2017 Project 52 - 1st Quarter by Geoff F

[Geoff F]

Several of these images required a bit of selective editing, Bruce, starting with two different conversions from the original Raw file.

Incidentally, this is my best ever Kingfisher shot; from that same dull day.



Maybe one day . . .

[joebranko]

Nice shots Geoff! Love the detail on the Whimbrel. With the Blue For was your aperture open wide or did you use some magic to get that bokeh?

[Geoff F]

These were all F8 or f11. With that 150-600 lens F6.3 is wide open but, like macro lenses, you tend to get a rather shallow focus depth at closer distances.

[bnnrcn]

Nice sets of birds Geoff

[Geoff F]

Thanks, Binnur and Joe.

Today I finally did it! A Kingfisher came close to the hide and posed for me.



Not the best of light so I had to go up to Iso 800 to give me 1/250 F8 and not the best of backgrounds either.



It stayed for several minutes changing position and various poses so I still have a few more images to sort through.

[Cantab]

Wow!! How far away was the kingfisher? (I'm currently on an iPad so can't check the EXIF.)

[Geoff F]

Probably around 30 or 40 ft at the closest, Bruce. I was looking downwards from the hide which is on a bank.

[mknittle]

Nice focus and Bokea.

[Shadowman]

Thanks, Binnur and Joe.

Today I finally did it! A Kingfisher came close to the hide and posed for me.



Not the best of light so I had to go up to Iso 800 to give me 1/250 F8 and not the best of backgrounds either.



It stayed for several minutes changing position and various poses so I still have a few more images to sort through.

Nice captures, loved the fox as well.

[joebranko]

Congrats!

[Geoff F]

Thanks all. And now, still attempting to keep one week ahead . . .

Week 04 - Morning Moon over Malborough. Noticed this nice bright daylight moon in the morning sky but didn't really know what to do with it so I waited for it to get a little lower in the sky then around 9 am I walked just a few yards from my house to a sharp corner and pressed myself against the safety barriers just clear of the passing traffic. Looking towards the next 'city' across a valley.



7D with Canon 70-200 lens. 1/200 F13 Iso 400. Merge of 3 exposure levels. F13 was an accident, I thought I was at F11 but must have knocked the wheel. I tried so many different settings in an attempt to capture a wide range of light levels.

From a slightly different angle.



1/320 F11 Iso 400 another exposure merge to make a 'hand crafted HDR' image. Incidentally, I did try auto HDR but even in Adobe CC the result wasn't to my liking.

Then before returning home I walked around the corner to see if there were any other suitable angles but this is the only scene which I photographed.



1/80 F13 Iso 400. Still thinking I was at F11. Made a note to self about always check and never assume!

[Cantab]

Geoff, another nice set. My favourite is #1. I'm not sure what my emotional reaction is to the second image. The bottom part has a pleasant countryside scene but then there's a threatening wall of cloud above it.

I assume the exposure merges were from multiple developments of the original "negative" rather than multiple exposures on a tripod?

[Geoff F]

No, Bruce, these scenes were different. Hand held auto multiple exposures. After a couple of failed attempts because I forgot to press Set after adjusting the exposure values.

Sometimes, I find it is possible to shoot like this if I allow a bit of space for cropping after alignment of the images. The Auto Align usually works well with CC.

Load the images into ACR as a batch (3 images in this case) and do some basic initial editing on each image. Transfer all to the Photoshop editing section and drag the thumbnails onto the base background image as layers. Turn the background image into a layer, select all and auto align. Add masks and edit them as required.

[John 2]

Thanks, Binnur and Joe.

Today I finally did it! A Kingfisher came close to the hide and posed for me.



Missed these Geoff and I love them. A couple of excellent captures.

Not the best of light so I had to go up to Iso 800 to give me 1/250 F8 and not the best of backgrounds either.



It stayed for several minutes changing position and various poses so I still have a few more images to sort through.

[Shadowman]

Post #31, nice series and interesting level of color and tones. I like how each has a hint of contrast amongst pale/pastel colors.

[Geoff F]

Thanks, John. The chief point of merging layer masks manually is to achieve those tones which can so easily be lost or excessively overdone with the auto merging.

[Craigie]

A nice series John #2 is my favourite.
I do like the Kingfisher shots.

[Wavelength]

Liked all your new additions

[bnnrcn]

Good shots Geoff, also lovely birds

Thanks, Binnur and Joe.

Today I finally did it! A Kingfisher came close to the hide and posed for me.



Not the best of light so I had to go up to Iso 800 to give me 1/250 F8 and not the best of backgrounds either.



It stayed for several minutes changing position and various poses so I still have a few more images to sort through.

[bnnrcn]

They are all nice Geoff, I think I prefer #2 to #1 compositionally

Thanks all. And now, still attempting to keep one week ahead . . .

Week 04 - Morning Moon over Malborough. Noticed this nice bright daylight moon in the morning sky but didn't really know what to do with it so I waited for it to get a little lower in the sky then around 9 am I walked just a few yards from my house to a sharp corner and pressed myself against the safety barriers just clear of the passing traffic. Looking towards the next 'city' across a valley.



7D with Canon 70-200 lens. 1/200 F13 Iso 400. Merge of 3 exposure levels. F13 was an accident, I thought I was at F11 but must have knocked the wheel. I tried so many different settings in an attempt to capture a wide range of light levels.

From a slightly different angle.



1/320 F11 Iso 400 another exposure merge to make a 'hand crafted HDR' image. Incidentally, I did try auto HDR but even in Adobe CC the result wasn't to my liking.

Then before returning home I walked around the corner to see if there were any other suitable angles but this is the only scene which I photographed.



1/80 F13 Iso 400. Still thinking I was at F11. Made a note to self about always check and never assume!