Some Birds

[ScoutR]

Shot at a local park through chain link fence. C&C welcome especially tips on how to improve original shot, cropping suggestions, PP.... anything else

#1 White Peacock - 1/400: f4.8: ISO 200: 52mm
matrix -2/3 EC


#2 White Peacock again-1/800: f4.8: ISO 200: 48mm
matrix -1 EC


#3 White Peacock leaving-1/1000: f4.8: ISO 200: 52mm
Matrix -2/3 EC


#4 Blue necked Peacock with bored or embarassed girlfriend-1/125: f4.8: ISO 200: 56mm
Matrix -1 EC


#5 Blue necked Peacock - girlfriend left-1/80: f5: ISO 200: 82mm
matrix -1 EC

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Wendy,

It looks like you did as well as you could under very difficult circumstances; fence, limited access, dappled sunlight or shadow, etc.

I can see EXIF only on #2 and #3, but notice you have mastered EC and using a wide aperture to minimise the intrusion of the fence.

I'm not sure about the tilt on #4, but I guess correcting it would have lost too much else in the corners
That said, the tilt on #3 works OK because of the compositional angle of the bird.

You might want to use (copies of) some of these to have a practice with the dodge and burn brushes in various modes (highlight, mid-tones, shadows) and opacities to reduce the chain link fence 'imprint'.

The male birds, when displaying, certainly know how to provide lead-in lines

Well done,

[rick55]

Hi, Wendy;

As Dave says, nice shots in tough conditions. #4 is very cool. For PP, I don't know how much you've adjusted the contrast already, but on #1, for example, I tried a curve that was kind of a contrast boost for the lower input levels, and brightening for higher input levels. Like this:



The result shows a little brighter, with a little more detail in the background, I think.



Cheers,
Rick

[ScoutR]

From Dave H.
It looks like you did as well as you could under very difficult circumstances; fence, limited access, dappled sunlight or shadow, etc.

Thanks Dave: It took 2 trips, the first day was unexpected, as I just saw all the commotion of people when the birds started to display. I did my usual panic thing and took a bunch of shots without changing camera settings. Day 2 I had a plan and except for having to wait a couple hours things went much better.

I can see EXIF only on #2 and #3, but notice you have mastered EC and using a wide aperture to minimize the intrusion of the fence.

LOL, I won't tell you what aperture I was using the first day, but I was shooting landscapes previously, so you can guess.
I added EXIF for all of them now. I don't know why it shows on some and not others. All are approx the same size and had the same processing. I expected the one with the brown frame not to show because I added a layer for the frame, but it shows on that one.

I wouldn't say I have EC mastered by a long shot, but I am paying attention to it. I've switched to Matrix mode (Spot may have been better for these, but for learning purposes I am trying to get a handle on each mode)

On the white peacock I ended up having to do the opposite of what I thought I should do. -EC instead of +EC. I went by the blinkies though, and I think it was because of the spotty lighting that I was getting blown highlights. If I am thinking right, if I had spot metered on the highlights then I would have had to increase EC???? Hard to know for sure, the light was very bright in spots and full shadow in other places. None of these shots have very large crops, so what you see is pretty well what the camera metered.
I experimented a lot before the birds started displaying, and found that generally I got blinkies without -EC so when the birds displayed that's where I left it give or take 1/3

I'm not sure about the tilt on #4, but I guess correcting it would have lost too much else in the corners

I saw that too, but I had edited already. There is a small crop on this one to the right, so if I adjust the tilt before cropping I think I can fix it.

You might want to use (copies of) some of these to have a practise with the dodge and burn brushes in various modes (highlight, mid-tones, shadows) and opacities to reduce the chain link fence 'imprint'.

Good idea, I just found the dodge and burn tools and have experimented without much success. I can't believe what you did using dodge and burn on Annette's Kite shot. What the heck do i do now??
I will give it a try on these. I have lots of fence to experiment with.

The male birds, when displaying, certainly know how to provide lead-in lines

The funny part was how the females were totally ignoring them. Playing hard to get I suppose.

Thanks again for the help. Next step Dodge and Burn

Wendy

[ScoutR]

Hi, Wendy;

As Dave says, nice shots in tough conditions. #4 is very cool. For PP, I don't know how much you've adjusted the contrast already, but on #1, for example, I tried a curve that was kind of a contrast boost for the lower input levels, and brightening for higher input levels. Like this:



The result shows a little brighter, with a little more detail in the background, I think.



Cheers,
Rick

Thanks Rick, I like that. It is subtle but much more dramatic on the lighting. Thanks for showing the curves adjustment, it is very helpful to be able to see what you did along with the explanation. I think this adjustment will improve many of these shots.
Wendy

[Dave Humphries]

Next step Dodge and Burn

Better than "Crash and Burn" I guess

[Shadowman]

It would be great to get all of the plumage but considering the shooting conditions you can only get so much. Even still #5 while not capturing all of the bird is amazing.