Hawks (and a little more)

jecottrell

Yesterday afternoon while out a back road I noticed a couple of hawks. I decided to leave for the office early this morning with camera in hand and see if I could catch them.

I'm still just doing some cheesy PP in Picasa and trying to figure out how I can sharpen things up. I'm not happy with the performance of my D100 at all so far. The only obvious thing I can think of so far is not shooting the exposure at twice the focal length.

There were two of these guys and twice I almost got them while they shared the same pole. But no luck. I chased them up and down the pole line for about an hour.

After I wore out my welcome I headed back to the office and got lucky with a surprise crossing the road in front of me....

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6. (surprise)


Thanks for taking the time to look,

John

JavaLover

Nice shots and a bonus suprise too!

I live in Maricopa and near the Ak-Chin casino there is a farm field that I swear is the night club for hawks! I so wish I had a good lens. I went out that way the other morning and there were a dozen or more hawks and an assortment of other birds.

What kind of lens do you have?

jecottrell

Thanks.

These were with a Sigma 70-200 and a 2x.

Maestro

Nice red tailed hawk on a typical perch! And that coyote was indeed a cool bonus.

Harryb

Good set. I shot with a D100 for a good while and got excellent results from it. What lens were you using and perhaps you could provide some exif data on the shots. With some additional info we may be able to assist you in getting captures that you like better.

jecottrell

Thanks Harry.

Camera was mounted on tripod wedged between car seat and door and the car was not running. Not rock solid, but fairly steady? I was using the Sigma 70-200mm lens with the Sigma 2x extender.

Here is the entire....... EXIF for #4:

Filename : DSC_0074.JPG
JFIF_APP1 : Exif
JFIF_APP2 : ICC Profile (offset:40983 size:499bytes)
Main Information
ImageDescription :
Make : NIKON CORPORATION
Model : NIKON D100
XResolution : 300/1
YResolution : 300/1
ResolutionUnit : Inch
Software : Ver.2.00
DateTime : 2008:04:30 06:09:49
YCbCrPositioning : co-sited
ExifInfoOffset : 252
Sub Information
ExposureTime : 1/400Sec
FNumber : F7.1
ExposureProgram : Aperture Priority
ExifVersion : 0220
DateTimeOriginal : 2008:04:30 06:09:49
DateTimeDigitized : 2008:04:30 06:09:49
ComponentConfiguration : YCbCr
CompressedBitsPerPixel : 4/1 (bit/pixel)
ExposureBiasValue : EV-0.3
MaxApertureValue : F5.7
MeteringMode : Division
LightSource : Fine
Flash : Not fired
FocalLength : 400.00(mm)
MakerNote : Nikon D100 Format : 30958Bytes (Offset:922)
UserComment :
SubSecTime : 10
SubSecTimeOriginal : 10
SubSecTimeDigitized : 10
FlashPixVersion : 0100
ColorSpace : Uncalibrated
ExifImageWidth : 3008
ExifImageHeight : 2000
RelatedSoundFile :
ExifInteroperabilityOffset : 31862
SensingMethod : OneChipColorArea sensor
FileSource : DSC
SceneType : A directly photographed image
CFAPattern : 8 Bytes
CustomRendered : Normal process
ExposureMode : Auto
WhiteBalance : Manual
DigitalZoomRatio : 1/1
FocalLength(35mm) : 600(mm)
SceneCaptureType : Standard
GainControl : None
Contrast : Normal
Saturation : Normal
Sharpness : Normal
SubjectDistanceRange : Unknown
Vendor Original Information
Data Version : 0200
ISO Setting : 200
Quality : FINE
WhiteBalance : SUNNY
Sharpness : AUTO
FocusMode : AF-S
SpeedLightMode : NORMAL
Unknown (0009)2,9 :
WhiteBalanceBiasValue : 0
Unknown (000D)7,4 : 00010600
Unknown (000E)7,4 : 00010C00
Thumbnail Image IFD : Offset:1828
Unknown (0012)7,4 : 00010600
Unknown (0013)3,2 : 0,200
Image Adjustment : AUTO
Unknown (0083)1,1 : 2
Lens information : 70.0-200.0(mm) F2.8-F2.8
Unknown (0087)1,1 : 0
FocusArea : SingleAreaAF (center)
Mode : Unknown (32)
Unknown (008A)3,1 : 0
Unknown (008B)7,4 : 54010C00
ColorSpace : MODE2
Unknown (0090)2,12 : NATURAL
Unknown (0091)7,202 : Offset:1424
Hue Adjustment : 0
NoiseReduction : OFF
Unknown (0097)7,156 : Offset:1636
Unknown (0098)7,20 : 30313030338D48545C8024244B183C10571E4A00
Unknown (009A)5,2 : 78/10,78/10
Additional Information
Compression : OLDJPEG
XResolution : 27131913/131072
YResolution : 589824/28180491
ResolutionUnit : Inch
JPEGInterchangeFormat : 1022
JPEGInterchangeFormatLength : 29925
YCbCrPositioning : co-sited
ExifR98
ExifR : R98
Version : 0100
Thumbnail Information
Compression : OLDJPEG
XResolution : 300/1
YResolution : 300/1
ResolutionUnit : Inch
JPEGInterchangeFormat : 32000
JPEGInterchangeFormatLength : 8955
YCbCrPositioning : co-sited

I was trying both manual and auto-focus. No real difference in quality noted. I'm going to try some shots of a B&W target and see what sharpness I can get under 'lab' conditions. Or, I might just by a D200. :-)


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

John

Harryb

Hey John,

Your shutter speed was a tad slow for the shots. Also the Sigma 2X TC is contributing to hte images softness. I used the Sigma 2X before and hated it.

The shots are a tad underexposed. Since you are shooting in aperture priority you will need to make EV adjustments to your captures. I would have done at least a +0.3 or more likely a +0.7 adjustments on these captures.

jecottrell

I will try my experiments with and without the 2X and see how much that affects the quality.

I was screwing up the EV setting. I was thinking the under-exposure was getting me better saturation and a better overall look. I bet I'm losing detail that I can't regain. With a tad over-exposed image I can still PP the contrast and saturation and still have the detail... no?

I'll try some experiments now and see what kind of results I get.

Thanks,

John