Canon EOS 5D & EF 24-70

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Rod,

She's a beauty, good shots too, perhaps a tad too close on the second, but still good

Cheers,

[Colin Southern]

Hi Rod,

Nice shot

With shots like this (ie ones that have spectrally neutral tones) if you white balance to the tones (ie adjust the entire image so that the majority of the bird is pure gray) you can then push the saturation up for the rest of the image and often bring subtle colours out. Also a little bit of sharpening often goes a long way.

Hope you don't mind, but I've given the first shot one of my notorious "Photoshop 30-Second Makeovers (TM!)". What do you think?



PS: Congratulations - you've qualified for a free lifetime gallery here - just click on "Community" and follow your nose (translation "if you keep using attachments then your going to run out of space pretty quickly, and that creates major headaches for all of us!)

[Rod]

Hi Guys

many thanks for your responses. I will make huge strides this winter in my techniques now I have some idea of best combinations. As to tweaking altering etc then I have Aperture on my Apple and CS2 though not really tried to alter my images as till now have been too frustrated with results! You are welcome to use the picture and improve it. I like the idea of a album maybe it will put me under pressure to get better results know others will view and comment. Keep helping advising you do a great service.

All the best

Rod

[Colin Southern]

You are welcome to use the picture and improve it.

Done already

[Jim B.]

Hi Colin,

Would you please point me to info on how to post an image from an album once I set it up?

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin,

Would you please point me to info on how to post an image from an album once I set it up?

Hi Jim - really easy ...

Just display the image - right-click on it - choose PROPERTIES - select the image URL from the property sheet - right-click on the selected URL and choose COPY ... then just paste into the box that pops up when you insert an image.

[Rod]

Well my new album is up and on display if you would like a browse. The pictures are what I consider the best of my bird attempts. Now I look forward to improving on these over the next year and maybe put up a new album with some stunning photo's in. Once again many thanks and encouraging people of all abilities to improve on them. Rod

[Colin Southern]

Well my new album is up and on display if you would like a browse. The pictures are what I consider the best of my bird attempts. Now I look forward to improving on these over the next year and maybe put up a new album with some stunning photo's in. Once again many thanks and encouraging people of all abilities to improve on them. Rod

Hi Rod,

You've got some really great shots there

Looks to me like you're well on your way - possibly the only comment I can make that might help is that some could possibly be improved slightly with a bit more sharpening (and the occasional levels adjustment).

I've always been curious - I always see bird handlers wearing a glove - just how sharp are those birds claws? (if claws is the right word?). Can it be done without a glove, or is that "major pain/damage" type stuff?

[Rod]

Hi Colin

thanks for your kind comments. I am ready to take advice on how to sharpen pictures after the taking now, so please advise or point me to where need to go and find out. I alter my pictures very little based on lack of knowledge!

As to the glove and Talons, yes they can be very sharp if not clipped but then you have to contend with power and pressure as well. Tundra the Snowy owl has very powerful beak and tries to rip your gloved fingers or grips like a vice when being carried from aviary and back. A Kookaburra has quite flat feet and so know need for glove to fly. Owlets can be held walked around on your bare hand for a few weeks but then Talons get sharper and so does the beak. We feed them on the glove for training purposes and therefore they can be very excited!

All the best

Rod

[Donald]

Well my new album is up and on display if you would like a browse.

Rod
Wow, what subject matter! There's a lifetime's worth of photographing. Just shows how one of our interests can be the springboard to another and how we can combine them.

Mwala 002 is superb. Shows both the power and grace of the bird. Look forward to seeing lots more.

[Dave Humphries]

Great pictures Rod,

Thanks for sharing, seeing these have made me want to finish processing the ones I shot on holiday, so you've been an inspiration already!

The only tip I can give is to say; try to plan for the backgrounds, you have some that are brilliant in this respect and others that contain a lot of distracting detail.

But so do mine as you'll see in due course

Thanks,

[Colin Southern]

Hi Rod,

With regards to sharpening, we had a good thread on this some time ago - you might like to start here?

Thanks for the info on the birds - very interesting! What's their average lifespan?

[Rod]

Thanks Colin for your response, will follow the link through.

To answer your question might be very contentious as opinions and facts are often mixed up. However it is clear that birds well kept, well fed, well house, well exercised and treated with respect will live well beyond their wild counterparts and may even double the age span. We recently let a 20 year old female Harris hawk go into retirement with a couple who wanted a bird to love and care for but not fly that often. Kit had a hip replacement due to an accident while hitting a pheasant!! Not one we encourage. She was laying eggs not long before she left and could still fly well though not suited to displays etc, in the wild her expectancy would be 10-15 years. We have a 15 year old African Spotted Eagle Owl who is very much a star of our displays, it is reported that up to 10 years would be her expectancy in the wild.

I have posted another thread re 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.8 lenses which can get for similar price of £270. I have read reviews suggesting the 85mm is superior fast for focussing. Any thoughts which might be best?

Regards

Rod

[Colin Southern]

Thanks for the detailed reply Rod - facinating stuff Hip replacements for birds - that's one I would never have guessed in a thousand years!