both parents left for the evening. I guess that is when I wrapped it up to, though I waited quite awhile. They put the kid to bed before they left.

ginger

BigAl

I like the flyer Ginger. The blurred wings give a feeling of motion.

regards
alan

bfjr

Hi ya G

Like the last one
still like Mr. BugEye, but does look like less grain

And Harry will be happy cause unlike me :cry you have Raptor in Title and a real Raptor in post

I'm stll lookin for some

ginger_55

Thanks, Ben, Al,

if I didn't know where these raptors are, I wouldn't go out looking. I did photograph a couple of red tailed things, months ago, but I don't know where they are "based", it is not where I photographed them. If they go way back in the woods, no way I am going to find them.

I enjoy the peacefulness of my little rookery and my big rookery. They are a sit down, look around, get up shoot, and OOOOOOOOOOHHhHH MY place, especially the big one now. The little one is a real sit down observation tower, except I would like to walk all around it, see if I am missing something. But I have to park kind of far away and walk. Once I am there, climb the tower, it is heavily vegetated, I tend to stand alot. But there is a swing to sit and dream nice thoughts in. I try that and I am jumping up to shoot. I may get hot at these places, but not like at the beach and so.

Ben, if you hadn't posted the non raptor shot, I would never have done these last night. Something, but not these, so thanks, if you know these filters it does not take time. Learning anything takes time, and these are useful.

I wish I had a rookery like Harry's, and I wish I had a lens with an autofocus and a lot of reach, with zoom. But I don't.

I just woke up, am hoping to take the dogs out today, they are moping. I am also hoping to stop this obsessive birding at some point. I used to like it, but I can't compete, not with my equipment, etc. And it is beginning to be work.

It was recreation for awhile, lots of praise, found a bird (One lousy egret), thought I had found nirvana, whatever that is............everything was close by. I actually know the areas reporting woodstorks, I want to check one out, hopefully using bill's van. But if I found it, the birds would be spread out, it is a protected area, not a rookery, not that I know of.

And my abilities are not that good to bring home fresh meat for the PC on the first shoot, so to speak. My car cannot, realistically, take that kind of mileage regularly. We are not set up for a new car now.

ginger

mercphoto

ginger_55 wrote:

It was recreation for awhile, lots of praise, found a bird (One lousy egret), thought I had found nirvana, whatever that is...

From an dictionary definition I found:

The deathless; the cessation of all suffering. The very opposite of the Wheel of Birth-and-Death; it is what those in the Buddhist tradition aspire to experience. The Absolute, which transcends designation and mundane characterization.

If you manage to find it, leave a trail of bread crumbs for the rest of us. :-D

Steve Cavigliano

Ginger,

I saw that 2nd pic yesterday. It is a nice capture, but Ian's comments (asking whether you could reshoot in better light) were right on, IMHO. The main problem with this image, and the other two is the lighting (and the angle of the lighting) you had when you shot them. Shots 1 and 2 have some tough mixed lighting. Blowing out part of the white head feathers, yet the body feathers are really dark (very little detail). The 3rd shot looks like it would have benefitted from some + EV comp. It would have made the sky almost white, but you would have captured more raptor detail .

Ginger, none of this is uncommon. I don't know about the other bird shooters here, but I get lots of pics like this. I'd venture to say that for every 50 images of birds I shoot, at least 40 have some sort of problem like these do. Mixed lighting, not enough or too much EV comp, motion blur, camera shake, bad DOF, soft focus, too far away, etc.... When you see me post 3 or 4 Egret/Heron shots, that's 3 or 4 out of the 100+ I shot Same with my Osprey pics a week or so ago. I took like 50 shots and got 3 or 4 decent ones It's not like I'm a National Geographic caliber photographer as it is. So please don't get discouraged by the mixed results you get. It's not like we are shooting ducks on a pond here. These shots are tough and sometimes, there's no way we can improve the lighting or the angle we have to shoot from Shooting early morning and late afternoon improves the quality of light, but that doesn't mean the birds are going to pose for you in easy to shoot locations and with their faces towards the Sun

Bottomline, hang in there. Your current bird pics are orders of magnitude better than they were a few months ago. You should be very happy with the progress you've made. I know I sure am proud of the quality of the pics I'm seeing from yourself, Jeff and Ben, just to name a few. You folks have hung in there and paid your dues and it's starting to pay dividends

Steve

ginger_55

OK, STOP! I figured it out. I will post no more shots of the Osprey until I get some early morning shots, the sun comes up on the other side.

Nana, no more raptors, til early to late morning.

That is a reshoot?????

ginger, sorry, don't know when that will be. Maybe I could just stay up. I am not a morning person right now.

Harryb

ginger_55 wrote:

Maybe it is semantics. I get the message that some people are saying not to post a photo that is not of the best.

Not at all Ginger. I think Steve was saying that he (me too) posts only a small sample of what he shoots. I know that when I go out I will normally do around 700-1000 shots. Of those I will usually dump the majority of the shots. That's because I will do anywhere from 6-12 shots of the same scene. If I have the time I will try different settings also. The shots we post are a very small percentage of the shots we take. Thats what we do and its not required of anyone else.

You should post any shot you want to post. When you post folks will comment on your shots. Some will praise it and others will hopefully respond with useful and positive critque.

I have a problem that others might not have. I am not sure which my lesser photos are. Some of what I would consider tossing, they end up being a favorite, so feedback is helpful. From you all, or from my own eyes, or reading my own writing. I am really not sure if you all are saying that I should not post this stuff.

Post your stuff. Post any dang shot you want feedback on. Just be willing to accept the feedback.

I guess what I am asking, in a long rd about way, is what should I not post?
as a beginner, I posted junk birds, others do now, we encourage, as a slightly advanced beginner, what would you all like to not see?

Post any shots you want comments on. If there's a shot you are unsure of say so and ask for feedback. I enjoy seeing your work so just post your shots. This is not the challenge here. We are not competing against each other.