wing tong wrote:
4AM? I'm SLEEPING! You got some great shots with your boat, Conrad! I've been hanging out at the N+W board getting inspired by Noelle's inspirations!
Hehe...sleep is for the weak! And glad you like the pics! Someone has to keep this thread going! Haha!
Hey man anytime you want to go photograph stuff in the water let me know! You can bring the family too of course.
That's very good, Conrad, good indeed. Those might serve as inspiration to many folks on the N&W Board.
A few suggestions (after all, nobody's "perfect" ):
* Ease a bit on contrast.
* Pay more consistent attention to what I call "kinetic" BIF framing......give more bottom airspace to your birds, in order to help them stay aloft. That hawk and pelican are done like that....good examples. The 2nd tern is OK too.
* Resist the all too common urge to overcrop. An overall image often looks aesthetically more pleasing if the bird is smaller in the frame, although, granted, large crops do tend to impress the "birders".
* Your terns seem undereposed to start with by perhaps up to 2/3 of a stop. It's a bit hard to tell after you've adjusted the levels/shadow on the image. Do a few test shots of a seagull or something white and large in the VF and readily available, so you can judge the correct exposure. Push to the point of highlite blink, then back off by 1/3 EV.
PetKal wrote:
That's very good, Conrad, good indeed. Those might serve as inspiration to many folks on the N&W Board.
A few suggestions (after all, nobody's "perfect" ):
* Ease a bit on contrast.
* Pay more consistent attention to what I call "kinetic" BIF framing......give more bottom airspace to your birds, in order to help them stay aloft. That hawk and pelican are done like that....good examples. The 2nd tern is OK too.
* Resist the all too common urge to overcrop. An overall image often looks aesthetically more pleasing if the bird is smaller in the frame, although, granted, large crops do tend to impress the "birders".
* Your terns seem undereposed to start with by perhaps up to 2/3 of a stop. It's a bit hard to tell after you've adjusted the levels/shadow on the image. Do a few test shots of a seagull or something white and large in the VF and readily available, so you can judge the correct exposure. Push to the point of highlite blink, then back off by 1/3 EV....Show more →
Thanks Peter. You know someone else mentioned that my pictures ALL tend to be too contrasty. Maybe its my monitor. They look really bland on it so I tend to bump it up too much. When I look at them on my monitor at work, they look oversaturated there but I've always assumed that its my work monitor that is set wrong. I'll also try dialing down the saturation from the camera. I think it could be set too high. Great tip on test shots of gulls first! Never thought of that! And the overcropping habit I will try to control haha! I tend to love showing just how sharp the 400mm can be a bit too much. I really appreciate the critisizm by the way. I rarely get any in the NW forum. Maybe folks don't want to hurt my feelings but I need the advice to learn right? Haha! So again thanks Peter!
It took 22 frames to make this shot and about 25 minutes to render the final image. Size in print was 33ft by 6ft!!! Oh and final cropped size was 5.6 Gigs!! ) Ylkes!
That panoramic shot looks spectacular, Conrad. You know there is more to photography than eagles, GBH's and terns. BTW, was that shot with the 400 f/5.6 ?
This morning my usual BIF range was devoid of anything alive and moving. A strange sort of calm on the lake. I turned my 400 f/5.6 onto a canoe passing under the bridge with surprisingly good exposure results, so much so I didn't feel the need to PP it. However, had to remove the noise, given the scene darkness and high ISO I was shooting at.
PetKal wrote:
That panoramic shot looks spectacular, Conrad. You know there is more to photography than eagles, GBH's and terns. BTW, was that shot with the 400 f/5.6 ?
This morning my usual BIF range was devoid of anything alive and moving. A strange sort of calm on the lake. I turned my 400 f/5.6 onto a canoe passing under the bridge with surprisingly good exposure results, so much so I didn't feel the need to PP it. However, had to remove the noise, given the scene darkness and high ISO I was shooting at.
Thank you Peter! I've been shooting panos to pass the time while waiting for something to fly by! And I know what you mean by the sudden bird absence. Its happening here for me too! Now THAT is a very nice photograph of the canoeists! It could be in a canoeing magazine!
PetKal wrote:
Excellent shot, especially like the strong sense of texture and depth in the cloud cover.
Yes, I seem to have spotted two WT Cormorants in the water.
I know... TWO cormorants! I hear there was a whole colony on that run down pier. LIES! Haha!!! Or maybe they were all diving at the same time.
PetKal wrote:
That panoramic shot looks spectacular, Conrad. You know there is more to photography than eagles, GBH's and terns. BTW, was that shot with the 400 f/5.6 ?
This morning my usual BIF range was devoid of anything alive and moving. A strange sort of calm on the lake. I turned my 400 f/5.6 onto a canoe passing under the bridge with surprisingly good exposure results, so much so I didn't feel the need to PP it. However, had to remove the noise, given the scene darkness and high ISO I was shooting at.
Were they going under a bridge Peter? I've had a couple of egrets fly under a bridge but they don't look anything like this. I like the way it is lit very much.
Conrad Tan wrote:
Were they going under a bridge Peter? I've had a couple of egrets fly under a bridge but they don't look anything like this.
Yes, Conrad, that canoe was going thru the shade under the bridge.
Now, so many things play with the light in that kinda shot.....it's not even funny. Suffice to say I tried to get a similar background with a pijun in flight, also this morning. (A few pijuns congregate under the same bridge.)
Well, it just was not working out. Only one worthwhile flight took place, and this is the best shot of it I've got....not a good shot either. Besides, wouldn't call it "in flight" but just applying air brakes which is really much easier stuff from the AF standpoint.
(That's why on N&W forums you see so many "in flight" shots of ducks as they are landing. )
PetKal wrote:
Today I shot something I could live with.
A duck caught in a sunlight beam under the bridge.
That's very nice Peter! It looks like stage spotlight. The variety around here has dwindled quite a bit of late. Kind of a bird drought! I'll see what I can find this weekend.
You got some great shots with your boat, Conrad! I've been hanging out at the N+W board getting inspired by Noelle's inspirations! 
And glad you like the pics! Someone has to keep this thread going! Haha! 
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