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ginger_55

OK, I don't know anyone other than my doctors and my husband, no grown kids or grandkids in the area. I have dogs, sunsets and birds. All not the best subjects for any contest. Particularly since my shots are, IMO, good, but not great, no special thing. I took the shots I made on Saturday of the birds, cropped them, etc. Comments? g

This is what I started with I think, it is called something like Canoodling Egrets. They are all doing that or setting up nests. These birds are doing both. The male here has a twig in his beak to contribute to the nest.


Same Photo



Same photo:



Another photo: Here he is, before the other shots, he is arriving to his "love" with the twig for the nest.



Another Photo, one bird:



I chose mostly egret shots as they are white and stand out against the folliage. This next is an Anhinga warming up on a windy, cool spring day.



And a couple of Great Blue Heron shots. That bird was guarding his nest. He never left it. We waited for hours. Sometimes he sat in it, trying it out for comfort, I think.



Here he seems to be checking out the nest. This is all i have for now. Should I go back to taking photos of the backs of stranger's heads?




g:dunno :cry

Dee

What camera were you using?
I'm at the stage where once in a while my camera surprises me and fails to focus, often when the images are blurred (just a little bit) it's probably because I didn't hold the camera still enough.

I'm becoming very conscious of noise in my photos.

And why is everything I want to photograph in that dangerous range/angle where I just know I'm going to get purple and green halos around sharp edges...

So... a dSLR will fix all my problems right?

I thought you "were" shooting with a dSLR -- yet I see some of the very things I was hoping a dSLR would correct -- in your photos. Now I'm very glad to see this, really because it makes me think it just "digital" after all and a nature of shooting digital.

Partly in my brain I think digital is better than film -- offering more options and more control and more post processing options. (Oh no, did I buy into some marketing genius's propaganda?)

But I was looking through a bunch of my film prints (time to throw some out -- I shot film like I shoot digital, only I can delete my bad ones from the cam right away ) and I saw a lot of softness, some lens flares, and just not the clarity I'm used to seeing in digital.

And I do realize noise ninja was developed for dSLR cameras -- so that should have been a clue, right?

So before I get all upset here and start pulling my hair out, what camera were you using?

And thanks for posting these, I feel better seeing someone else has the same problems I do! :

BTW, you are so lucky being able to watch the courting, nest building, and soon the baby egrets! It's amazing how they build these nests in the first place! I wouldn't know where to start :

You have some nice shots of the egrets but you'd have to entice them into a better light/background area and get them to promise to stand still for more than a few seconds for a Kpotd Your Kodak moment may arrive when the babies arrive.

I enjoyed the anhinga photo, because I can never get that close to them to see what they really look like, interesting feather detail on the back.

ginger_55

Thanks for responding, Dee. You don't want to hear this. I was using the Canon 20D. However, that is not the only reason for the noise, etc. I was using a 300 Prime lens with a 1.4 Canon extender, making it about 420 mm.

I underexposed, but not as much as usual. I did not run any of these through shadow/highlights in case Andy is reading, nor did I use a mask. I was tired and in a hurry last night. I just wanted to know if I was going in the right direction.
I rarely, if ever, sharpened.

I did not use Noise Ninja. I did try to think to remove all the sensor spots.

I started at either 400 or 800 ISO, probably 400 and raised it as the afternoon turned a bit darker. I did end up at 1600 ISO and I do have a problem with noise at that, not that anyone else does, so it is probably the underexposure. But, alot is in the sky, not underexposed at all. I have a doctor's appt and don't have time to do anything right now.

I might be lying, maybe I did use that stuff. I am too tired to think.

ginger:cry

Steve Cavigliano

Ginger,

I don't know if you are asking us for critiques, or not. Being the introvert that I am, I'll give you my take

The first image is a nice action capture, but it is soft. Which is readily seen in the crops that follow The 4th photo is sharp and a nice scene, but all those branches make the BG very busy (good job on this one BTW, it's tough to get sharp bird shots with all those limbs and branches trying to steal your AF points attention). The 5th shot is similar, sharp and a nice scene but has the same BG issue and he's a little OE on the back and neck. The 6th shot is nice, clear, sharp and well exposed, but it is a back shot. Which in itself isn't bad, it's just that people usually find frontal bird shots more appealing. The 7th shot is just too soft. The last shot is the best of the bunch, by a mile IMO. Very sharp, great detail and color, perfectly exposed and you got a clear view of his eye. The foliage also isn't as bothersome here and adds some nice color, IMO.

If you weren't looking for a critique, I apologize


Thanks for sharing and hope all went well at the Docs

Steve

ginger_55

Thanks, Steve. I like the last one best, too. Most of the time that darn bird just sat there like he was a fake in Disney World.

If he looked like he was moving I shot him, hence that shot. Then to make it useful, I cropped his body in two. His beak is what makes the shot. I was kind of proud that it was almost as colorful as the beaks Harry puts on his birds.

Anyway, thanks for the careful analysis, it is very helpful, and that is what I did want.

ginger

jwear

Ginger
hard to follow Steve so #8 darn good shot all around I will sent you a message later Jeff

Harryb

Hey Ginger,

You got some good shots there. Steve's crtique was on the mark so I'm not going to add on too it too much. One of the problems with the shots, and one that I deal with every time I shoot, is something we can't do much about. Those darn birds will always try to place some vergetation between them and the camera. I know it ain't easy but try on the next time to get them w/o the distracting elements in front of them. Sometimes you can clone it out but too often you are stuck with a good shot that could have been better.