Some water birds...
Outdoor Ontario

Some water birds...

Anonymous

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 1520
Here's a few from today, C+C appreciated.









« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Anonymous »


Photoman

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 520
Nice pics. I like the last one of the longtail and the two redheads.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Photoman »


Mark D

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 216
Nice shots.  If I may ask, where were they taken?

Mark
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Mark D »


Anonymous

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 1520
That would be the lagoon at the base of the Scarborough Bluffs, bottom of Brimley Road.  I put a report for my day - it can be found here.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Attila
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Anonymous »


Joe

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 257
Thanks for posting.  Nice shots.

Joe
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Joe »


Kin Lau

  • Registered
  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 848
How much of a crop is this? They seem a bit soft, the 75-300 should be sharper than this.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Kin Lau »


Mathew Rossi

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 111
    • http://photo.asic.ca
Hey Attila. If you want to get more out of the shots, a few pointers...

Depending on what software you use, try compressing the levels, especially from the right side (highlights) by sliding the right slider to the left (assuming photoshop but also works with Canon Digital Photo Professional DPP).

In your first shot I notice it was at f5.6 at 1/1600 ISO 200.  You could've moved the aperture towards f/8 which would help get more sharpness at the expense of shutter speed.

My theory with shooting is to always get as sharp a shot as possible, then I work with RAW processing to bring the exposure up if I need to. Sometimes you need to shoot at f 4 or 5.6 but it's generally not the sweet spot for the lens, if at all possible go for f/8 or even f/11.  I aim to keep my shutter speed at least at my focal length, so 1/300 in the case of your 75-300 if zoomed to the fullest. 1/400 for a 400mm etc. That's just a general rule though. I use aperture priority and watch the selected shutter speed.

Sharpening is always necessary if you shoot RAW, because the image is essentially bland/flat straight out of the camera.

If you're using Photoshop, Shadow-Highlight is very useful, and Unsharp mask as well. If you're using Canon's software you can still do a lot of these things but the settings are a bit different.

Here's a simple levels adjustment and 300% 0.6px sharpening for example:

 
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Mathew Rossi »


Anonymous

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 1520
Holy info!  :D

Couple of questions....

Does everyone shoot in RAW?  I've been shooting in L, but I think I'll give RAW a go from now on...

Going to pick up some software this weekend, using Canon's DPP right now but am open to something new - photoshop maybe? Other viables?

Kin - 100% on most, 75 on some others.

Thanks guys, you rock!

AP
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Anonymous »


Mathew Rossi

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 111
    • http://photo.asic.ca
Hey Attila. Before you go dropping a bomb on Photoshop, take a look at PaintShopPro or GIMP. Not positive but I believe they can both be had for free on the web, and both have a lot of tutorials and capabilities similar to Photoshop. I also think I saw PaintShopPro at FutureShop. As much as I love Photoshop, it's pretty pricey and requires a solid PC to run it, it absolutely grinds on my laptop.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Mathew Rossi »


Kin Lau

  • Registered
  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 848
Yes, GIMP is free and available for download.

For ease of use and just a general all-around good tool, I use Photoshop Elements. I'm on the old 5.0 version, current is 7.0. The Raw convertor, shadows & highlights etc are all there. The pro version is CS4, and much more expensive and full-featured but also harder to learn.

It retails for about $100- and you can purchase it online directly from Adobe.

If those were uncropped, then I would say the resizing really made a mess of things.

Can you make a full size available so that we can better see what's going on? Flickr will let you post full size.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Kin Lau »


Anonymous

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 1520
Here's a couple of full sizes for you guys to play with, and thanks again for all the information.  I'm going to start purusing all the ones that you gents have mentioned and will hopefully make a decision that will be beneficial now but also in the long run.









« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Anonymous »


Anonymous

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 1520
So I downloaded GIMP and all I can say is...wow.  Here's the result of a modified photo from above.

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Anonymous »


Mathew Rossi

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 111
    • http://photo.asic.ca
Great improvement. Post-processing is mandatory, so is shooting in RAW (IMO). Have fun! :)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Mathew Rossi »


Bird Brain

  • Frequent Users
  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 2448
    • http://www.spnc.ca/
Quote from: "Attila"
So I downloaded GIMP and all I can say is...wow.  Here's the result of a modified photo from above.



Attila ... Wow, what a difference!

 :)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Bird Brain »
Jo-Anne :)

"If what you see by the eye doesn't please you, then close your eyes and see from the heart".


Anonymous

  • Old Timer
  • *****
    • Posts: 1520
Mathew - thanks for the advice and the suggestion, I think it will pay big dividends from here on in. :D

Bird Brain - thanks for the confidence boost! :)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Anonymous »