More birds from me!! 56k no!

[Richard T]

Popped over Hanningfield Reservoir again today and got some more shots.
I was really back there looking for that Robin but he was not about!

All comments and critique most welcome.



Any ideas what the first bird is??

1

2

3

4

5

 

[Richard T]

Ok.... just a few more!!

6

7

8

9

 

[Richard T]

10

11

Was pleased with the results of my first in flight shots


Oh and one more of the cat ready to pounce on those birds!!

12

 

[Richard T]

Shots 1,3 and 4 look flat, the foreground birds don't 'pop' out from the background.
It's a shame the Robin is a touch underexposed but it's something that can be fixed - Just be careful you don't go too far and make it look plastic.
Shot 7 would look better had the shadow of the bird not been cut off at the bottom.

I know how hard birds are to photograph in flight so you’ve done well.

Thanks for the comments SDK...

How would you make the first 4 stand out more? I have tweaked the levels and run a noise program on them. Do yo uthink the noiseware app has softened them too much? I used noise ninja

I was not going to post the robin shot but as its pretty sharp I wanted to try and turn it in to a silhouette but was unsure of the best way to do this

I noticed the shadow when I cropped the shot but its hard enough to get the bird in the frame let alone the shadow!

It was a lot harder than I thought. it seemed a lot harder than panning for motorsport shots (just a little slower!!)

Thanks for the comments guys... It means a lot to hear I'm improving

Excellent pics IMHO. I can't offer any C&C as I'm not educated enough to give any.

What lense were they taken with?

All shots taken with my 70-300IS

#9 is great! Diffenately the best.

P.S I want to steal your cat.

Sorry but the cat stays....

Just after than shot she pounced on me!!

Thanks again for the comments guys

 

[Richard T]

For that shot, you could use Photoshop's magic wand to select the robin and the branch he's sat on (and the other branches, if you like), and then open the levels dialog and drag the black point slider over until everything's as silhouetted as you want it.

thanks..

Hows this?

 

[Richard T]

ok tried it on the first 4 and 1 2 and 3 it did make a difference but on 4 the background came out a funny colour and did not look right

Have checked out your site by the way especially the tips page Good stuff

 

[Richard T]

good shots of the birds in flight, that's really difficult

thanks... It was my first time in trying to get shots like this. I took loads, most of em were carp tho'

thats the beauty of digital.... you can just keep shooting away!!

 

[Richard T]

I hope you don't mind but I had a quick play with one of the shots. While they're nice and sharp shots, I'm guessing it was overcast that day leaving flat tones and colours.



What I did was this.

1. New Adjustment Layer, Levels, click OK
2. Left slider to the end of the histogram, right to the beginning of it
3. Selected background layer.
4. Dodge tool set to highlights 14%. Just ran it over the shadowed areas to bring them out a touch.
5. Cropped to focus more on the bird and remove the empty space that didn't feel like it added to the shot.

Thanks for that Cykey. It does look a lot better
Yep was manky and dull. Its has been like that the 3 times I've been over there.
Roll on the spring/summer!