A few more bird shots.

[Aussieroo]

Taken a couple of days ago using the 70-200 f2.8 sigma lens. All have had some cropping done as the reach of 200 is not enough. When I returned with the teleconverter I somehow managed to change the settings to A-dep and all were horribly out of focus: I call this series, "Coming in to land"

http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/122403091-M.jpg


http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/122224623-M.jpg


http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/122210248-M.jpg

[Osprey Whisperer]

You Aussies have some great looking pelicans. I'd love to take a vacation there and shoot them (along with a few hundred other interesting animals). Some nice captures. Your histogram is your friend for those bright white highlights. Keep an eye on them so they don't get blown. Look a bit hot on this end. :scratch Keep 'em coming.

[Aussieroo]

Thanks Mike, these unfortunately were in the middle of the day with the sun at it's height. I did tame the hot spots a little using PS "shadows/highlights? filter. Since you asked, okay 2 more again "Coming in to land"


http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/122215245-L.jpg


http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/122229070-L.jpg

[Skippy]

Taken a couple of days ago using the 70-200 f2.8 sigma lens. All have had some cropping done as the reach of 200 is not enough. When I returned with the teleconverter I somehow managed to change the settings to A-dep and all were horribly out of focus: I call this series, "Coming in to land"


Hi there Aussieroo, I got myself a Pelican last weekend too :D
I love to watch them, they are "So Matter Of Fact" and can be quite intimidating at times too.

Those that are used to people are not backwards in coming forward for a free feed are they, others are more timid, and some just ignore you like your not even there :rofl

I'd like to get a decent in flight shot one of these days, thanks for sharing.
They're like watching a small water plane come in for a landing.
...... Skippy

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[Aussieroo]

G'day "Skippy" nice to hear from a fellow countyman (woman).
Geelong is a place I have always wanted to spend some time in. We did 3 weeks in Apollo Bay a couple of years ago and are looking forward to doing that area with the van again one day. My daughter visits there regularly as her husbands brother and family live there.

Thank you for your comments. Pelicans sometimes are considered "easy shoots" almost as bad as shooting ducks to some. But like you, I love their grace and style plus with a 200mm lens you can still get a reasonable frame fill. The smaller birds you need a lot more patience and a longer sharper lens. One day I may aspire to one of those.

[Harryb]

Very nice captures. :thumb Watch your highlights on thos elight birds.

[Aussieroo]

Very nice captures. :thumb Watch your highlights on thos elight birds.
What do you suggest Harry? Set the camera to minus 1/3rd or 2/3rd's EV?? or use spot evaluation on the bird for a light reading? Wouldn't that then make the background even darker?

[Harryb]

What do you suggest Harry? Set the camera to minus 1/3rd or 2/3rd's EV?? or use spot evaluation on the bird for a light reading? Wouldn't that then make the background even darker?

Outstanding question. I always expose for my subject. I shoot in aperture priority, matrix metering, and make EV adjustments based on the lighting and the subject. Spot metering is just too slow , IMHO, for wildlife photography.

This will make the background darker but remember its the background and the viewer's attention will be on your subject (hopefully :D ). I will usually handle the darker background in my post work. I will create a duplicate layer and brighten up the background. This of course will bring out some noise too. So I apply noise reduction to the dup layer. I then make it a mask and I "paint" out the subject and flatten the layers. You are left with a well exposed and sharp subject and a lighter background with some loss of details in the background. This loss of detail in the background is no big deal because you usually don't want a sharply detailed background competing for the viewer's attention with your subject.

[Aussieroo]

Thanks Harry,

I appreciate the help. I will give this a run today when I get a chance to get out with the camera gear.

I have been browsing your most excelent gallery and am in awe of your work. I have checked out your exif info with great interest. I am wondering just what lens you are using. Some of your shots are listing 200mm and yet you are so close to someof these birds you couldn't have been more than a few meters away from them. Do you use a "Hide"? Other photos have 720mm on them leading me to understand you must have a big lump of glass in front of your Nikon. I realise I will be limited with my 70-200mm for some time and the sharpness I get with the 2X's converter isn't good enough to even warrant using it I don't think unless the light is really brilliant. Your light in a lot of the shots must have been fabulous as you achieved such fast shutter speeds considering the zoom and apperture settings. But no one becomes an over night success so back to more practice for me. Thanks again for your help.

[Aussieroo]

Harry, I went and tried out the -2/3rds EV setting on a bright day and ended up with better whites. The light was strange due to a lot of bush fire smoke in the atmosphere. I had a good read through your Tutorial Harry, thanks for a lot of great tips, I look forward to my next outing to put some more into practice.


http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/123027476-L.jpg



http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/123021313-L.jpg

[Aussieroo]

You are quite right about using bird feeders in the back yard. I built one 4 mnths ago and have a variety of visitors come in to feed. These are a few samples

http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/110182097-L.jpg


http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/98670971-L.jpg


http://Ozphotos.smugmug.com/photos/90122004-L.jpg

[dallas]

Pelicans are my favorites.......nice work.:clap :clap

[Awais Yaqub]

Beautiful series Ralph loved it