A Few Images from MI IV

pathfinder · February 11, 2007

I have just begun processing the images shot last week at MI IV. I will post just a couple images shot on my last day of shooting Friday. I will add more images to this thread as I get them finished. Comments and critiques are highly appreciated.

I want to thank Harry for his dedication to bird photography, and his willingness to help aspiring shooters to learn the techniques needed.

I saw these birds below at Vierra Wetlands, or Peacocks Pocket Drive on Merritt Island.

Kingfishers are always fun to shoot. 20D.......................................................................Ospreys can pose regally 20D
[imgl]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/128920441-L.jpg[/imgl]
[imgr]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/128816405-L.jpg[/imgr]

A stork that was having a bad hair day...1DsMKll

More pics can be seen here

Osprey Whisperer · February 11, 2007

Nice pics Jim. It was good to see you and your wife again. (is it a "C" or "K" that she spells her name with?). Hope you had a good time and productive shooting.

dbaker1221 · February 11, 2007

really good shots..love the first 2

ian408 · February 11, 2007

Nice shots Jim!

Looks like you had some nice light for that shoot.

JenGrace · February 11, 2007

I love the wood stork pic! I saw lots of kingfishers but couldn't get close enough.

BPCooper · February 11, 2007

First two are great! Sharp.

Zanotti · February 11, 2007

Great pics!

I would like to get a good Kingfisher like that one! I have looked, but all I seem to see are birds on a wire types.

Great to shoot with you in Orlando - did you get any good ones from the Raptor center?

Zanotti

pathfinder · February 11, 2007

Hi George,

I am working on some of the raptor shots right now.

I enjoyed meeting you too. I thought your thread was great - I drove Peacocks Pocket road Friday - great little drive.

Harryb · February 11, 2007

All three are outstanding PF. Amazing results, especially when you consider the equipment you were using.

ShepsMom · February 11, 2007

WOW, WOW!! Love all 3 shots!!

pathfinder · February 11, 2007

Ok, I got a few more frames done from the Audubon Birds of Prey Center in Orlando, Florida. I highly recommend visiting this center and financially supporting it as well.

You just are not likely to get this close to a Cara Cara in the wild.

Nor to a Bald Eagle

Or even to a Red shouldered Hawk - which reminds me - Nightingale and I saw over a dozen hawks along the highway in Indiana as we returned home from Florida.

A barn owl

Harry, I do the best I can with my poor white lenses. Any success I have I attribute to you and the Nikonians helping me out.:D

davev · February 11, 2007

I see those darn Kingfishers all the time. They just won't pose for me.

Nice shots.

pathfinder · February 11, 2007

Kingfishers are notorious for not cooperating with bird photographers.

I just got lucky one morning.

Did you like the avian portraits?

ian408 · February 11, 2007

That owl shot is outstanding as it relates to the center. Emphasis on the owl
with just a hint of the people who help make the center possible.

Zanotti · February 12, 2007

pathfinder wrote:

Kingfishers are notorious for not cooperating with bird photographers.

I just got lucky one morning.

Did you like the avian portraits?

I think your portraits are outstanding! As you can imagine, we have many similar shots:

But I think yours are slightly sharper. I don't know if its better post processing, a better sensor on the 5D than the Rebel, the IS on your lens, or the fact that you are the master and I a mere student!

My guess is that it is a combination of all these things that make the differance.

I am thinking seriously about pulling the trigger on a 30D and the 24-105L lens. I enjoy the crop factor of 1.6X or I would consider the 5D instead. The Mark I is really out of range for a hobby camera.

Some week I am going to come up to Indiana and get a tutorial - or you are always welcome in Tampa.

Z

pathfinder · February 12, 2007

Thanks for the nice comments George; I shot the birds at the Raptor Center with a 1DsMkll and a 70-200f2.8 IS L, but I do not think equipment is the difference.

I think it may be that I sharpen harder in my post processing, altho the images are sharp even as they come from RAW. Read Sharpening with a Stiletto in the Margulis Professional Photoshop or in the forum here.

See if that doesn't improve the looks of your shots which I thought were pretty darn good myself.

davev · February 12, 2007

pathfinder wrote:

Kingfishers are notorious for not cooperating with bird photographers.

I just got lucky one morning.

Did you like the avian portraits?

I didn't notice that there was a 2 page last night when I posted.
The portraits are good. A few things that I do differently than what you did.

The eagle's head is on the edge of being blown out. Drop the EV -1/3 or -2/3.
Forget about the feather detail on the body. Get the head right, the rest is easy.

Sometimes this can't be helped but the white background behind the eagle
blends in to well with his/her head. If (and I know sometimes you can't)
move around to get a darker background, like you did with the Cara Cara,
That becomes a great shot.

BTW the Cara Cara shot.

Eagles can be tough on a sunny day. A shot of what I'm talking about is here:
http://davev.smugmug.com/photos/121522688-O.jpg
This is an eagle that can't be released. (and of course that shot was in the shade)

P.S. your snowy owl is really a barn owl.

pathfinder · February 12, 2007

davev wrote:

I didn't notice that there was a 2 page last night when I posted.
The portraits are good. A few things that I do differently than what you did.

The eagle's head is on the edge of being blown out. Drop the EV -1/3 or -2/3.
Forget about the feather detail on the body. Get the head right, the rest is easy.

Dave, I tried to be very careful about the white values in the eagles head and I do not read any pixels higher than about 235,235,235 or so. The hot spot to the right of the eagles head is not even 255,255,255, but does reach 250,252,253 or so. On my monitor at work the eagles crown blends right into that white hotspot, but on my calibrated LCD at home it is quite clearly delineated. I did not want the eagles head to be much lower than 230, 230,230 or it would no longer be white but light gray. I have a sneaking suspiscion that monitors play a significant role in evaluating blown highlights more than we think. Actually, I think the white feathers are not blown so much as out of focus as is the beak - The DOF is very strongly limited to only the eye - More DOF might have helped this image significantly.

Sometimes this can't be helped but the white background behind the eagle blends in too well with his/her head. If (and I know sometimes you can't) move around to get a darker background, like you did with the Cara Cara,
That becomes a great shot.

I absolutely agree about the white background. I was trying to pay careful attention to the background while shooting, but I had limited choices of background and limited mobility. I did get luckier with the Cara Cara and it is definitely a better image.

BTW the Cara Cara shot.

Eagles can be tough on a sunny day. A shot of what I'm talking about is here:
http://davev.smugmug.com/photos/121522688-O.jpg
This is an eagle that can't be released. (and of course that shot was in the shade)

P.S. your snowy owl is really a barn owl.

I like your eagle shot - you obviously shot at a smaller aperture and had a lot more DOF than I made use of in my image. Nicely done.

Sorry about the mislabling of the barn owl - I should have checked that myself before posting. I have edited the post.

Thank you for taking the time to comment Davev. It takes time and effort to make sugestions for improvement and I appreciate your taking the time to do so.

Maestro · February 12, 2007

Love that Kingfisher and Osprey. Very sharp!

Wait, I just saw the other portraits. I love that caracara shot. Wow!

pathfinder · February 13, 2007

I have a few more suspects to post this evening as I continue to process shots from last week.

I think this is a warbler of some type, but would appreciate someone who knows for certain to identify it. I shot it at Vierra This egret was a blast to watch feeding
[imgl]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/129546565-L.jpg[/imgl]

[imgr]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/129547683-L.jpg[/imgr]

Here is another egret feeding - looks like it has a big appetite

An ibis in flight

That all folks - this is the end!!

David_S85 · February 14, 2007

Jim, Fantastic portraits of some very proud looking birds.

Nappalonia · February 14, 2007

Wow

That stork looks like its had a rough life:D

pathfinder · February 14, 2007

Thanks for the kind words, Dave. I am glad you enjoyed them.

Hi, Napallonia

That stork did look like it had been rode hard and put away wet, didn't it?

Here is a better groomed stork for you

And a dapper GBH in the late afternoon sunlight

gluwater · February 14, 2007

pathfinder wrote:

I absolutely agree about the white background. I was trying to pay careful attention to the background while shooting, but I had limited choices of background and limited mobility. I did get luckier with the Cara Cara and it is definitely a better image.

I think I was the limiting factor on your choices, I can't remember but I think I threw a couple of elbows in there to get the better vantage point

. It was great shooting with you again Jim and everyone else that was there. Your images so far are jsut great Jim, hopefully I'll get one or two that are as good as yours. My approach this year is to keyword all my images first by bird and then pick the best to process. So far I've keyworded the first three days, only 4 more to go. So I figure I'll have some images posted by next month :baldy.

pathfinder · February 14, 2007

Hi Nick,

I have been looking forward to seeing your work.

Funny, I don't recall getting an elbow in the ribs at the Raptor Center:D

Zanotti · February 14, 2007

Jim:

This is about as perfect a white bird as I have ever seen. You know that this on one of my personal challenges - but I think the white and the detail here are breathtaking.

Z

pathfinder · February 14, 2007

:hide

I got more white birds........:D

[imgl]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/129559951-L.jpg[/imgl]

[imgr]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/129546678-L.jpg[/imgr]

The secret is the special sauce