Wild Turkeys...

[jprzybyla]

I shot these on Monday also. Not my best, the morning had heavy fog and the turkeys were in shadows. C&C welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

#1



#2



#3

[Bobobird]

Pretty good considering the conditions.

Maybe pushing FL closer might have helped?

[jprzybyla]

Thanks Bobo. I am a little puzzled, what is FL?

[Geoff F]

The background is rather sharply focused which makes the overall scene a little confused. With images #2 & 3 the camera may actually have preferred to focus on the background instead of the intended subject.

A wider aperture could have softened the background focus a little, providing you were well focused on the birds.

But; you shot at F8 and I would have been wary of opening up the lens any further in case I didn't get both birds, or all of a bird, in good focus. So I would probably have done the same.

Maybe a slightly tighter crop and some selective reduction in brightness and saturation would reduce the background confusion.

The exposure on the birds is excellent.

[jprzybyla]

The background is rather sharply focused which makes the overall scene a little confused. With images #2 & 3 the camera may actually have preferred to focus on the background instead of the intended subject.

A wider aperture could have softened the background focus a little, providing you were well focused on the birds.

But; you shot at F8 and I would have been wary of opening up the lens any further in case I didn't get both birds, or all of a bird, in good focus. So I would probably have done the same.

Maybe a slightly tighter crop and some selective reduction in brightness and saturation would reduce the background confusion.

The exposure on the birds is excellent.

Hello Geoff, your comment is appreciated. These will probably go into the bin. The conditions for shooting them were terrible. Quite frankly I am surprised I could pull that much out of the images. A credit to post processing software. I posted them so those in the forum who were interested could see images of wild turkeys.

[Geoff F]

Well Joe, they aren't going to be exhibition winners but I think you could do a little more with them.

Just as an experiment, I've had a little play with one of these low resolution images.



I'm not sure what the true colours are but just going by the ground colour, I've reduced the blue shadows and increased red highlights.

Blurred the background then sharpened the bird and foreground.

Slight crop and selective brightness added.

With a little more time on the original you could do better than this.

[jprzybyla]

Hi Geoff, your edit is great. Sometimes I get lazy with some images. The colors are spot on. Now seeing yours I will give it a go with the original. A point of history... the turkey was almost the national bird of the USA rather than the bald eagle. If Benjamin Franklin had his way it would have happened. He said it was much wiser than the eagle. Most of the turkeys in the wild now are from a restoration project to return them to their natural range.

[jamn4ex]

It was funny that you posted these yesterday, lol on way home from work I stopped and shot a couple from truck window only had my 200 so not as detailed as I mightve hoped for

[jprzybyla]

Hi James, it must be the time for turkeys. All summer long I did not see any, now the last two times I went to the nature preserve they were in the open areas. I was disappointed with the shooting conditions that morning. Looking on the images on the computer showed very high noise. Understandable with heavy fog and shade from the trees the turkeys were under. No matter what I tried I could not eliminate it without softening the images so mine will probably go into the bin. Your images are much better than mine. Even though you only had your 200mm I think you can work with them. The first shows how they flock together and the second is nice on the crest of the hill with a good background behind the head and upper body. Nice shots.

[Geoff F]

A point of history... the turkey was almost the national bird of the USA rather than the bald eagle. If Benjamin Franklin had his way it would have happened. He said it was much wiser than the eagle. Most of the turkeys in the wild now are from a restoration project to return them to their natural range.

I seem to remember reading that the rattlesnake was also considered. Fearless, particularly when protecting it's young, and always gives a warning before attacking with deadly force.