A few more THC pics

[oldcanon]

Thanks for your comments on the others.

Strange, I find that those inverts and locked claw shots aren't too bad to get. I think its a case of "Pattern Recognition", I seem to be able to spot when its about to happen now.

The tight fit in the frame with the Vulture was how I saw the bird in real life too, they don't half look big when coming straight at you!

Anyway, as threatened here are a few more.

The first is the real tight crop from the Vulture shot which I had thought to put up first time. The second I think is my favourite shot of the day, with the Fish Eagle stalling as it is about to take a "Chicken Nugget" on the wing and the final shot is my first one of the Snowy Owl in flight. I found it very hard to get the exposure right under the conditions and even after a fair bit of post-processing I'm not happy with the contrast between shadow side and sun side.

I tried various ways of getting the exposure right "on the wing" as it were and ended up shooting in manual exposure using the grass as my "Grey Card". I suspect it was just a function of the low raking and high contrast light but would welcome any ideas on how else to cope with this (shooting from "Photographers' Corner in the display area)

[Trevoreast]

Re: A few more THC pics

I like the last best it looks the most natural and pleasing image of the three, it could pass for a shot of an owl in the wild, if there wasn't other pics of this bird on this forum.

The first is not something I'd print and frame, the subect matter doesn't appeal to me, but could work for others as a large canvas over the fireplace.
if it was just to test your equipment/ lens there's some fringing under the wing, I'm not sure if that was introduced during PP, or it is as snapped.

The second looks to me like the sort of detail you're left with after a hefty crop coupled with some PP on the puter.

Well done, it can't be easy snapping these BIF, I hope you get the info you asked for from the people who visit that aviary regularly.
Trev

[colin C]

Re: A few more THC pics

I know what you mean about the vultures - they fly across the audience with their feathers just lightly brushing your hair. Best fun ever is to have 300 brownies in the ampitheatre ........................ you can hear the screams in the next county!

You are on the right track using the grass as your grey card and shooting fully manual. I used to take my meter along for an incident reading and invariably it was the same as using the grass, so that's all I use now. But that is only your starting point for average birds, with grass and foliage in the background. The same bird against sky is better with +1 EV. A dark bird against foliage/grass (white backed Vulture) needs +1 EV and +1.5 to +2 EV against the sky. Snowy Owls and Barn Owls need -1.5 to -2 against foliage and -1 against the sky. These are starting points and the brightness and contrast of the light will dictate how your settings are refined. This is where the histogram is your best friend to refine your settings, until you are confortable with your experience level. Take special note that the above assumes the light is static all day. Whenever it changes, you have to make changes to compensate and even more importantly, be aware of any changes so you can react. It's so easy to be immersed in the subject and concentrate on what it's doing, your panning technique and looking for that "shot", that you miss changes in light.

Can be tricky this birds in flight m'larky!

Colin

[oldcanon]

Re: A few more THC pics

Thanks Trev and Colin.

Trev, not much PP with the Fish Eagle just a (maybe careless) choice of colour mode in PP, I'll put up the original to see if that looks more natural to you.
Regarding the crop of the Vulture - I agree - no way would I want it on my wall either, With the first letterbox and this tight crop I was trying to capture the impact (pun intended) of a bird this size apparently coming straight at me. I'm not suprised to see the fringing as this is a crop of around 840 x 670 pix taken from the original 18mp image - I supect you'd see something similar on most lenses (I know I would with my old 300 F4LIS and 400 F5.6 L lenses)

Colin - what you say is correct, my problem shooting in the arena is that the conditions change even across a single flight path, a slight tilt of wing or change of direction and everything changes lightwise. In this case I made to conscious decision to go slighty over exposed and bring it back in PP, primarily by reducing exposure by 2/3 ev and bringing back the contrast quite a fair bit (my 7D seems to work better noisewise doing that). As you so wisely say "Can be tricky this birds in flight m'larky! " (wouldn't want it to be any other way though )

[colin C]

Re: A few more THC pics

"Can be tricky this birds in flight m'larky! " (wouldn't want it to be any other way though )

I made a rather good living out of bringing things into the studio, fiddling around with some lights, take a polaroid shot, then one final shot with a 10 x 8" plate camera. It didn't move unless I moved it.

And what did I long for? Out in the fresh air taking shots of birds in flight.

Never satisfied!

Colin

[Trevoreast]

Re: A few more THC pics

I supect you'd see something similar on most lenses (I know I would with my old 300 F4LIS and 400 F5.6 L lenses)

I'm happy to take your word for that, I haven't got any of those lenses.

The Owl pic is in AV mode evaluative metering, looks like it's worked well, sometimes AV mode is the better option ??
Too much trouble with manual if it's flying quicky through uneven light, unless you're just shooting when it enters the light you set the camera up for.
In manual outdoors because of the sun, we know we need to be very careful metering, most of my subjects are still so it's not such a prob for me.

Birds in flight, excellent for those that are up for a stern challenge !
Well done !
Trev

[oldcanon]

Re: A few more THC pics

The Owl pic is in AV mode evaluative metering, looks like it's worked well, sometimes AV mode is the better option

Well spotted Trev, I'm losing it!

I went there intending to do all the shooting using manual as I wanted to try out the "Big Green Grey Card" method but obviously started out in Av mode. I've just checked the EXIFs and by the time I got to the top meadow I was definitely using manual for all the shots. Must have tried it in the enclosure and decided it was too difficult (must check my EXIF on a regular basis when posting, my memory is clearly shot)