2019 P52 - 3nd Qtr - Sandy(Skitterbug)

[skitterbug]

Half way though 2019 P52 and now starting the third quarter of photography practice! Links to the 1st and 2nd Quarter are listed below in my signature information.

I decided to start my third quarter off with my most favorite wildlife subject - yep, the bullfrog. However, I am puzzled about our little population.We do not use chemicals, etc and try to keep our home environment as free from these things as possible. I've noticed that lately only 1 or 2 bullfrogs appear to be living in our koi pond. Our pond isn't large, maybe 17'x20' as an estimate and generally we had 4 to 5 bullfrogs in it. Now they are missing. It is a puzzle to me.

This one popped out along the rocks late evening. I tried capturing him with no extra lighting and then with the built in camera flash. No extra light source worked best. I also used the 100-400 lens without the extender so that I could open the aperture. When the extender is in place, I can only go to f/8. Not good for low light situations.

Using part of Manfred's suggestion (and I'll be experimenting more with his suggestions as I keep experimenting in post processing) - I did apply USM to the image to see how it works. I did not apply the second mask to reduce any of the effect since I liked what I saw after the USM application.

Settings used: f/5.6 – 1/200 – AUTO 6400

Lonely Bullfrog

[Geoff F]

That looks good, Sandy. Particularly as you used such a high Iso I tend to worry about anything over 800.

[Wavelength]

This is really classic, Sandy;really well one

[Rufus]

You have a very good image there, Sandy. Lovely shiny eyes/sockets and above the mouth.

I can understand why Miss Piggy was besotted with Kermit - BTW does that mean anything across the pond? (pun intended)

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, especially with ISO 6400.

[purplehaze]

Terrific, Sandy. Well done!

[Stagecoach]

Great pose and framing !

[skitterbug]

That looks good, Sandy. Particularly as you used such a high Iso I tend to worry about anything over 800.

Hi Geoff - I was a bit worried about the high ISO but there wasn't much to help the situation if I wanted the image. I probably got lucky for a change! <grin> Thanks for commenting!

[skitterbug]

This is really classic, Sandy;really well one

Thanks Nandakumar! This bullfrog seems to be the only one left in our koi pond! Maybe he wanted his picture taken since he was sitting so proudly on the rocks!

[skitterbug]

You have a very good image there, Sandy. Lovely shiny eyes/sockets and above the mouth.

I can understand why Miss Piggy was besotted with Kermit - BTW does that mean anything across the pond? (pun intended)

Miss Piggy and Kermit were/are an item here too! <grin> Thank you for your kind praise!

[skitterbug]

Nicely captured, especially with ISO 6400.

Hi John - I may actually try and print this one! Thank you for commenting! <smile>

[skitterbug]

Terrific, Sandy. Well done!

Thank you Janis! I appreciate your comments!

[skitterbug]

Great pose and framing !

Hi Grahame - I wasn't totally sure how to crop this one since I didn't want him smack dab in the middle. So I left him off centered a bit and then fiddled until I had what I liked. I'm glad you like it too! Thank you!

[skitterbug]

For Week 28 and 29..... Sorting through some of the images from the first couple of weeks of July.

First one that I liked is a simple flower pic. These are some that we transplanted from an undesirable spot to their current location. The common name is cone flower. The birds, especially the finches, love the seed heads so we don't remove the spent flowers once they have completed the blooming period.

f/8.0 - 1/500 - ISO2500 (auto)





This female cardinal worked hard trying to keep her little ones fed. She had them located in a different bush this year so trying to get images of her was a task. Unfortunately, we think the extremely hard rain that we received, devastated her nest and babies. We haven't seen any young cardinals coming to our feeders.

Settings used: f/8 - 1/500 - ISO1250

One Tired Momma

[Wavelength]

Lovely flowers and bird; i think the the flower image would be better in a vertical frame.. or a bit more higher roofing

[Shadowman]

Nice effort on the flowers, crop at top a bit severe. Bird shot spot on, the high ISO may have contributed to the softness of the image.

[skitterbug]

Thanks John and Nandakumar for your comments.

In my defense (chuckle) the lack of space above the top flower was because I was more focused on the center blossom and wanted to show the congestion of its surroundings. As both of you mentioned, I should have put a bit more space above it in my initial composition.

Along with the usual post processing steps I take, I also gave the bird image the USM treatment and reduced the "noise" to hopefully improve the image.

I've been trying to use Auto ISO since cameras are supposed to be capable in sorting out such things. I'm beginning to think that my manual choices of ISO settings work better over all. I'm also deciding that I am not a big fan of the extender EF 1.4. It limits movement of the focus point when composing, the aperture cannot be set more open than f/8, it is slow to focus on my subjects. In its behalf and for now, it is the only way I can "reach" some of the wildlife I want images of without spending huge $$ on a longer focusing lens. (sigh)

Again, thanks for the comments! They make me think and consider what I ought to do!

[Geoff F]

With the coneflower, Sandy, another approach would be to crop tighter at the top and sides; so you only show about half of the petals from the higher flower with a balancing amount from the sides. That would appear to be a deliberate composition choice to focus attention on just one flower rather than a mistake.

And regarding auto Iso settings. Your thinking is exactly what I always do. Set your Iso manually to suit the scene. The only time I vary from that method is with video when I have a fixed shutter speed, often with a fixed aperture as well, so without auto Iso I would be liable to get serious over/under exposure.

I have tried my 1.4x converter with the 150-600 lens and found auto focus to be unreliable, although manual focus was possible. However, macro photography is an entirely different situation and I frequently use the converter for those shots.

[skitterbug]

With the coneflower, Sandy, another approach would be to crop tighter at the top and sides; so you only show about half of the petals from the higher flower with a balancing amount from the sides. That would appear to be a deliberate composition choice to focus attention on just one flower rather than a mistake.

How does this look to you? It changes what I had in mind but I mangled the first attempt since I didn't leave head space. I can't go back and take another because the flowers have faded from the horrendous heat we are experiencing now. <sigh> The weather is never perfect for very long it seems.

And regarding auto Iso settings. Your thinking is exactly what I always do. Set your Iso manually to suit the scene. The only time I vary from that method is with video when I have a fixed shutter speed, often with a fixed aperture as well, so without auto Iso I would be liable to get serious over/under exposure.

This is originally what I'd been doing but it was mentioned by some that the auto ISO would be handy to use. So I gave it a go. I expect there will be times when I do use that setting but I believe I'm going to go back to manually adjusting my settings to what I think will work. <grin>

I have tried my 1.4x converter with the 150-600 lens and found auto focus to be unreliable, although manual focus was possible. However, macro photography is an entirely different situation and I frequently use the converter for those shots.

I won't give up on it completely but for late evening or very early morning, I may as well leave it in the house!

Thanks for your suggestions and comments. I hope the change I made in the flower image makes a difference. If it still looks lame, it will end up in the rubbish bin! <grin>

[Cantab]

Sandy, in the flower photo, did you make some brightness or contrast changes from the original version you posted? When I originally saw the photo I was looking at it on my iPad and thought it looked a bit dull. But I said nothing because what appears on the iPad is not what appears on a calibrated monitor. I'm now looking at the photos on my desktop monitor and see a distinct difference between the two versions. I prefer the brightness, etc. of the second version but it may not be what you were wanting to achieve (and it might all be a figment of my vision ).

The importance of composing the scene while at the camera is frequently stressed but there's something to be said for leaving a cushion of space on all sides as it's always simple enough to crop slightly when editing. Having said that, I can think of many photos where I've later wished I'd left a bit more space!