Canadian Geese in Flight and more...

pathfinder · April 17, 2005

I got out today for a little walk in the wetlands area east of town - reclaimed land from strip mining, now mostly scattered lakes and grasses and a few trees.

The trees are budding out and spring is definitely here.

I did not see many birds about, but then I heard them coming. Sometimes you can hear Canadian Geese before you can see them - that was the case today - One quick flight past and they were gone.

I also saw a Red Wing Blackbird in the grass

And in the trees

I need to explore this area more thoroughly throughout the year:):

Harryb · April 17, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

BIFS and more:

OMG!! I'm going blind! I can't see one darn goose.

jwear · April 17, 2005

Harryb wrote:

OMG!! I'm going blind! I can't see one darn goose.

Harry it's in the more part:D

Andy · April 17, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

BIFS and more:

no piccies

GREAPER · April 17, 2005

I am not jumpin on this pick on pathfinder bandwagon, give him a break, he's new.....

pathfinder · April 17, 2005

GREAPER wrote:

I am not jumpin on this pick on pathfinder bandwagon, give him a break, he's new.....

Hit your browser reload button, guys!!

Harryb · April 17, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

Hit your browser reload button, guys!!

Thanks PF. Excellent shots.

GREAPER · April 17, 2005

They were worth commin back for Pathfinder.

The geese in flight are wonderful.

This is my favorite. Fantastic.

jwear · April 17, 2005

bif are great but the last one is my favorite

second go round worked

John Mueller · April 18, 2005

Very nice PF,
Yes spring is here:):

Thanks for sharing

ginger_55 · April 18, 2005

I love geese, nice job on getting them into your lens. That part always impresses me.

ginger

Steve Cavigliano · April 18, 2005

PF,
I agree with everyone else

These are all very nice

Love the Spring colors and I like the close shots of the Honkers

Steve

Andy · April 18, 2005

nice light, light makes the pics pf..

edit: whoa - look at the exif!

Khaos · April 18, 2005

Fantastic series of geese in flight! Love 'em.

tmlphoto · April 18, 2005

Very nice Path, veeery nice!

pathfinder · April 18, 2005

andy wrote:

nice light, light makes the pics pf..

edit: whoa - look at the exif!

Yeah, Andy, I think the light is still trapped in that camera - It just seems to do a very nice job! It should considering it's previous owner trained it well.

The BIFs I enjoyed capturing, but my favorite was the high key shot with the blackbird as a grace note - I saw the high key potential when I shot it.:):

bfjr · April 18, 2005

Like em all pf

Got a few of those red wing blackbirds spurting around here gonna see if can't shoot a few, thanks sharing

pathfinder · April 19, 2005

Steve, Ginger, Khaos, TML - Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

:

I have just a few more images from Sunday that I have worked up. The first is just a descriptive shot of the area I was shooting in Sunday - an old reclaimed strip mine. Kind of a busy shot, but I think it displays the area.

When you're shooting wildlife - sometimes stuff just seems to fly into your frame....

This is NOT a composite, but straight from the black box. I've had this happen with butterflies before, but not with birds.

To return to the name of this thread - one more BIF

rutt · April 24, 2005

Beautiful as usual, every one. I espacially like the geese in flight shots. I can just feel how it must be for them to fly, the sensuous interplay of the air currents on their feathers.

The monarch butterfly (that is what is it?) is stunning.

The first shot is oversharpened to my eye, but not the last. Maybe your workflow hasn't settled into the new camera? I would think that more resolution would stand a larger radius, but maybe then you need a smaller amount (or opacity if you use blending for this.) Grass and shrubbery are absolutely the hardest things to sharpen, especially if there is a foreground element that you are really trying to hit. I have some advice on this topic from Dan Margulis, but it absolutely doesn't make sense to me yet. I'll post on the PS forum and everyone can puzzle over it.

Andy · April 24, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

S

lovely 'scape.

pathfinder wrote:

When you're shooting wildlife - sometimes stuff just seems to fly into your frame.... This is NOT a composite, but straight from the black box. I've had this happen with butterflies before, but not with birds.

marvelous! love teh rwbb in flight there, this is wonderful. just wonderful.

MuskyDude · April 24, 2005

Terrific shots, ALL of them!!!

Thanks for sharing!:):

AJ

ian408 · April 24, 2005

Love the birds in flight!

Ian

pathfinder · April 24, 2005

rutt wrote:

Beautiful as usual, every one. I espacially like the geese in flight shots. I can just feel how it must be for them to fly, the sensuous interplay of the air currents on their feathers.

Sometimes we are just standing in the right place at the right time - I was already thinking that the sun was too high for good images when I HEARD the geese coming. All these shots were taken as only these two geese flew by bang, bang, bang, bang. And then they were gone. There were no others to be seen - I spent another hour looking for more. But the light was reflected enough from the water below to allow capturing the detail in the shadows of their wings. Sometimes we're the bug, sometimes we're the windshield.

The monarch butterfly (that is what is it?) is stunning.

The first shot is oversharpened to my eye, but not the last. Maybe your workflow hasn't settled into the new camera? I would think that more resolution would stand a larger radius, but maybe then you need a smaller amount (or opacity if you use blending for this.) Grass and shrubbery are absolutely the hardest things to sharpen, especially if there is a foreground element that you are really trying to hit. I have some advice on this topic from Dan Margulis, but it absolutely doesn't make sense to me yet. I'll post on the PS forum and everyone can puzzle over it.

John, I would love to discuss the sharpening of the spring trees with you, but perhaps not on Harry's forum. I had the same concerns when I processed it - I went back and looked at my edit history - the numbers were 500%, 1.2 pixels( Lots of fine detail), and 26 for a threshold. But this was done on a layer and then only blended at 51%. I think the focus was actually on the larger trees behind the purple flowers and this may contribute. Lets discuss this further on the Photoshop Shananigans thread as I hope to learn some more from you in this regard.

The Red Wing Blackbird in flight behind the goose, and the little Skipper approaching the Monarch are just sheer luck - just happening to be in the right place at the right time.

Being in the outdoors with a camera helps one to be lucky of course

pathfinder · April 24, 2005

andy wrote:

lovely 'scape.

Thanks Andy for you kind words.

I thought it looked kind of busy after post processing, but this is a wide angle ( 28mm - not that wide but it is for me) that I planned in advance with the foreground cat tails, the grass in the middle with the reflection, and the tree in the background. It is so nice when others can see what we saw in our mind.

:

Mike-Photos · April 24, 2005

Hi PathFinder...
These are stunning shots!

I'm glad to inform you they landed safely here in Canada:

Thanks also for the name of the Red Wing Blackbird, I have one here too:

jthomas · April 24, 2005

I was going to photograph redbud blossoms today too, but it was snowing and messy here in the SW Virginia mountains.:cry

Great goose pics - they remind me of David Maas paintings!

Phil U. · April 24, 2005

Man, I had missed this thread. Glad the activity continued so I saw it. Really nice set of photos here PF!

pathfinder · April 24, 2005

Mike-Photos wrote:

These are stunning shots!

I'm glad to inform you they landed safely here in Canada:

Thanks also for the name of the Red Wing Blackbird, I have one here too:

I'm glad they arrived safely.

pathfinder · April 24, 2005

Phil U. wrote:

Man, I had missed this thread. Glad the activity continued so I saw it. Really nice set of photos here PF!

I'm glad you saw it too Phil. Sometimes threads can get buried for no particular reason. I think Rutt or Andy or Ian resurected this one this time.

ginger_55 · April 24, 2005

Hi, I was just struck by your statement of the short period of time you had with those geese.

Were you praying that your lens would focus, or does yours just lock in all the time. Sometimes things are good with me, I shot so much yesterday that I was bound to get some Bifs, and my lens behaved itself pretty good.

But if those geese had come by me, I am not sure that my lens would focus.

Do you have a secret to share. I do know that if you can get locked in further away it seems to stay on all the way, but if they honk and come up close to me like that, my darn lens can't seem to find them. Sometimes I can see them, and the lens is so out of focus, and it might even come into focus and then go back out, especially if there are trees and stuff behind, or in front, or anywhere.

And I see you did have that situation.

Ginger

ian408 · April 24, 2005

ginger_55 wrote:

Do you have a secret to share.

Ginger

Practice. It's all about practice.

Ian

Canadian Geese in Flight and more...

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