2017 Project 52 - 3rd QTR - Sandy(Skitterbug)

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Originally Posted by joebranko

Beautiful capture of the butterfly. Looks very sharp to me, particularly the antennae. How was the green background created?

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Hi Joe ~ Thank you for the compliment! :)

When I snapped this shot, with the butterfly sitting on the post, there was a lot of greenery a bit further behind him (bushes, etc). I was using the 55-250 lens for this imagine and had it set for 250mm. Since I used f/5.6 and focused directly on him, I believe that's how the bokeh was created. Now can I honestly say that I thought all that out while I was in the process - NO. My goal was simply to get the picture taken, in focus, etc. The result was a pleasant surprise! However, I really appreciate that you asked this question because researching it a bit explains to me why it happened. With a long focus lens and having the aperture set as open as possible, the butterfly is in focus but the details behind him won't be because of the depth of field. I hope I have that right. I can bet that someone else could probably explain all of this much better than I can! I didn't change much of the background other than lightening/darkening, etc. in PP so what you see is pretty much what I had as far as the background is concerned. Hope this explains what you were interested about?

Gosh there is so much to learn still...... :)

The explanation is perfectly written, just as the capture was executed . The bokeh was so good I wondered if it was done in pp

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Originally Posted by joebranko

The explanation is perfectly written, just as the capture was executed . The bokeh was so good I wondered if it was done in pp

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Thank you Joe! Have a great day! :)

Big improvement comparing to the original Sandy :)

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Originally Posted by skitterbug

Hi Judith ~ Found some info about using that tool and gave it a whirl. Hopefully, I didn't overdo it. If I did, I can tone it down but now I know a bit more about my application and how to use it. I figured you meant for me to sharpen the butterfly..... :D

So here's my go at it!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4396/...c2054587_b.jpg

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Thanks Binnur! :D I learned quite a bit using that sharpening tool! And I also like the results! It is nice when I actually understand and then accomplish what I need to do! :)

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Originally Posted by skitterbug

Thank you for the praise John! I am still referring to directions to use that tool! (....which step to do first, what to click next, etc.) but if I play with it enough it ought to become familiar to me. The next step will be learning to resist the urge to over sharpen a pic! LOL

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Crop, reduce noise then sharpen. Don't be tempted to overdo the last two. I do it in that order because sharpening also sharpens the noise and can make it more apparent.

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Originally Posted by John 2

Crop, reduce noise then sharpen. Don't be tempted to overdo the last two. I do it in that order because sharpening also sharpens the noise and can make it more apparent.

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I think you read my mind John because I was wondering what order things ought to be done! Thank you very much for this info! :)

32Week of Photo attempts.
This one is a quickly taken pic since it was totally unexpected. My Hubby has a colony of martins. He'd tried for years to get them to come here but was unsuccessful until we finally added music to the mix. We set up the computer and a speaker system to play the "Dawn Song" and "Daytime Chatter" every day. That drew them in. This year we set out 18 gourds and I believe 16 of the 18 had families in them. Sadly the season is winding down and they are heading south already for migration. We have the final family trying to get their little ones off and flying. This little one is one of the last to leave his home. He apparently grew weary and landed on the edge of our front porch. I happened to glance out the window and spotted him hanging on. If I remember correctly, that evening also had lots of wind so it was even more difficult and tiring for this little one to fly. I grabbed the camera while hubby headed outside to see if he could catch the baby and put him back in the nest box. I didn't get but a few taken, before the little bird took exception to hubby coming toward him and decided that he could fly all by himself....thank you very much!

So I have one pic that is fairly acceptable. I'll probably never have this opportunity again......

Baby Martin - ISO400 - f/5.6 - 1/60ss - flash used
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...e532b4a0_b.jpg

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Originally Posted by skitterbug

32Week of Photo attempts.
This one is a quickly taken pic since it was totally unexpected. My Hubby has a colony of martins. He'd tried for years to get them to come here but was unsuccessful until we finally added music to the mix. We set up the computer and a speaker system to play the "Dawn Song" and "Daytime Chatter" every day. That drew them in. This year we set out 18 gourds and I believe 16 of the 18 had families in them. Sadly the season is winding down and they are heading south already for migration. We have the final family trying to get their little ones off and flying. This little one is one of the last to leave his home. He apparently grew weary and landed on the edge of our front porch. I happened to glance out the window and spotted him hanging on. If I remember correctly, that evening also had lots of wind so it was even more difficult and tiring for this little one to fly. I grabbed the camera while hubby headed outside to see if he could catch the baby and put him back in the nest box. I didn't get but a few taken, before the little bird took exception to hubby coming toward him and decided that he could fly all by himself....thank you very much!

So I have one pic that is fairly acceptable. I'll probably never have this opportunity again......

Baby Martin - ISO400 - f/5.6 - 1/60ss - flash used
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...e532b4a0_b.jpg

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Excellent capture

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Good feather detail which is always tricky to achieve.

Thank you Joe! I got lucky I believe! Sadly the last of the martins left yesterday. We won't see them again until next spring!

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Originally Posted by Geoff F

Good feather detail which is always tricky to achieve.

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Hi Geoff ~ I used the sharpening technique that I recently learned, to help bring a bit of detail to those feathers! I was hoping that I hadn't overdone it. I appreciate your praise! Thank you!

Lovely bird; but looks a bit helpless.....congrats for getting it before it flew away

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Originally Posted by Wavelength

Lovely bird; but looks a bit helpless.....congrats for getting it before it flew away

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Hi Nandakumar ~ There was one little bird that my hubby put back into the nest box on three different occasions. I don't know whether its nest mates tossed him out <LOL> but he hadn't mastered flying and kept landing on the ground unable to get airborne again.. I kind of wonder if this is the same little one finally making it to our porch and then flying off by himself back into the air successfully. I expect that soulful look turned into one of sheer happiness when he found he could actually fly! :) These creatures are delightful to watch!

ps: Hope you are feeling much better now!

Sure, Sandy; i feel much better. Thank you very much :)

For week 33 I am going to load four pics that I captured during last week. I wanted to try my hand at some PP and have these to show for it. I wasn't lucky enough to be very close to the crop duster's flight pattern so I cropped a bit to pull him in.

They fly very close to the ground and to anything else that may be along a field. This first pic looked better in live but I am hoping the pic does it justice. Watching them fly is amazing! There are times when they even duck their planes under the electric lines along the road. Yep! Wild!

#1 Plane coming past the old barn

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4350/...3eddf6f0_b.jpg


The next 3 are over a different field that is west of our home and is about 1/2 mile away. The pilot has to time his start and stops exactly. We found out it costs $25 per acre to put this spray on so I doubt the farmer would want any wasted! I liked the way the spray swirled behind the plane.

#2 Swooping down to spray



https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...105dec4d_b.jpg

#3 Leveling off


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4390/...b1a1da1c_b.jpg

#4 Pulling up


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...bd0dfea2_b.jpg

Excellent additions :)

If you get another chance, Sandy, try some shots with a shutter speed around 1/200 which will blur the propeller.

Not easy to achieve perfect results with a slow shutter but these shots are well focused so you should be able to still obtain excellent images.

Nice set Sandy, my fav is #2. Nice light on the barn :)

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Originally Posted by Wavelength

Excellent additions :)

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Thank you Nandakumar! I appreciate your kindness! :)