Sleek Egret and mores BIF gulls :)

[Shima]

http://shima.smugmug.com/photos/23802600-M-1.jpg
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http://shima.smugmug.com/photos/23802597-M-1.jpg
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http://shima.smugmug.com/photos/23802407-M-1.jpg
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http://shima.smugmug.com/photos/23802479-M-1.jpg
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http://shima.smugmug.com/photos/23802463-M-1.jpg
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http://shima.smugmug.com/photos/23802476-M-1.jpg


The last one was really funny because he did land on that other gull and there was a lot of squawking.

In other news, I took a ton of pictures of different birds, and there are a lot more flying gulls where that came from... my fiance is going to help me name / label the birds later:
http://shima.smugmug.com/gallery/570226

[Steve Cavigliano]

Cat,

Love the reflections in the first 2 shots :thumb :thumb If I may offer a suggestion?
You usually need to use some exposure compensation on egrets. In this case, your meter saw that darker water, properly exposed for the water and wound up over exposeing the egret :dunno Try using -2/3 or even -1 EV of compensation for shots like this. Or, if you shot it in RAW, you may be able to pull out some of the lost detail that way. IMO, it's always best to try to get the exposure as close to correct as possible, no matter what type of file you're saving it as.

The gulls are also nice. Looks like you are having a ball with your new camera :D


Steve

[Shima]

Thanks a bunch! I was wondering why the egret was so washed out... if I get a chance to catch another one later in the week (all luck of the draw of if they're chilling there when I drive by) I'll definitly put the exposure down and see how that works :) I'm still trying to learn all these technical details now that I have a camera that isn't just point and shoot--- so all and any suggestions are always welcome!

Cat,

Love the reflections in the first 2 shots :thumb :thumb If I may offer a suggestion?
You usually need to use some exposure compensation on egrets. In this case, your meter saw that darker water, properly exposed for the water and wound up over exposeing the egret :dunno Try using -2/3 or even -1 EV of compensation for shots like this. Or, if you shot it in RAW, you may be able to pull out some of the lost detail that way. IMO, it's always best to try to get the exposure as close to correct as possible, no matter what type of file you're saving it as.

The gulls are also nice. Looks like you are having a ball with your new camera :D


Steve

[bfjr]

:agree with Steve, dial in about -2/3 exp and these shots would rock. :thumb

Luck in school, wish I knew something neat to say in Japanense, like usual only no the bad words :bad :lol4 :D

[Harryb]

Excellent gull shots and the egret shots are well composed. Egret are not easy to shoot and I blew them out for months before I got the hang of it.


Good luck in school.

[gaylenick]

Shima -

I also like the reflections in the first two shots. And, the water splashing around the birds head in the first one is really neat.
Congratulations! on catching the gulls in flight.

Gayle


The last one was really funny because he did land on that other gull and there was a lot of squawking.

In other news, I took a ton of pictures of different birds, and there are a lot more flying gulls where that came from... my fiance is going to help me name / label the birds later:
http://shima.smugmug.com/gallery/570226[/QUOTE]

[ginger_55]

Cat, practice, practice, practice.................learn to NOT sleep. Sleep is a non productive activity, etc.

You are really doing wonderfully. Congrats on the camera! Great of the parents. My father bought me skiis...............well, that was very nice, too.. I needed them at the time. I never had a "real" camera til I bought my own.

And that is an obsession onto itself.

Yes, I was shooting, forgot in the first couple of shots, but caught it very early, yesterday and with egrets, in general, I shoot at what they said: -2/3 or -1.

I get a lot that are dark, but I prefer dark, those can usually be saved. Besides, I just like dark backgrounds.

I shoot that way, because I learned that on this forum. I do use photoshop, I do have a long lens. In fact, I took one of my extenders off of my 300L CAnon lens yesterday. I wanted my autofocus back, the birds were as close as you see in my first photo, that is full frame with the 300 and 1.4 extender.
I am trying to shoot good birds in flight. I have been concentrating on babies, letting the more difficult stuff go, like flight, I cannot get a manual flight shot, except for the landing.

I have been on dGrin a yr. I did not know any of what I speak when I joined.
My equipment, and yours is fine, especially since I think you can add lenses.

I will say, Humungus, he is one of the best photographers on here, and I think he JUST got the good stuff. Now, he is a shooting fool, his practice with what he had before, it put him way ahead. Composition, etc.

Just really wanted to say that I have a series, more than that, folders of shots from Pitt Street, a nice place for walking, running and relaxing, walking the dog. It goes over a marsh. When I would shoot there, the background is a lot like yours, my shots were a lot like yours. That exposure thing is so difficult. You are lens challenged, I was distance challenged, and newer than I am now.

It was lots of fun. Was going to go back there for a sunset, still might. Will go back for birds once this nesting thing is over with.

You are going to learn Chinese??

I just woke up, whatever it is, you are really working hard. Gosh, you are lucky! Oh, to be young, etc...........only the elderly say stuff like that, tis true, you are very fortunate and very gifted.

ginger

[MacHeadCase]

Nice photos, Shima!

[Shima]

Heh, I love how people magically confuse the two-
*Japanese* not Chinese, can't speak a word of Chinese, can speak Japanese. While yes they share some writing style symbols, the two spoken languages are drastically different. :)

I'm a Japanese major at Valparaiso University, this is just a summer program to advance my fluency and make me a better linguist... my conversational skills are the big part I'm working on this summer. I just finished 2nd year Japanese at Valpo... so this is equivilent to my 3rd year language studies since Middlebury claims to cram 1 year of college level language skills into their 9 week session.

I'll try and catch the egret again later, all depends on if he feels like going to that area later, that is the tricky part, catching them in an area where you can photograph them.

Sleep? What's that?

Cat, practice, practice, practice.................learn to NOT sleep. Sleep is a non productive activity, etc.

You are really doing wonderfully. Congrats on the camera! Great of the parents. My father bought me skiis...............well, that was very nice, too.. I needed them at the time. I never had a "real" camera til I bought my own.

And that is an obsession onto itself.

Yes, I was shooting, forgot in the first couple of shots, but caught it very early, yesterday and with egrets, in general, I shoot at what they said: -2/3 or -1.

I get a lot that are dark, but I prefer dark, those can usually be saved. Besides, I just like dark backgrounds.

I shoot that way, because I learned that on this forum. I do use photoshop, I do have a long lens. In fact, I took one of my extenders off of my 300L CAnon lens yesterday. I wanted my autofocus back, the birds were as close as you see in my first photo, that is full frame with the 300 and 1.4 extender.
I am trying to shoot good birds in flight. I have been concentrating on babies, letting the more difficult stuff go, like flight, I cannot get a manual flight shot, except for the landing.

I have been on dGrin a yr. I did not know any of what I speak when I joined.
My equipment, and yours is fine, especially since I think you can add lenses.

I will say, Humungus, he is one of the best photographers on here, and I think he JUST got the good stuff. Now, he is a shooting fool, his practice with what he had before, it put him way ahead. Composition, etc.

Just really wanted to say that I have a series, more than that, folders of shots from Pitt Street, a nice place for walking, running and relaxing, walking the dog. It goes over a marsh. When I would shoot there, the background is a lot like yours, my shots were a lot like yours. That exposure thing is so difficult. You are lens challenged, I was distance challenged, and newer than I am now.

It was lots of fun. Was going to go back there for a sunset, still might. Will go back for birds once this nesting thing is over with.

You are going to learn Chinese??

I just woke up, whatever it is, you are really working hard. Gosh, you are lucky! Oh, to be young, etc...........only the elderly say stuff like that, tis true, you are very fortunate and very gifted.

ginger