The Salt Marsh

[CyberDyneSystems]

This series of images was taken about 15 minutes after the "Taking Wing (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19097)" series.

By this point I had remembered to switch the camera to RAW! Doh!

Again Sigma 500mm f/4.5 EX
ISO 200
Shutter 1/1000
Aperture 9.0

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1503100&outx=980&oq=0&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1503101&outx=980&oq=0&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1503102&outx=980&oq=0&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1503104&outx=980&oq=0&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1503106&outx=980&oq=0&noresize=1&nostamp=1

:) I'm not sure what he was going for,. but I got the feeling that he didn't like it. :)

[stoneylonesome]

WOW! great shots, I love the way you've captured the sun shining on him, Maybe he doesn't like getting his picture taken while he's trying to sneak up on his next meal :D :D

[tenerife]

How you feel the different between jpeg and raw....?

regards from tenerife klaus

[CyberDyneSystems]

thankss for your comments :)

tenerife wrote:
How you feel the different between jpeg and raw....?

regards from tenerife klaus

I go into the details a bit here;

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19084

It is hard to illustrate the difference with these reduced size images... but in working with them and veiwing them full size there is a sizable difference!

The level of detail that is availble in the RAW images would easily allow me to make Very Large prints. with the jpegs,. even in these samll images, look at the head of the heron in the last flight image here;
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19097#106172

...there is no detail left in the birds head. :(

With similar raw images there is a lot more to work with.

[rssfhs]

The colors on the raw files are really so much better. Part of the reason though maybe because of the grass which isn't in the jpegs. Did you do any tweaking of the white balance or whatever to the rawbies?

[CyberDyneSystems]

I have a bit of a "workflow" as they cal it for RAW files :D

Its just my own little system that I have developed with use.

In this case I did not adjust white balance,. using Adobe RAW plugin I bumped up the "exposure" slightly (I shoot slightly underexposed) and add a little "shadow"

I use the "levels" settings in photoshop a lot,. but these images needed little. A touch of selective saturation (more red, less yellow in this case)
and USM.

All these tools when applied to RAW files work so seemlesly and have a natural look,. doing the same adjustmenets to the jpeg files is much more touch and go.. and allways seems to result in a very "computer generated and processed" look.

[xuxu1]

Hi CDS!

Nice shots.....!

Well as for myself..... I´m a RAW shooter. The only JPEG´s i´ve ever shot were at the day i got my G5 to get familiar with it. From then on i always shot RAW. In "M" mode or sometimes if it has to go fast in "P" mode. I always try to get the photo quality out of the camera as good as possible. Therefore most of the time all i have to do is add some USM and may be crop a bit now and then. But that´s about it. :)

Yes "RAW" does give you much more than "JPEG". (My opinion).

Regards
Ed

[lightandlife]

CDS, now I am somewhat convinced that you may be right.
If I shoot RAW, how do I convert RAW pics into jpeg? Do I need to get Photoshop 8?

[BCdives]

CDS, amazing pic's for sure, was he stalking a fish, looked like he was about to stab one. Really nice pictures as usual.

BC


lightandlife: Try a demo copy of breeze browser and downloader pro. Fabulous for converting RAW images to TIFF or JPEG, it's also great for WB corrections, plus you can apply bits of USM, Levels, and the general massaging like you would in PS, but often times your pic's will look great and you wont need to do anything in PS (just my .02)

[tenerife]

Raw or jpeg - a long discussion...

With my 1Ds i can shot in Raw and Jpeg at the same time...

But most of the time i shot in jpeg.... and the quality is great...

but one graphic designer whants for his work only raw...

but for fashion shots you need many microdrives......

regards from Tenerife

Klaus

[rssfhs]

I see that the Canon File Viewer Utility which came with my 300D has the ability to convert RAW to Tif or Jpeg and to save in both formats at once. Anyone have any experience with it?

Craig

[who10]

Incredible pics, CDS – It’s amazing how much detail can be pulled out of a RAW file. Beautiful work…


Lightandlife – I agree with Bcdives, Breezebrowser is an excellent option. Photoshop CS ( Photoshop 8 ) has RAW support for both the D60 and 10D built in. If you don’t have Photoshop 7 or 8 you might want to test the 15day trial for C1LE first. I’ve used both Photoshop CameraRaw and C1LE – I prefer C1LE so much that I am willing to use it with a PC emulator running on a Mac (all three options: BB, CameraRaw and C1LE are much better than Canon’s Fileviewer by far).

____
David

[rockyc2]

Beautiful shot, CDS. I just have to get me one of those 10D's or the 300D. I never shoot in the Raw. I keep my Clothes on.D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Rocky
PS: What did you pay for the Sigma 500 Lens.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Rssfhs

If you do use the Canon utility to to convert to RAW, then be sure to convert to tiff.

I am not at all sure of the workflow in this case. But I assume that once converted to tiff, then working with the tiff in Photoshop will be roughly the same as what I am doing now. I use the Adobe RAW plugin with PS 7.1 With this set up you first get to use the plugin to manipuale the RAW info directly as the file is being imported into PS. The controls that the plug in offer are similar to those that the Canon software gives you (the ability to adjust exposure, shadow detail, white balance etc.

But once you actually import into PS you are working with another file type,. (you never actually change the RAW file,. )

So by using the Canon raw utility you should get similar results (maybe identical?) but it won't be quite as seemless as you will need the extra step of tweeking in the Canon software saving as tiff and than reopening in PS.

On the other hand, and some have pointed out, you may not need to do any further tweeking after converting the raw. (I find I do most of the time though)

In truth I am just stumbling through all this myself... learning as I go and only recently have I started to get the results I want. (partly due to new optics which demand better file work to do the images justice)

The true RAW masters are Pekka (who works with Capture one) Roger Cavanagh @ http://www.rogercavanagh.com/
and other geniuses like Fred Miranda Check out there workflow. And of course search these forums, there are many who have posted info and help on it here,. and they are who I have been learning from.

These RAW workflows look very daunting at first (it delayed my starting for some time) but once you get it down it is in fact much faster (with the right tools) as the RAW images take manipulation MUCH better than the jpegs.

More good news though is this,. If I am getting better results using RAW than you will too,. as I am a total newbie. Period.

[CyberDyneSystems]

lightandlife wrote:
CDS, now I am somewhat convinced that you may be right.
If I shoot RAW, how do I convert RAW pics into jpeg? Do I need to get Photoshop 8?

There are a number of ways.
The Canon utility will Convert to tiff.
I strongly advise owning Photoshop if this is of any interest to you,. and by getting 8 you will not need any other utilites and the RAW converter will be included.

If PS 8 is too much there is
Breezebrowser (a fabulous and affordable tool)
Capture One le (I hear great things but haven't tried it)
Adobe RAW luging for PS 7.1 (this is what I use but it is awkward to get it to work at first, as it doesn't initially support the 10D)

[CyberDyneSystems]

rockyc2 wrote:
Beautiful shot, CDS. I just have to get me one of those 10D's or the 300D. I never shoot in the Raw. I keep my Clothes on.D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Rocky
PS: What did you pay for the Sigma 500 Lens.

Thanks Rocky :)

The Sigma 500mm f/4.5 goes for $3,400.00 new at B&H

I was able to get a used one for (god I hate to admit I spent so much on an "accessory" :( ) for $2,000.00 used at KEH.

Still,. I don't mind the $1,400.00 savings.

And I tell you now that I have used a lens of this "calibre" , I would spend full price if needed!

[rockyc2]

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
rockyc2 wrote:
Beautiful shot, CDS. I just have to get me one of those 10D's or the 300D. I never shoot in the Raw. I keep my Clothes on.D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Rocky
PS: What did you pay for the Sigma 500 Lens.

Thanks Rocky :)

The Sigma 500mm f/4.5 goes for $3,400.00 new at B&H

I was able to get a used one for (god I hate to admit I spent so much on an "accessory" :( ) for $2,000.00 used at KEH.

Still,. I don't mind the $1,400.00 savings.

And I tell you now that I have used a lens of this "calibre" , I would spend full price if needed!

OOPS! I'll stick to the bottom of a Beer Bottle. Haha! Cheeper!!

[marie]

they are absolutely wonderful shots cyber,
you must be thrilled with them .

were you hiding somewhere in there for that fellow not to have detected you ?
wearing a halloween outfit that looks like a heron ???

great information re going raw or jpegged on the post too.
:)

am serious .

wondering where your 'humour' installation thing has gone?
hope I did not do anything to cause that to disappear ):

I thought it was installing itself on my computer when I saw it at first and went to try and delete it.... fast :D
:eyes


:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D


beautiful pictures

marie

[CyberDyneSystems]

Thank you Marie :)
It turns out I am pretty good at stalking wild animals! (who knew) Just be glad I am a photographer and not a hunter :D (or a psychopath :D )

marie wrote:
wondering where your 'humour' installation thing has gone?
hope I did not do anything to cause that to disappear ):

I thought it was installing itself on my computer when I saw it at first and went to try and delete it.... fast :D
:eyes


:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D




This?
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2hdzu/pics/humor.gif

I just use that for emergencies! :D

[marie]

" Just be glad I am a photographer and not a hunter (or a psychopath ) "
csd



and heres me thinking all along that you were all of those..........and more :D :D

nice to see that 'thing' again

heres the installation results coming in >

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha

oooch................
(someone just hit me )

[Laziferous]

Nice man. That second one is gold. You're getting better all the time. Kudos brother.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Thanks Laz! :)

[CyberDyneSystems]

FYI added this,.

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1804021&outx=980&oq=0&noresize=1&nostamp=1

a 100% crop of another of the Salt Marsh images,. this isn't from one of the above,. but in fact I reproocessed the 4th image above today. I did this one using Capture One for the first time.

It is going to take a while to get used to,. but i can see the potential of C1 immediately.

[benlimt]

Great shots of the grey heron. The sunlight really give it a different effect.

Over here they are very shy and fly away whenever I try to get near!

I think yours was trying to cough out something...

[CyberDyneSystems]

He made a jab at what he thought was food,. and either it wasn't ,. or he missed,.

..anyway his long beak sank full into the soft marsh soil,. and he came back with a beak full of dirt! If there was a frog in there too,. we'll never know!

[yason]

Wow CDS, this is a wonderful series... nice colors too, taken at sunset??

[CyberDyneSystems]

Yes,. it was about 35 minutes before we lost the Sun...

...it used to take a lot longer for the sun to go down,.. these days when it starts to approach the horizon it literllay plummets!!!

I am really missing my birds.. they have all flown south :(

[RbnDave]

Very nice photos CDS. I missed the original post so I am glad it got bumped up to the top again. That sigma lens of yours sure is sharp.

Where do you live? I was picturing these salt marshes in Florida, but I am not sure. If you live on the East Coast anywhere between Charleston, SC and Bangor Maine, maybe I can get an aerial photo of your salt marsh and post it for you. It will give me a little project to think about.

[mpaul73]

these are very good! I prefer the second and third ones.

Regards
Martin Paul.