Birds and a big cat

[Jamie]

Some pictures from yesterdays outing at the zoo.

I set myself a kind of challenge to get the exposures pretty much spot on straight out of the camera while using the flash, in the past I haven’t been all that worried about it but I thought it was time to actually learn something.

I also learned that when using a flash on cats you get really bad reflections from their eyes, it also seems that if you use red eye reduction you can sometimes avoid this, while not being fool proof it sometimes works. Only down side is the flash fires 3 pre-flashes and 90% of the time the subject has moved by the time that has happened.

Comments and critique always welcome.







Thanks for looking.

[antman]

Great shots Jamie.

I really like number 2. You've done well to caputre the colours and textures of the birds feathers. The lighting looks quite natural to me.

[mudder]

G'day Jamie,

These are terrific...

The first one (A young Heron?) is the pick of the bunch, really sharp in the right spot, good pick up with the reflection and well positioned/framed, seems nicely exposed too...

The second is also nice and sharp, good framing exposure seems *just* on the edge of yellow clipping judging by the yellow on the neck... That's being picky though, just trying to help...

The flash works well on birds...

The third one gives the flash away a bit, seems nice and sharp which is really tricky at the tiger exhibit at the Melbourne zoo, and at ISO200 too! Well done on that, I've found it difficult to get good sharp tiger shots there, and I'm using at least ISO400-640 or so...

I assume you're using CS2 and you're into PP, so I'd be tempted to try and clone out the single blade of grass or reed that goes from the tip of the birds in #1, if you could get rid of that cleanly it'd be a cracker shot... I'd also be tempted to play a little with some curves in the last one with the tiger, seems the mid-tones are fairly bright, try a slight s-curve to increase contrast, I reckon that would make that one POP!

Good stuff, you've done well... Out of curiosity which lens?

[kipper]

Andrew, without my ID book I'm leaning towards a Night Herron or Bittern of some kind. Not sure which.

[Jamie]

Thanks for the comments; I'm not even going to attempt to ID any birds because I have no idea what so ever! All I know is that the first bird isn’t very good at landing and taking off, trying to land on reeds and ending up on its head, then took off and nearly flew into someone.

Andrew - I never even noticed that blade of grass until you pointed it out, but ill clone it out because it’s annoying me now.

Regarding the comment about the second picture, do you mean that the yellow is slightly blown causing it to lose detail and would that be caused from over exposure or PP?

Curves - I've got no idea, I’ve tried to get my head around them but it doesn’t seem to work with me. I've also been having some trouble with PP in CS2 and what comes out at the end not matching what appears in CS2, its really frustrating to the point that I’ve given up on it ATM.

All taken with the Nikkor 70-300mm G - I’m saving for a 80-400VR.

Thanks for the critique, appreciated

[mudder]

...I'm not even going to attempt to ID any birds because I have no idea what so ever! All I know is that the first bird isn’t very good at landing and taking off, trying to land on reeds and ending up on its head, then took off and nearly flew into someone.

Ha! I'm exactly the same! To me birds are animals with wings

...Andrew - I never even noticed that blade of grass until you pointed it out, but ill clone it out because it’s annoying me now.

Damn, sorry mate, don't ya hate that

Regarding the comment about the second picture, do you mean that the yellow is slightly blown causing it to lose detail and would that be caused from over exposure or PP?

Each color channel can clip before the luminosity does, basically the histogram on the D70 is (I think) basically just the green channel, and attempts to show the luminosity or brightness, but a color channel can clip before the "brightness" does... I've explained that REALLY BADLY!

If you use CS2, then check your highlights when converting from RAW, try having the little checkbox for "highlights" checked and you'll see 'em easily. You could recover probably .5 stops of blown highlights during RAW conversion by lowering exposure levels.

The yellow on the bird's neck seems to be lacking detail, that's why I wondered about the color channel clipping...

Curves - I've got no idea, I’ve tried to get my head around them but it doesn’t seem to work with me. I've also been having some trouble with PP in CS2 and what comes out at the end not matching what appears in CS2

What sort of worries are you having? There's heaps of knowledgeable dudes on this forum so post and ask questions, that's how I found out heaps o' stuff...

... All taken with the Nikkor 70-300mm G - I’m saving for a 80-400VR. ...

Mate, I'd be lost without my 80-400, the VR's my best friend for long focal length stuff...

Cheers.

[ABG]

Jamie,

These are all great captures. The first is the pick of the bunch for mine, but all three are really good.

All taken with the Nikkor 70-300mm G

I've never heard a nice word said about this lens, but you're really making it sing!

[Aussie Dave]

Hi Jamie
Your not sneaking in practice before the Melbourne mini-meet, are you ???

Seriously, some really nice photos you have posted here. My favourite would be no. 2....great colours and nice composition. Was this image cropped in PP or is that full-frame ? I agree that the 3rd pic seems to lack a bit of contrast....but all 3 are nice images.....well done !

Which flash were you using and how did you find using it ?

I'm yet to get to the Zoo with the D70....but am hoping to make the mini-meet.

[Jamie]

Andrew - cheers for the more in depth comments, helps a lot.

ABG - Trust me I don’t have anything really nice to say about this lens either, apart from its good value for money if you just want a little extra reach. Perhaps that’s because I can’t seem to hold it steady at 300mm though, that being the main reason I'm saving for a VR lens.

Dave - Not sneaking practice, I'm there most weekends trying out new things.
The second image has been cropped from landscape to portrait.
With the third picture it looks completely different when I view it using either CS2 or the windows picture viewer thing to what it does on the net. It seems to have more depth to the colours and to be more vivid, I don’t know if you would call it more contrast or not.
I was using the SB-600, I've only had it a few weeks and love it so far......and I hated the idea of using a flash at any time before! How things change ey. LOL
I hope you can make it to the mini meet, would be good to see you again.