Alligator Farm in St. Augustine

[kgarrett11]

I made a trip down to St. Augustine yesterday and spent about 3 hours watching and shooting. I got a few that I liked. It is so hard to capture birds in flight and it seems that the more I try the harder it gets. I was using a Nikon D200 with an 80-400mm VR and an 18-200mm VR lens. I am thinking of entering a couple of pics into the Alligator Farm's photo contest but I'm not sure if any of these are good enough. I like them but others may not. Let me know what you think and any way that I could have made them better.

#1
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154423066-M.jpg

#2
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154423278-M.jpg

#3
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154423325-M.jpg

#4
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154423400-M.jpg

#5
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154423243-M.jpg

#6
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154422481-M.jpg

#7
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154422540-M.jpg

#8
http://kgarrett.smugmug.com/photos/154422131-M.jpg

[3n-out]

Great Shots.....

[kgarrett11]

Great Shots.....

Thanks

[Harryb]

You have some nice shots but they lack "pop". I would say #4 has the best chance to win in the contest. You can check out the winners from the past years at http://www.alligatorfarm.us/ (click on Groups and Events) to get an idea of what type of shots win in the contest.

I'm in St. Augusine now having just finished an afternoon's shooting at the farm.

[kgarrett11]

You have some nice shots but they lack "pop". I would say #4 has the best chance to win in the contest. You can check out the winners from the past years at http://www.alligatorfarm.us/ (click on Groups and Events) to get an idea of what type of shots win in the contest.

I'm in St. Augusine now having just finished an afternoon's shooting at the farm.

Thanks Harry,
I know what you are saying. I guess that I don't understand how to get the "pop" that you and birdman get.

[Dee]

http://DeeGolden.smugmug.com/photos/154616461-L.jpg

This is simply opening up curves and hitting the "auto" button. (above)
This one below you can see the settings I used in "exposure" under image/adjustments. I hope that helps. If it were my photo I'd probably use a combination of these tools, plus add a hue/saturation layer to increase the blues in the sky.

http://DeeGolden.smugmug.com/photos/154616469-L.jpg

[Harryb]

Thanks Harry,
I know what you are saying. I guess that I don't understand how to get the "pop" that you and birdman get.

Check out this tute (http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2292454/1). It can help on some shots.

But the thing you want to do is get the best shot possible before you start to process your shots. If you review your histograms on these shots I bet you will find most of the data on the left hand side of the histogram (underexposed).

You have to do some chimping while you are out in the field. Review your histograms and make your adjustments while you are shooting. You want to get as much data as you can on the right hand side of the histogram.

There some good info here (http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=428227&postcount=20) also.

[kgarrett11]

http://DeeGolden.smugmug.com/photos/154616461-L.jpg

This is simply opening up curves and hitting the "auto" button. (above)
This one below you can see the settings I used in "exposure" under image/adjustments. I hope that helps. If it were my photo I'd probably use a combination of these tools, plus add a hue/saturation layer to increase the blues in the sky.

http://DeeGolden.smugmug.com/photos/154616469-L.jpg

Thanks,
I am reading this at work and will give it a shot when I get home this afternoon.

[kgarrett11]

Check out this tute (http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2292454/1). It can help on some shots.

But the thing you want to do is get the best shot possible before you start to process your shots. If you review your histograms on these shots I bet you will find most of the data on the left hand side of the histogram (underexposed).

You have to do some chimping while you are out in the field. Review your histograms and make your adjustments while you are shooting. You want to get as much data as you can on the right hand side of the histogram.

There some good info here (http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=428227&postcount=20) also.

Thanks Harry,
I thought that if you pushed everything to the right that things would get blown out. I try my best to get the histogram as close to the middle but I haven't been that worried if it was on the left. I'll watch it closer now. Wish I had known that you were going to be in St. Augustine on Sunday. I would have come back down to meet you.

[kgarrett11]

Check out this tute (http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2292454/1). It can help on some shots.

But the thing you want to do is get the best shot possible before you start to process your shots. If you review your histograms on these shots I bet you will find most of the data on the left hand side of the histogram (underexposed).

You have to do some chimping while you are out in the field. Review your histograms and make your adjustments while you are shooting. You want to get as much data as you can on the right hand side of the histogram.

There some good info here (http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=428227&postcount=20) also.

Thanks Harry,

I went to the tute and those instructions are easy and it works great.

[Harryb]

Thanks Harry,
I thought that if you pushed everything to the right that things would get blown out. I try my best to get the histogram as close to the middle but I haven't been that worried if it was on the left. I'll watch it closer now. Wish I had known that you were going to be in St. Augustine on Sunday. I would have come back down to meet you.

I intend to shoot at the farm a few more times before the season ends. If you go back again let me know and maybe we can hook-up.

[kgarrett11]

I intend to shoot at the farm a few more times before the season ends. If you go back again let me know and maybe we can hook-up.

I have an annual pass and am only 45 minutes away. I can be there anytime that I am not working.

[Harryb]

I have an annual pass and am only 45 minutes away. I can be there anytime that I am not working.

I'll PM you the next time I head on up there. If you want PM me your work schedule and maybe we can plan a meet.