New Bird in Flight Photos - One last set

[Brownbear]

Just a post to share one last set of photos before I get back to working on organizing my photos, finishing the LR tutorials, and learning to edit by practicing on the keepers.

I am delighted with my new camera because it shoots fast enough for me to capture the moments I try to capture... Now it is just a matter of me practicing and enhancing my photography skills for birds in flight...

I would like to extend a BIG thank you to Cambridge in Colour, and everyone who has taken the time to answer my seemingly endless questions over this past year. Especially Dave, Mike, Manfred, Joe, Geoff, and also Donald, James, Steve, John, Bobo Bird, Andre, Matt, Dan, Bruce, Terri, Victor, Dubai, Richard, Otavio and others whose names I can't remember off the top of my head... I've learned a lot from all of you. Sorry if I missed some names... a lot of names to remember

Joe, if you're reading this for these shots I did my usual manual thing but I tried iso auto set to a max of 1250 (a little over my comfort level) and it was helpful when a different coloured bird flew by. I think it did work because if the shot was too dark I just decreased the shutter speed to let in more light.

Horned Owl in Flight (could be a bit sharper but its an owl )




Crow in Flight







Pigeon Guillimot



Interesting how the real bird is a bit overexposed and the reflection a bit underexposed...







Anyway, I have all the knowledge and tools I need now thanks to all... Hopefully, practice will eventually make perfect, more or less...

[JPS]

Hi Christina,
A very nice set.
My favourite is this one:



But if mine I would have cropped tighter, something like this:


You are certainly getting better and better and I love seeing your work and progress.
Thanks for sharing.
John

[Digital]

Christina, nice photos.

Bruce

[jprzybyla]

I like the third, fourth and fifth a lot. I think they could be made better by post processing and cropping differently. I could not check the EXIF data, your software must strip it out. I wish there were Pigeon Guillimots in Florida I would love to photograph them.

[Brownbear]

Thank you John, Bruce, and Joe.

John, thank you for showing me a different crop.

Yes, when I sharpen in Elements after downsizing it strips the Exif data and I haven't figured out how to fix this.

Manual SS 2500 A 4 iso auto to a max of 1250 (and the max iso was used) Matrix Metering exposure comp +.67 (For the guillimots)

For the owl as above but iso auto set to a max of 1000, SS 3200 and no exposure comp. And I had an extender on the lens which decreased the exposure. I'm not sure if I like this extender or not, yet.

I started on the LR tutorials you recommended to me (they are good, thank you) and I will finish them this summer, so by then I hope my post processing skills will have improved. Here I also used the topaz denoise which I downloaded the free trial for yesterday... So I'm just learning that too, and it makes things soft.

For sharpening I used an unsharp mask of 25% and a radius of .5 - that may be too little but I will figure it out.

If you ever visit Vancouver, let me know and I will take you to see the pigeon guillimots.. So I can learn from you... Nice to know that I have a unique bird