Stroll around the park

[KentDub]

Here's a few snapshots I got at the local park today. C&C encouraged
(Be brutal -- I need help!)


- (Above) Caonon 5d Mk II, EF24-105mm @ 105mm, 1/800sec, ISO 100, F/4

- (Above) Caonon 5d Mk II, EF24-105mm @ 105mm, 1/800sec, ISO 100, F/4.5

- (Above) Caonon 5d Mk II, EF24-105mm @ 105mm, 1/640sec, ISO 100, F/4

EXIF embedded -- Also geocoded

[Colin Southern]

(Be brutal -- I need help!)

Cool - I like those the best

Seriously, in terms of "realistic reproductions" I think they're just fine - but they seem to lack purpose - or "direction".

I've done a Photoshop 30-Second Makeover (TM!) of one as an example of drawing the eye to something of interest.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Kent,

OK, I'm usually the brutally honest one for crits
However, I haven't done one for a few weeks, so I may be out of practice

#1; The biggest problem I see is the tree on the right - nothing you could do about it this time really.
I spend a fair mount of time on riverbanks and appreciate how the more spectacular action with geese (or swans) nearly always kicks off when there is something between me and them
The only recourse is to spend more time in the sunshine alongside likely looking groups of birds and wait for things to develop, I do that, get fed up waiting, start walking away and hey presto, it happens

Focus isn't bad, might be a little towards the far bank, difficult to say on this size shot.

You've been lucky with the grouping of birds and their 'poses'. Was this one of a series shot on continuous? If not you were very lucky and I'd strongly suggest going to continuous mode and rattling off a burst when things like this happen. I'm sure you do this anyway Kent, but the advice may be helpful to others reading this.

#2; Lot of deadspace water on the right, but beyond that I'd consider a much tighter vertical crop with just the two most central birds in. Anyway, how'd you scare it off like that, by saying "Boo"?

#3; I'd suggest more DoF when working this close at 105mm, try f8 or f11. For all three, I'd say your choice of shutter speeds was good, so to retain those and get more DoF will mean upping the ISO, but that really shouldn't be a problem with your kit and even if it is, something like Neat Image can remove it without minimal side effects. I fnd myself shooting at 400ISO on sunny days and 800 - 1600 on dull days to get the necessary combinations of ss and aperture.

On this one, I'd crop a bit off the bottom edge and clone out the bright distracting reflection top left.

Beyond that, as you no doubt know - a longer lens would obviously be of benefit for this kind of shooting. In FF terms 300 or 400m (I have the equivalent of 300mm and still want to get 'closer').

Hope that helps next time you're taking a stroll around the park.

[KentDub]

Thanks guys.

Colin that looks great! Did you do anything except crop it and bump the contrast? (It makes me want to print it out now!)

You've been lucky with the grouping of birds and their 'poses'. Was this one of a series shot on continuous? If not you were very lucky and I'd strongly suggest going to continuous mode and rattling off a burst when things like this happen.

I wasn't in continous mode, but I was shotting pretty rapidly. I have probebly 8 shots each of the first two images -- the best are shown. Even without being in continous mode I was impressed with how fast the autofocus worked. You're right - I tried staying on the "good side" of the pond, but it created two issues -- 1 I was too far from the birds (105mm even cropping wouldn't cut it), and 2 they wern't doing anything interesting! So I moved closer (and unfortunatly the shadow side of them). I was debating on trying to use my flash for fill but wasn't sure if it would scare them off or not - so I decided not to torture them.

#2; Lot of deadspace water on the right, but beyond that I'd consider a much tighter vertical crop with just the two most central birds in. Anyway, how'd you scare it off like that, by saying "Boo"?

I got off of the trail and started "zooming with my feet", I got close enough that this one took off There were about 30 of them on the shore in front of me but they just walked into the water and didn't do anything interesting.


Both of you have a common theme of cropping these images better (which I think I need practice on). It's hard for me to crop so much out -- the origionals have so much more in them that I already thought I was being drastic. I do agree that I need a longer lens - infact that was my first post on the forums Colin has me talked into the 70-200 f/2.8 with a set of extenders. It'll take a few months to save up for it but I think it'll give me a lot more freedom.

[Colin Southern]

Thanks guys.

Colin that looks great! Did you do anything except crop it and bump the contrast? (It makes me want to print it out now!)

Off memory I didn't touch the contrast - I desaturated the grass right at the top and gave the rest of it an overall saturation boost - that's about all I remember. 90% of the impact comes from the crop and the boarder.

If you print it you'll probably want to work from a higher resolution source. Send the original to me if you like, but it's probably something you could do quite easily yourself anyway

[Dave Humphries]

Here's one of mine overly cropped


1/1500s @ f8 at 200mm, ISO400

Not sure the PP is up to my usual standard
My excuse is that a black bird (well, a Cormorant actually) at speed, at that distance, is a bit of a challenge. I think the sun is from the direction it is flying to.

This is 1:1 (at the 954 width), so equivalent to about a 5 x zoom in on image, dunno what effective focal length that works out to; erm 1000mm? x 1.5cf = 1500mm nah, surely not
I NEED A LONGER LENS!

[KentDub]

If you print it you'll probably want to work from a higher resolution source. Send the original to me if you like, but it's probably something you could do quite easily yourself anyway

I've uploaded my origional raw to my site. I'm going to be interested to make the changes myself and compare it to what you come up with, if the offer still stands

RAW & XMP: http://kentwilliams.net/photography/IMG_0892.zip

I NEED A LONGER LENS!

You and me both!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Kent,

I don't have a lot of spare time today to play with these kinds of things too much, but here's a quick job ...

In some ways my original crop was probably better, but I didn't see the point in making the two look the same.

[KentDub]

Sweet didn't know I owned a Canon 5d Mark III! Thanks for the upgrade!

I actually like this crop a bit better Now if I only knew where to buy some "widescreen" paper!

[Colin Southern]

Sweet didn't know I owned a Canon 5d Mark III! Thanks for the upgrade!

I actually like this crop a bit better Now if I only knew where to buy some "widescreen" paper!

Welcome to the official Canon 5D3 beta testing team. Oops!