Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

[wrench]

Hi Everyone. Below are a few pics I took a week or so ago at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge here in Utah. The images were taken with my Canon T3i with the 55 - 250 kit lens. The lens isn't all that great, but its the only lens I have at the moment for shots like this. There is minimal post processing done to the images, not to say they couldn't use more, but sometimes I go overboard processing each image to death! Still trying to find a nice balance.

Western Grebe w/babies by Big00Ern, on Flickr
I thought I had several shots of this cute little bird and her babies, but many are out of focus. Now that I look at it again, it may be a little over exposed. What do you guys think?

Glossy Ibis by Big00Ern, on Flickr
I'm pretty happy with this photo, but I had one of him/her taking flight that was out of focus... Keep practicing I suppose.

American Avocet by Big00Ern, on Flickr
Pretty happy with this one too. This bird really tolerated my presence. I took more 40 shots of it, of which this I think is the best.

CC always welcome and I hope you all enjoy!

[IzzieK]

Grin and bear me as I am already tired by now. With a kit lens, you are doing very well indeed. It is a good exercise. Enjoy it.
#1 is kinda busy for me.It is a cute bird with a hat. The baby is very nice too. I would crop off at least 1/2 off the top. Your image doesn't need them.
#2 The Aussies are black and white in colour so I think this one looks very nice. Different. 'Needs a bit of eye brightening...
#3 I will remove that fascinating straight reflection that is about to pierce the bird plus lighten the eyes of the bird itself.

I am going back to bed. Hope this helps.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[wrench]

Grin and bear me as I am already tired by now. With a kit lens, you are doing very well indeed. It is a good exercise. Enjoy it.
#1 is kinda busy for me.It is a cute bird with a hat. The baby is very nice too. I would crop off at least 1/2 off the top. Your image doesn't need them.
#2 The Aussies are black and white in colour so I think this one looks very nice. Different. 'Needs a bit of eye brightening...
#3 I will remove that fascinating straight reflection that is about to pierce the bird plus lighten the eyes of the bird itself.

I am going back to bed. Hope this helps.

I see what you mean about that straight reflection in the third image. I have other images, maybe one that doesn't have that sort of reflection. I think I know what you mean by lighten the eyes... I'll see what I can do and repost my edits.

All of the images posted here are crops from the original. I'll re-crop the first one and see if that helps.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Geoff F]

Much the same as what Izzie has already mentioned. I would ideally like to see less at the top of #1 and a fraction more on the bottom, with the reflection. Also there are a few small bright spots which I would clone out.

But all in all, good photos.

[wrench]

I did a much closer crop of the first image to remove much of the dead reeds at the top of the image. Also brightened up the eyes of the mother somewhat. I found this was easy to overdo, so I tried to keep this subtle.
Western Grebe w/babies by Big00Ern, on Flickr

The only additional edit on this one is to brighten up the eyes. I must say that on this image it made a huge difference. I am really glad you suggested this!
Glossy Ibis by Big00Ern, on Flickr

For the American Avocet, I simply used a different picture. I had a bunch to choose from and found this one to be interesting. I also tried to brighten up the eyes a bit, but found that it was really easy to overdo, so I kept it minimal.
American Avocet by Big00Ern, on Flickr

The procedure I used to brighten up the eyes was to create a neutral grey layer set to overlay mode above the layer with the bird. I then painted white on the grey layer with a brush in the area where I wanted to lighten up the image. I used a soft brush with low opacity and made it big enough as to not have any hard lines. This worked really well for the Glossy Ibis, but seemed to obvious for the other two images. I'm not really sure why.

[wrench]

Much the same as what Izzie has already mentioned. I would ideally like to see less at the top of #1 and a fraction more on the bottom, with the reflection. Also there are a few small bright spots which I would clone out.

But all in all, good photos.

Are you talking about the two above the chick in the water? I can see if I can at least tone them down. Thanks for your feedback.

[IzzieK]

I did a much closer crop of the first image to remove much of the dead reeds at the top of the image. Also brightened up the eyes of the mother somewhat. I found this was easy to overdo, so I tried to keep this subtle.
Western Grebe w/babies by Big00Ern, on Flickr

I like the original image better because it has "more room to go into" if you know what I mean...this one is nearly bumping the end of the frame.

The only additional edit on this one is to brighten up the eyes. I must say that on this image it made a huge difference. I am really glad you suggested this!
Glossy Ibis by Big00Ern, on Flickr

For the American Avocet, I simply used a different picture. I had a bunch to choose from and found this one to be interesting. I also tried to brighten up the eyes a bit, but found that it was really easy to overdo, so I kept it minimal.
American Avocet by Big00Ern, on Flickr

The procedure I used to brighten up the eyes was to create a neutral grey layer set to overlay mode above the layer with the bird. I then painted white on the grey layer with a brush in the area where I wanted to lighten up the image. I used a soft brush with low opacity and made it big enough as to not have any hard lines. This worked really well for the Glossy Ibis, but seemed to obvious for the other two images. I'm not really sure why.

Thanks for the info on your brighten the eyes. I might pick up on that...at the moment I use the dodge tool.

[Geoff F]

Yes, two spots there, a few among the reeds at the top and some smaller isolated spots scattered around. I think they should clone out without too much difficulty.

Maybe I would also try a crop to a more panoramic size, such as 16 x 9 etc so you lose the worst of the top problem without making the left side looking too cramped.

If you are brightening the eyes with a layer, you could try alternative layer blend modes, such as Soft Light or Luminosity and reduce the layer opacity instead of Overlay.

[wrench]

I like the original image better because it has "more room to go into" if you know what I mean...this one is nearly bumping the end of the frame.


Thanks for the info on your brighten the eyes. I might pick up on that...at the moment I use the dodge tool.

I agree that the crop seems a little to tight. I'll try what Geoff mentioned and try a wider crop.

You guys have been very helpful. I always learn something when ever post a photo here.

[rpcrowe]

"The images were taken with my Canon T3i with the 55 - 250 kit lens. The lens isn't all that great, but its the only lens I have at the moment for shots like this."

Don't apologize for this lens... You have done a really nice job in capturing these birds...

[John 2]

Yes, two spots there, a few among the reeds at the top and some smaller isolated spots scattered around. I think they should clone out without too much difficulty.

Maybe I would also try a crop to a more panoramic size, such as 16 x 9 etc so you lose the worst of the top problem without making the left side looking too cramped.

If you are brightening the eyes with a layer, you could try alternative layer blend modes, such as Soft Light or Luminosity and reduce the layer opacity instead of Overlay.

This would be my suggestion also. Three very nice shots, particularly after your minimal PP.

[wrench]

"The images were taken with my Canon T3i with the 55 - 250 kit lens. The lens isn't all that great, but its the only lens I have at the moment for shots like this."

Don't apologize for this lens... You have done a really nice job in capturing these birds...

Thank you. When the lens cooperates, its a good lens, but I get frustrated when I miss really great shots because they are out of focus. I'm not sure what it is about this lens in particular, guess the auto focus just isn't very consistent. I thought maybe it was image stabilization, but that was turned off for all of these images. I really think the auto focus on this particular lens is just hit or miss.

[wrench]

Ok, I must say that I like this crop much better. Thanks to Geoff for that recommendation! Also, I cloned out the bright spots you mentioned earlier. Thanks again for your feedback. I have learned a lot from all of you!

Western Grebe by Big00Ern, on Flickr