3 recents

[Bobobird]

First real try out with the new lens and camera combo. All 3 here were shot with the 1.4 extender engaged ie 560mm.

I am reasonably happy with them.

Your views ?

1. Red-Tailed Hawk


2. Cardinal


3. Mandarin Duck - what he is doing here in Ontario is any body's guess. They are not native to North America. Switched out the 1D-X and used the 5D3 for this one.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful. For me, the 1st image is WOW (my word for today)... I love everything about it, the light, background.

The 2nd image is also gorgeous, love the detail but I'm smitten with the beauty and background of the 1st image.

#3. Beautiful image, and the duck in the foreground is WOW. This is very different. I love all the yellow beaks in the background. I'm not sure about the fuller view of the two front ducks. Very creative and I will have to look at this one a few times.

[Donald]

First real try out with the new lens and camera combo.

And so you should be. Top quality stuff, Bobo. You've really nailed the focus and sharpening. Wonderful clarity.

[FootLoose]

Amazingly sharp, Bobo. My only suggestion would be to try to separate the Mandarin from the others a bit more. The balck on the breast blends in a bit with the tail of the mallard behind it. Maybe tone down the red leg on the right a bit, too.

[Bobobird]

Danke the feedback Christina, Donald, Greg.

Will leave #3 alone for now as I have tons of shots. Might have picked the wrong one of the groupie shots. Hopefully he is still around as I may go there again in a few days to "correct" my mistakes.

[Mike Buckley]

Your new combo must be very satisfying to you. Your images are certainly satisfying to me.

[Otavio]

I am reasonably happy with them.

...Reasonably?? I would be fully happy with these wonderful images, especially #1 and #2. They are really top quality, Bobo! well done.

Cheers,

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Mike, Otavio, John.

Yes it seems fine. Only issue is camera has lots of controls which are a learning curve. Also the lens has lots of switches and for noj just using the ones I know about. After the camera is mastered will turn to the switches to see what they do.

Hopefully by then it will be warm enough so that controlling is easier. My hands were frozen and had no more feel in them. Had to run off for a coffee and warmup and returned in the pm for the duck with different hand gear.

[jamn4ex]

Great hawk shot Bobo. man your kit is very sharp even with extender!

[Nancy Moran G]

How could you NOT be happy with those, yup- wow.
Amazing colors and clarity!
Nancy

[FrankMi]

Although they are all great, the lighting on the face of the Cardinal really nails it for me Bobo!

There are small groups of Mandarin in the wild in North America but that are SO hard to find. I know they are breeding in Black Mountain, NC and I've travelled up there several times but so far have failed to see one. I did see a few Woodies though, but just a few.

[Colin Southern]

Great stuff Bobo.

Are you applying an output sharpen after your last down-sample though?

[Bobobird]

Thanks James, Nancy for the kind words.

Thanks Frank - yes I heard there are isolated population further south. It is possible this one got knocked off course by the storms over the christmas period and ended up here.

Thanks Colin. No, no sharpening after down-sampling. Actually I just let the PS scripts processor do its job and only specify quality and size. Is there a problem I need to know about?

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Colin. No, no sharpening after down-sampling. Actually I just let the PS scripts processor do its job and only specify quality and size. Is there a problem I need to know about?

I thought the images were great, but the sharpening wasn't quite optimal (it wasn't bad, I just thought it could have been a touch more effective). Normally when you're shooting with an extender you'll need to be slightly more aggressive with sharpening (eg capture sharpening perhaps 0.4 @ 300 instead of the usual 0.3 etc). And after any down-sampling, the image will appear slightly softer; often a resharpen along the lines of 0.3 @ 50 to 100% will do the trick, but with shots with high-frequency detail (like bird feathers) you sometimes need to take that down more.

A quick and dirty trick is to duplicate the layer - apply output sharpening to the top layer - and then and/or reduce the opacity of the top layer to suit, or partially/completely erase any over-sharpened areas (thus revealing the original unsharpened layer beneath). Rinse and repeat is needed. Can slow things down a bit, but has the potential to raise the image up a notch.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Colin for the short especially easy tut.

Minor question - since I normally just use the image processor function, the output file would be a jpg. Apply your suggestions to the jpg or manually down size source, sharpen, save as jpg ?

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Colin for the short especially easy tut.

Minor question - since I normally just use the image processor function, the output file would be a jpg. Apply your suggestions to the jpg or manually down size source, sharpen, save as jpg ?

I only automate it if I'm batching - if you're using Photoshop then you can just write actions and assign them to buttons to click for "normal" sharpening, but for shots like yours, I'd just do it manually.

[Bobobird]

Thanks will try that on these.

[Stagecoach]

Well Bobo, if these are ones you are reasonably happy with I look forward to seeing the ones you are really happy with !

Very nice series.

Grahame

[FlyingSquirrel]

Sweet shots! #1 awesome! Very good work with the new lens. In skilled hands, the top big glass can make a difference.