A cute Raptor

[Chaz Zahn]

In between errands, I stopped by the bird sanctuary and saw this little guy.

 

[Asher Kelman]

In between errands, I stopped by the bird sanctuary and saw this little guy.

Hi Chaz,

Welcome to OPF and it's so great for you to start with such a fun and impressive picture.

The colors are of course so pleasing with it showing a palette of sienna family colors, a most comforting feeling for us. I love the focus on the head, with the feathers slicked back like a strutting 60's mobster. The curve of the back and the birds left side are so enticing to bring our attention to the head. Those bright yellow nostrils look awfully close to us.

So how did this picture get made? Was it from a 6x6 camera? Unlikely but that would be great. I love that format. The challenge is composition and you have met this and the signature on the right works to balance the mass of the bird. Consider raising it and making it in yellow sampling that from the nostrils. If you have such a huge signature, integrate it!

We'd love to know how, in fact, you made the picture, the camera and technicals. I appreciate hearing the location, the sanctuary, but which one, so others might see it too and also support that place. Do you know the identity and is it mature.

Have you done any post processing?

An idea: perhaps sharpen the eyes and perhaps the beaver-like black and white stripes on either side of the face and also some of the feathers on the chest.

This picture is most enjoyable. Sanctuaries are such a good resource, for the birds and ourselves as photographers. I dislike to see the metal bands and transmitters, but they can be cloned away. Who else has a favorite place where they can photograph such beauties?

Thanks for sharing!

Asher

 

[Chaz Zahn]

Thank you for the critique

This was shot at the World Bird Sanctuary (www.worldbirdsanctuary.org) in Valley Park, MO (St. Louis). I was in a "you never know until you try" mood. So...I set the cam for an ISO 800 and took off.

It was shot with a Canon 1D Mark III and EF 70-200 f/2.8L on a Manfrotto monopod. I'm an old school shooter, both camera and lens were on manual with an ISO 800, 1/2500 SS and an f/4.0 Av.

Being old school (meaning, in the old days what ya shot on film was what ya got), I try to keep processing to a minimum, the only processing involved (besides resizing) was a +0.3 exposure to the RAW in Photoshop CS4.

I do like your ideas on improving it, I'm new to P/S CS4. I switched from Paintshop Pro when I got the 1D because Paintshop did not support the new RAW format....so I'm still learning the software. BTW...I did the Sig in black to compliment the colors and not take attention away from the bird. I tried a slightly brighter yellow and it was kinda distracting.

Here is another bird I Liked. 1/3200 f/4.5

 

[Asher Kelman]

Being old school (meaning, in the old days what ya shot on film was what ya got),

Well, Chaz, in the old days I only did that when I was too busy and it went to the lab to be processed and printed. In the good old days, most of the time was spent in the darkroom. That meant contyrolling the cotrast, size of grain, test strips, differential exposure of parts of the image with doging and burning to build the image. The image was in fact built in the darkroom. It's a misconceotion that what was seen was what was printed and the better the photographer, the more precise and controlled were the darkroom instrcutions irrespective of who actually did the work.

So to expect a dumb digital camera to know what's important is not yet a reality. We're getting there with face recognition, but as in this example, that picture must be built by you in order to fully express the richness of a dimensional creature in a flat thing like a photograph.

[/

Another great shot. Think about underexposing to get the white and not blow out the detail. With a wide aperture and too much light, one is pushing things. The f4.0 to 4.5 does nicely blur the background, but some extra depth of focus would help define the feathers.
Anyway, going to ISO 800 with yoru camera is not likely the issue since the 1DsIII handles that with aplomb. It's not that.

I like the fact that you are using the 70-200 and getting such great images. This brings more folk into the capability of some excellent shooting in the nearby zoos and sanctuaries. Time for a visit, myself!

Asher

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

The raptor is my very fav bird

because of the deep intent in its eyes! I adore deep intent in any creature-
you have captured that as well

I love the feathers caught by you
I want to touch them!

Charlotte-

 

[Chaz Zahn]

>> in the old days I only did that when I was too busy and it went to the lab to be processed and printed. In the good old days, most of the time was spent in the darkroom.

Ahhh...memories of the darkroom....I only developed B&W (due to cost) back then but I know what you mean. The color stuff got sent out to a lab, where I had no control.


>>Another great shot. Think about underexposing to get the white and not blow out the detail. with a wide aperture and too much light, one is pushing things. The f4.0 to 4.5 does nicely blur the background, but some extra depth of focus would help define the feathers.

Very good advice. I was running errands the other day, and to waste some time between appointments, I set the ISO and only used the the exposure meter in the viewfinder (no "chimping"or previewing allowed).

>>Anyway, going to ISO 800 with yoru camera is not likely the issue since the 1DsIII handles that with aplomb. It's not that.

Yeah... I got brave and enabled the ISO50 & ISO 6400......WOW....Technology...I remember the graininess of the old ISO1600 film (from the 1970-80's if ya must know).

>>I like the fact that you are using the 70-200 and getting such great images. This brings more folk into the capability of some excellent shooting in the nearby zoos and sanctuaries. Time for a visit, myself!

Thanks again! We love going to the Zoo (especially since it's free).