2019 Project 52 by Geoff F - 1st Quarter

[Geoff F]

Like so many questions, Bruce, the answer is 'It all depends on . . .'

With simple camera movement between shots the Auto Align function usually does a good job. I think you need something like 40% coverage between images and you need to allow sufficient cropping area around the scene to cover misalignment of edges.

It gets a bit more complex with subject movement within a scene. Because I am hand merging shots as layers it is often still possible to do an exposure merge if the moved subject is retained within the image background so just one shot of the subject and most of the background is used in the merge.

For example. Consider a person walking along a street with a wall as a background. If I am using the person and the wall as my main background layer it doesn't matter if the person has moved, subject to sufficient shutter speed, as long as the wall and person remain relative to each other.

And within that scene, there may be overly bright/dark portions of the wall which can be corrected using portions of the highlight/shadow shots carefully 'painted' over the background layer.

Auto HDR merges use parts of the images selected according to brightness levels so subject movement becomes a problem when the 'wrong' areas get selected.

But, if you get subject movement outside of the related background area you have a serious problem. For example leaves blowing in the wind against a sky background. This cannot be altered using a merge of bracketed exposures. In which case, I start with just one image then create duplicate layers which I can push in different directions from the original Raw file using ACR then combine together as a merge. Such as one copy pushed towards best highlights and another edited for best shadow use.

Shooting Raw is a great advantage in all cases because it allows for simple image manipulation before doing the merge.

[Cantab]

Geoff, thank you for the fullsome and helpful answer.

[John 2]

I'm very much catching up on these Geoff. Love the first series, particularly the birds (nice light). Envy you your access to working boats in the second and the second image of the Newbrook is spot on. Finally, who doesn't like Highland cattle?

[Geoff F]

Some people seem to get scared of the 'Highlanders' John and there are always a few letters of complaint to the National Trust and local press about these fearsome creatures! But, fortunately, that always initiates a greater response from people saying what wonderful beasts they are. Although people with dogs would be well advised to keep clear when there are young calves around.

Week 04 - Slapton Ley. I paid a visit to this local nature reserve but there wasn't a lot of interesting bird life there and what was available tended to keep itself fairly distant and in very tricky light. So I looked around for other subjects.

Taking a Break



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens 1/320 F11 Iso 800. Merge of 3 conversions from one Raw file.

That isn't a bird!



Merge of 3 bracketed exposures. Middle shot 1/400 F11 Iso 400

And a close up of that strange 'bird'.



1/250 F11 Iso 400. Merge of 2 conversions from one Raw file.

Part of the road along this shingle ridge which separates the freshwater lake from the sea was washed away last year during gales. A new road has been constructed but there is still a bit of cleaning up work still to be done.

[Geoff F]

Week 05. Some more construction equipment this week. I returned to the nature reserve but there wasn't much wildlife around so I tried to photograph a dumper truck on a lorry which was parked on the nearby road. A rather dull light day so I took 3 bracketed exposures but finally decided to work with only the underexposed shot to create a dark scene.



7D with Sigma 150-600 Sport lens at 150 mm. 1/1000 F8 Iso 400. If I had set out to just use one image I would have picked a lower Iso setting.

On my way home I paused at Kingsbridge where part of the quay wall is being repaired.



Tamron 24-70 lens. Merge of 3 hand held shots. Middle shot 1/160 F8 Iso 400

[Geoff F]

Week 06 - Salcombe Harbour Barge. I was in a bird hide without much action around me when the harbour barge passed by on their way to replace some moorings further up the creek. This is a merge of 2 focus points. Sometimes it is possible to do that with a moving subject.



7D with Sigma 150-600 Sport lens at 300 mm. 1/640 F11 Iso 500

[Cantab]

Geoff, this works well. I presume your two focus points were the oyster catchers and the barge?

I suppose that in one sense the image is busy, with its three or so subjects/points of interest: the birds, the barge and the undulating fields and hedgerows (and church spire on the skyline). But it works for me.

Is this one that might make it into the annual calendar you do photos for? But it perhaps does not have the necessary format/shape (4x5?)?

A piece of trivia: our oyster catchers have no white on them, just black bodies and orange beaks.

[Shadowman]

As a sort of triptych (3 planes or subjects) it doesn't work for me as the hazy background creates a distraction, somehow if only two subjects or segments were presented it makes the composition less complicated; but it's probably only me who sees it that way.

[Geoff F]

I did initially try some 5 x 4 ratio crops but, as Bruce mentioned, I was thinking about getting something for the next history society calendar which requires a 4 x 5 ratio and an identifiable scene. The next calendar will be the fifth one so I am having to carefully look around for new locations within a fairly small geographical area.

[FootLoose]

I think this would work better if you crop up from the bottom to remove the wildlife. Then you would have a clear foreground, midground, background with the boat being the foreground subject.

[Geoff F]

The problem with this scene is being restricted to 4 x 5 ratio, for possible future use. However, I have returned to the original images and produced an alternative; after a bit of 'messing around'.

[Cantab]

The problem with this scene is being restricted to 4 x 5 ratio, for possible future use. However, I have returned to the original images and produced an alternative; after a bit of 'messing around'.

Geoff, compositionally this crop works better than the original. But (a big “but”) part of the reason I was attracted to the original image was the inclusion of the in focus oyster catchers. This has got me wondering about the traditional compositional tenet that there needs to be only one focal point or key subject in a “good” photo....

[Geoff F]

That was my original thinking about this scene, Bruce.

But the simplified alternative may be better if printed in the calendar at only 170 mm height.

[Geoff F]

Week 07 - The Greedy Cormorant. I was back at the same bird hide from where I took the last image and saw this Cormorant which had caught a rather large mullet.



7D with Sigma 150-600 Sport lens 1/2000 F8 Iso 800



1/3200 F8 Iso 800



1/4000 F8 Iso 800

Not the best of light angles.

I see that the latest P base update is removing the exif details and I can't easily see any way of automatically replacing them without resorting to third party exif showing software then manually entering those values.

[Rufus]

[B]Week 07 - The Greedy Cormorant.

Well that will take some digesting What a remarkable sequence. Well done Geoff!

[John 2]

That is a great sequence Geoff. Well caught and presented. You're also getting some nice quality out of the Sigma.

[Cantab]

A great set of photos! But did the cormorant get indigestion?

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

I had the camera set up for a different subject then suddenly noticed the cormorant which just appeared in front of me. No time to think about changes to the shooting settings, just a case of point and click; but fortunately that produced a rather fast shutter speed which worked out OK.

ps. I now have my exif data with P base once again. I went to the root gallery and unclicked show exif; then I clicked again on that option and everything is back to normal. Plus a map which shows all my shooting locations with a note of how many were taken from each spot. Selecting a location gives me the option of finding all images taken from there.

[FootLoose]

Good set Geoff. I wonder if they dislocate their jaws to get those larger fish down their throats like some snakes do.

[Shadowman]

Nice set Week #7.