Little Green Heron, as I like

ginger_55

I woke up this AM, and I just had to start over with my Little Green Heron shot. He is my favorite of the herons, I have not seen one in a long time. This is the first time I have gotten one in flight. I was so excited yesterday, so I reworked him. This is how I remember him, a lazy Carolina afternoon, laden with moisture.

I did not crop the first one at all, as I could not find a crop that worked for me. The second one is taken from the same distance and I did crop it.

I hope you comment, if you stopped, I appreciate it, smile!

ginger

Osprey Whisperer

Hi Ginger. Seems you are enjoying your new lens. Just some thoughts....and really..what do I know? The first one needs more space in front of the bird. He has little space to "fly into". Not a major issue..and often with BIF we're all just greatful to capture the darn thing. Since you DIDN'T crop..not much to do. Just would have liked to see more space in front..rather than in back of the bird.

Like the second shot better..but here again...I might have moved the bird a bit to the right....so there was a bit more space in front of him/her. It's almost centered. Just my feelings towards BIF. Even though they are stop action...there is still that implied movement....

---

>>> forward. It is sort of an uncomfortable feeling (for most viewers) when there isn't any space for that (action) bird to move into.

Did you use any USM or other sharpening? I'm always wanting to see more detail/sharpness in many of your shots. (yeah..I know.I over sharpen usually). What about contrast? Did you boost that any? Perhaps a touch of additinal contrast? Might make it pop a bit more?

Just thought. Nice shot just the same. I'm thinking I'm leaning towards a 400mm now. Don't know if I can swing the f/2.8 in that. The 300mm f/2.8 was going to break the bank as it was. Grrrrrrrrr. Need to find a good used copy.

Keep 'em coming Ginger.

BMP

ginger_55

Bird man, you make valid points. He flew out of my range, since I couldn't give him more space in the first shot, I just caved, I guess, to show the surroundings.

I used USM, I did not use any sharpening in RAW. And I did not use the WB correction in RAW. That was one of the things I did not like re the shot I worked up yesterday.

However, both shots need to be, and can be, sharper. In actuality they should be, the shutter speed was very fast, probably the haze, I don't know. I do know that I could work on the cropped one, especially, a bit to get a bit of crispness in the sharpening process. There are also tools people use, I don't have one. I don't actually know how they work.

In the placement, yes, I am always telling people to leave space for moving objects to move into, then I get confused on cropping a bird. I changed one crop for more space. In a more recent post. So, you are absolutely spot on on that one.

I did use contrast in RAW. Also, I went back to doing curves for POP (could have been worse, )

I do like a softer look in my photos than you have in your photos, however, I do like your look in your photos. I think each of us could have our photos matched to us out of a line up, , by our preferences. In fact, I think that is true of many of us. We are getting signature styles, don't you think?

I will look into aggressive sharpening techniques. Will see if I can find my notes on high pass, someone did a good tutorial on that. Wish they would label the subject of the tutorial, or info, in the subject line so that a "search" on dGrin would be easier. If/when I do that, I will adjust the crop a bit. Oh, I do have Rutt's tutorial on sharpening, and it is well marked in search. But there is one even more aggressive, and it involves high pass.

On the ones not cropped. I just could not see a good reason to do it.

Thanks, bird man, you are good people. (Oh, that is a bitchin' good lens, IMO)

ginger (starving to death, not that raw fish looks that great: I do not eat sushi, either)

Harryb

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Hi Ginger. Seems you are enjoying your new lens. Just some thoughts....and really..what do I know? The first one needs more space in front of the bird. He has little space to "fly into". Not a major issue..and often with BIF we're all just greatful to capture the darn thing. Since you DIDN'T crop..not much to do. Just would have liked to see more space in front..rather than in back of the bird.

Like the second shot better..but here again...I might have moved the bird a bit to the right....so there was a bit more space in front of him/her. It's almost centered. Just my feelings towards BIF. Even though they are stop action...there is still that implied movement....

---

>>> forward. It is sort of an uncomfortable feeling (for most viewers) when there isn't any space for that (action) bird to move into.

Did you use any USM or other sharpening? I'm always wanting to see more detail/sharpness in many of your shots. (yeah..I know.I over sharpen usually). What about contrast? Did you boost that any? Perhaps a touch of additinal contrast? Might make it pop a bit more?

Just thought. Nice shot just the same. I'm thinking I'm leaning towards a 400mm now. Don't know if I can swing the f/2.8 in that. The 300mm f/2.8 was going to break the bank as it was. Grrrrrrrrr. Need to find a good used copy.

Keep 'em coming Ginger.

BMP

Still a good catch LGHs in flight are a very difficult capture.

Andy

what birdman said, i agree.. the first shot would be good if your little greenie had some room to fly "into..."

i'll add, since you asked for comments: the second shot needs faster shutter speed, to freeze the action and to avoid severe camera shake / blur.

keep shooting, and sharing.

ginger_55

My computer/cable is up and running again. High Pass sharpening as per tutorial by Sid, Exif: If I just give you a link to the photo, can you get the exif. The ISO was 800 as advised by Steve and John Mueller (previous lens owner), shutter speed was 1/1600, f8.0, aperture priority, EC -1

link:
http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/photos/33730828-L.jpg

revised photo, the cropped one..........



Thanks for stopping and commenting, Harry and Andy.

I really do appreciate it.

ginger

Andy

ginger_55 wrote:

My computer/cable is up and running again. High Pass sharpening as per tutorial by Sid, Exif: If I just give you a link to the photo, can you get the exif. The ISO was 800 as advised by Steve and John Mueller (previous lens owner), shutter speed was 1/1600, f8.0, aperture priority, EC -1

revised photo, the cropped one..........



Thanks for stopping and commenting, Harry and Andy.

I really do appreciate it.

ginger

ginger, sharpening will only help when a photograph is sharp to begin with - this shot is soft and so agressive sharpening as you've done only takes away further imo.

ginger_55

OK, thanks Andy, I appreciate the advice.

ginger

ginger_55

Harryb wrote:

Still a good catch LGHs in flight are a very difficult capture.

Thank you, Harry.

ginger

bfjr

Evening Ginger.
with all that been said and I know your gonna hate this but gotta tell one more thing,

Use a Support at the least a Monopod, tripod (good one) would of course be better. It will help your shots in all aspects, honest !!

John Mueller

Ginger,what has helped me with BIF is using AI Servo.Dont know if you have tried this or not.
Keep @ it and youll be getting sharp crisp BIF:):