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Some seagulls from my walk this afternoon...

janet Smith

pro member
I came across these birds on my walk this afternoon, I think they're Common Terns but I'm not sure, can anyone identify them?

I had a matter of moments to grab these few, 5D 100mm macro lens. I find this lens to be incredibly useful, it seems live on my camera most of the time.

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janet Smith

pro member
Hi Nic

Thanks for the nice comments, I thought they might be black headed gulls, I know they lose some of the black from their heads in the winter, but my husband thought they were Terns, he's usually better at checking birds out than me. I'll have to check with the local RSPB guy and make sure I get the correct ID.

Yes you're right about the highlights, I'll work on them a bit more tomorrow, and see if I can 'Tern' them into something even better. Wouldn't it be helpful if you could 'Tern' down the sun, it was really bright!

Hope your evening 'Terns' out to be a great one. Today 'Terned' out to be a lovely day here.

Sorry I'm in the holiday mood and it's 'Terned' me a bit funny.......
 

janet Smith

pro member
A little more information about these, No's 1 & 2 ISO 320 1/2000 @ f2.8
No's 3 & 4 ISO 320 1/6400 @f2.8. The birds in no's 3 & 4 were flying very close to my head, probably only about 8' - 10' away, I had to be fast....

I have some more which I may post later.
 

janet Smith

pro member
Here are a few more......

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1/5000 @ f2.8 all ISO 320 100mm macro lens 5D

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f2.8 1/6400

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f5.6 1/2000

In retrospect it would perhaps have been better to have used a slightly smaller aperture, but I'm not used to photographing birds in flight and wanted a very fast shutter speed.....
 
1/5000 @ f2.8 all ISO 320 100mm macro lens 5D

f2.8 1/6400

f5.6 1/2000

In retrospect it would perhaps have been better to have used a slightly smaller aperture, but I'm not used to photographing birds in flight and wanted a very fast shutter speed.....

Hi Janet,

Shooting white birds in bright sun is a definite challenge! Regarding aperture and shutter speed - were you using an auto-exposure mode (aperture priority, shutter-speed priority), or Manual Exposure? If you were in aperture priority, for example, using a smaller aperture wouldn't have made any difference in your exposure, as it would just have reduced shutter speed by the reciprocal amount. You would need to change EV Compensation (in a negative direction, probably about -2/3 to -1 EV) in order to reduce the exposure.

If you were shooting in Manual Exposure mode (which is what I normally do and recommend), then yes, going to a smaller aperture would have reduced the exposure, and tamed the white highlights. In this case, though, since you were at ISO 320, I would have dropped down to ISO 200, which would have reduced exposure by 2/3 of a stop. Your instincts are correct that you'll need fast shutter speeds to avoid motion blur when doing birds-in-flight.

Thanks for posting, and hope this helps!
 

janet Smith

pro member
Shooting white birds in bright sun is a definite challenge! Regarding aperture and shutter speed - were you using an auto-exposure mode........

In this case, though, since you were at ISO 320, I would have dropped down to ISO 200, which would have reduced exposure by 2/3 of a stop. Your instincts are correct that you'll need fast shutter speeds to avoid motion blur when doing birds-in-flight

Hi Don

Thank you for this information, very helpful, I was in AV, I didn't expect to be just about mobbed by these birds, I was wandering down to a shady area, where I thought I might photograph the swans, but came upon these before I got to the swans, there was no chance to change the settings in my camera, I just had to shoot and fast!

It was extremely bright sunshine, I'm never sure of the best way to handle highlights like this on their white feathers, but will try again tomorrow, any advice on the best way to go about it? I've also over sharpened so I will address that too....

Thank you for the encouragement, I really enjoyed trying, I will go there again regularly now armed with bags full of bread (I think a hard hat could be useful too!)
 
It was extremely bright sunshine, I'm never sure of the best way to handle highlights like this on their white feathers, but will try again tomorrow, any advice on the best way to go about it?

For general reference, I'd suggest reading a book like John Shaw's "Field Guide to Nature Photography." He gives some very basic and essential information on exposure, in an organized fashion, and will really form the foundation for achieving good exposures in the field.

For your immediate purposes, if you're shooting in Aperture Priority, the only way to adjust exposure up or down is to use EV Compensation, as I alluded to in my first post. In the situation you'll be encountering, the bright sun tends to really light up those white feathers. The camera's metering system is going to try and provide an overall neutral exposure. So while the overall image will be neutral, because there are extreme bright areas, these will be overexposed.

Depending on the intensity of the sun, you'll need to set negative EV Compensation, as little as -1/3 EV but more likely -2/3 to -1 2/3 EV. Check your camera's manual on how to adjust EV Compensation if you don't know how to do this. It is an essential adjustment that will need to be made in the field. You can check both the histogram and the "blinking" highlights in the thumbnail, to assess whether you've made adequate adjustment.

Have fun, and let us know how things work out!
 

janet Smith

pro member
I've re-worked these, are they any better?

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I have turned down the sharpening on all of these, do you think it's better, and adjusted the exposure just very slightly in RAW to help with the highlights, are they any better?
 
Janet has provided for you one file for processing. Can we optimize this picture?

Download Janet's file here .

Asher

It's always fun to play around with files like this. My "interpretation" follows. Obviously, I cropped significantly, and also was very free with the clone tool. Heavy use of Shadows/Highlights Tool and Levels as well, using the History Brush to paint in changes in selected areas only. The detail in the left wing's leading edge was definitely blown, with no detail to recover, but I tried to at least tone it down somewhat.

JanetSmithDonCohen.jpg
 

janet Smith

pro member
It's always fun to play around with files like this. My "interpretation" follows

Hi Don

Sorry for the delay in responding to this, I've just come back from Scotland, have had a great time, they've had the best snow for over 40 years up there, got some great shots, will post some later this week.

I love what you've done here, you've certainly improved on it, thank you for your time and for your ideas......
 
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