Super work Geoff! 1, 14 and 17 are my picks. The reflection photos is a stunner and capturing the last moment of that insect's life in the first is great. I'm curious how much you are cropping? Are you using Topaz Labs tools?
morris wrote:
Super work Geoff! 1, 14 and 17 are my picks. The reflection photos is a stunner and capturing the last moment of that insect's life in the first is great. I'm curious how much you are cropping? Are you using Topaz Labs tools?
Morris
Thanks Morris. I do still have to crop a significant amount. All but one of these files are from A1 starting off at 50MPs. I think the crops are ending up around 6-20MPs and that of course includes all the negative background space. Bird must just be a MP or so. But beats when I used to have to do this from a 24MP sensor
Sometimes I get lucky and can burst off and keep the swallow in frame when it gets closer. Most of the time the speed over the FOV is too great at close distances that would allow me to get 30-40MP frames.
Yes I am using Topaz Denoise AI but I use the AI Clear tab, not the Denoise or LowLight tabs. Most images are Med NR and Low Sharpening in AI Clear.
arbitrage wrote:
Thanks Morris. I do still have to crop a significant amount. All but one of these files are from A1 starting off at 50MPs. I think the crops are ending up around 6-20MPs and that of course includes all the negative background space. Bird must just be a MP or so. But beats when I used to have to do this from a 24MP sensor
Sometimes I get lucky and can burst off and keep the swallow in frame when it gets closer. Most of the time the speed over the FOV is too great at close distances that would allow me to get 30-40MP frames.
Yes I am using Topaz Denoise AI but I use the AI Clear tab, not the Denoise or LowLight tabs. Most images are Med NR and Low Sharpening in AI Clear....Show more →
I'm dong a lot of the same and just did some with my 26 MP X-T3. I'm amazed what Topaz AI sharpen and Dnoise can do with these.
These are just amazing shots, Geoff, all of them! Especially #1 with the insect in focus just before its demise. I see swallows swooping around near my house, but getting the camera to pick them up while they are at full speed has been just about impossible. You must have super-human reflexes.
cocodrillo wrote:
All wonderful, but the first one with the bug almost in mouth is super cool. Wonderful work.
Thanks
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dclark wrote:
Excellent set of bullet shots! They are not only fast, they change direction without notice.
They are a lot of fun to shoot...if a few shots are working out.
I particularly like #13 (excellent job of getting the bug in focus) and #14 (great action and reflection).
Dave
Thanks Dave...maybe the eye-af worked on the bug in #13
Speaking of Eye-AF, I did see it activate on swallows if they were flying across my FOV and if I was panning just perfectly with them. Otherwise the dancing squares did most of the work in Wide AF mode.
Beautiful set Geoff I love #17 & #20. I can really appreciate how difficult it is to get a shot of these guys. I tried in a field last week and couldn't believe how erratic their flight paths are. I think I need to look at all your key points.
Geoff, do you start focusing on these guys when they are darting around already in flight? Or are you able to pick them up perched first and then follow? I see the violet green ones darting and swooping, but never ever catch them stationary even for a minute.
Having just spent a few hours yesterday shooting the same species I'm totally amazed at the quality of these images. Mine looked more like the insects than birds. They are the best Swallow shots I've ever seen. Wow just wow. I did put a "red dot" sight on top of my hot shoe and it helped a lot to get the birds in the frame. Also I never get to see those emerald colors on the Tree Swallows like that with binoculars. Magazine covers all.
