Very low light - should I have taken the shot or how to handle

I got to the pond the other day as the sun was coming up. The geese were starting to move. I used my Canon 6Dmkii and Sigma 150-600 (not best low light lens) shot at 1/2000 f/6.7 ISO 10,000 at 600mm By the time the sun came up enough to use better ISO's the geese were gone.
What should be done in this case? Felt at 600mm handheld I needed a high shutterspeed. cropped and original

Well you got the shot, so that's what's important.

I'm no bird or landscape expert, but since opinions are free, here's one. Maybe some conditions just don't work. Besides the low light, it looks like it may have been misty, too (low contrast and bluish cast), and you weren't close, and the geese in the water didn't pose favorably.

The sparkly light on the water draws attention to the foreground, away from the two fliers, which I presume are the stars of the show. Then the plants and water behind them are too dark to show off their wings, heads, and necks.

Nature can be frustrating!

If you didn't mind a little wing-blur, maybe you could have used 1/600 for the first image, which would have allowed you to lower the ISO to 5000 or lower.

But I'm certainly no great expert.

Jeff USN Photog 72-76 wrote in post #18942898
I got to the pond the other day as the sun was coming up. The geese were starting to move. I used my Canon 6Dmkii and Sigma 150-600 (not best low light lens) shot at 1/2000 f/6.7 ISO 10,000 at 600mm By the time the sun came up enough to use better ISO's the geese were gone.
What should be done in this case? Felt at 600mm handheld I needed a high shutterspeed. cropped and original

Your ISO was actually 12,800, which was a little higher than needed considering your histogram (image attached). Usually when I'm shooting under difficult conditions, I'll take a few test shots, check my histograms and make any needed adjustments. Also, since Canada geese are large birds and they take off and land at reduced speeds, you didn't need to shoot at 1/2000s. Probably half of that speed would have been sufficient. I think if you had lowered both of these settings, your image would have more contrast and been easier to deal with while processing. Ideally, when shooting birds, you like to have the sun at your back so the light brings out a lot of detail in the birds, but that can not always be arranged. Sometimes you can't really dictate the conditions and just shoot and hope for the best.

I don't know what software you have available to process your images, but if you have Adobe Camera RAW, you could have used the eye dropper tool to get a little better white balance. You could also have used the graduated filter tool and pulled up from the bottom to adjust/reduce the glare of the lake. I'm not sure either of these would have fixed the image completely, but they would help.

Thank you Bob and the rest.
I appreciate all the helpful hints.

The light is an issue the only access to the pond is on the west end of the pond so in the morning you get that light.

Will try to integrate the suggestions

"Should I have taken the shot"? For me, since "film" is free, the answer is always YES if I think I see something worth trying. No problem to get home and find out that it was a failure. If I think I might have something, I take the shot.

The next question, "What should be done in this case?" is subjective,. but if you want my opinion, = delete the file.

With time one learns from viewing the shots that aren't quite there to be more selective when you take the image.
But if your still at the point where you think you might have a workable image from the one above, just take the photos and don;t sweat the card use, and then see when you get home.

I think I tried to make a silk purse... it was a shot could have been good but the harsh light from the wrong direction, the birds "in the reeds", the high ISO all conspired to make it ok but not that good.

Since I can't do any shooting for a least another week or two (major abdominal surgery) I will be working shots from 3 weeks ago when I went crazy shooting everything knowing I was going to be laid up. But this also lets me learn what works and what doesn't and also passes the time when I am watching my clock handles spin backwards all day long....

played some more with it, it is a shot that just didn't work, although my wife likes it. (and if the wife is happy then I am happy as long as she doesn't find out how much I have payed for photo gear!)

Worked in ACR and LRCC

It's good that you are trying these shots and pushing the limits. . That will help you learn better than anything else.

I think that in time, when you have more experience shooting birds, eventually you will get to the point when you assess the conditions before you and ask yourself, "what types of images can be best produced in these conditions?" . Then you will adjust your objectives accordingly, and not try to make images that the conditions aren't conducive to.

If you want images of geese in flight, then eventually I think that before shooting you will have identified places where geese can be photographed in flight with conditions that work in your favor, and you will only go to those places at the times when you have a chance to take the kinds of photos that you really want.

Geese take off and land facing the wind. . So, in order to get flight shots with the light falling evenly upon the geese, so that you don't have hard shadows on their plumage, what you will want to do is to check the weather on a regular basis, and look for times when the sun and the wind are coming from the same direction. . This way, the geese must face into the sunlight when they take off and again when they land. . If you align yourself with the sun, then you will have even sunlight shining on the geese, which is what generally produces the most pleasing looking flight shots.

Of course one will normally want to concentrate their in-flight efforts to occur in the early morning or late evening, so that the sun is coming from low in the sky instead of at a steeper angle.

If you arrive at this local pond to take photos of geese, and see that the conditions are such as they were, then you could look for the opportunities that produce the best results under those conditions. . This could be geese backlit on the water with mist or fog rising up around them.

Or if the backlighting is strong and it is still early in the morning, with the sun low in the sky, you could look for silhouette opportunities of the geese, either as they are on the water or as they alight. . When they first take off thy create a splash with water droplets and spray, and this can look really cool when backlit.

Just make sure to find a nice background and line the geese up with it, so that when they take off you already have them all lined up with a BG that the water droplets and spray will look good against. . A lightly colored background can work nicely, and a dark background can also work nicely. What sucks is a background that is uneven, with some dark areas and some light areas. . Avoid that like you would avoid a deadly plague!

Just going out, finding geese, and expecting to somehow be able to get a really good photo is perhaps a bit unrealistic. . Preparation, planning, and patience are everything.

.

Jeff USN Photog 72-76 wrote in post #18943124
played some more with it, it is a shot that just didn't work, although my wife likes it. (and if the wife is happy then I am happy as long as she doesn't find out how much I have payed for photo gear!)

Worked in ACR and LRCC

Hosted photo: posted by Jeff USN Photog 72-76 in
./showthread.php?p=189​43124&i=i106378720
forum: Critique Corner

You did a great job with the processing on this version!

Thank you Dan, I learned from all of you and decided to try the graduated filters etc in LR. Constructive criticism is how we learn!

I admit that I am shooting from the wrong side of the ponds but it is partly the lack of public access BUT more it is that I am partially handicapped (I hate that word) I have had a stroke and also knees that are bone on bone making it painful to walk more than a very short distance but I love photography.
I do alot of Solar Imaging but during the solar minimum we are currently in have been doing doing more traditional photography my solar imaging website is www.solarhead.net

bob_r wrote in post #18943044
Your ISO was actually 12,800, which was a little higher than needed considering your histogram (image attached).

There is no problem with that, though, if it does not result in unwanted clipping.

I think from the perspective of auto-ISO in M mode, though, so a high ISO in my paradigm is only an issue when clipping results, and the real solution would be to manually lower the shutter speed for the compromise needed in that light, with that level of action. If one is using Av- or Tv-priority with fixed ISO, then high ISO settings are another issue, and they may drive too short an exposure, or too small an aperture than what is needed.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18943141
It's good that you are trying these shots and pushing the limits. . That will help you learn better than anything else.

I think that in time, when you have more experience shooting birds, eventually you will get to the point when you assess the conditions before you and ask yourself, "what types of images can be best produced in these conditions?" . Then you will adjust your objectives accordingly, and not try to make images that the conditions aren't conducive to.

If you want images of geese in flight, then eventually I think that before shooting you will have identified places where geese can be photographed in flight with conditions that work in your favor, and you will only go to those places at the times when you have a chance to take the kinds of photos that you really want.

Geese take off and land facing the wind. . So, in order to get flight shots with the light falling evenly upon the geese, so that you don't have hard shadows on their plumage, what you will want to do is to check the weather on a regular basis, and look for times when the sun and the wind are coming from the same direction. . This way, the geese must face into the sunlight when they take off and again when they land. . If you align yourself with the sun, then you will have even sunlight shining on the geese, which is what generally produces the most pleasing looking flight shots.

Of course one will normally want to concentrate their in-flight efforts to occur in the early morning or late evening, so that the sun is coming from low in the sky instead of at a steeper angle.

If you arrive at this local pond to take photos of geese, and see that the conditions are such as they were, then you could look for the opportunities that produce the best results under those conditions. . This could be geese backlit on the water with mist or fog rising up around them.

Or if the backlighting is strong and it is still early in the morning, with the sun low in the sky, you could look for silhouette opportunities of the geese, either as they are on the water or as they alight. . When they first take off thy create a splash with water droplets and spray, and this can look really cool when backlit.

Just make sure to find a nice background and line the geese up with it, so that when they take off you already have them all lined up with a BG that the water droplets and spray will look good against. . A lightly colored background can work nicely, and a dark background can also work nicely. What sucks is a background that is uneven, with some dark areas and some light areas. . Avoid that like you would avoid a deadly plague!

Just going out, finding geese, and expecting to somehow be able to get a really good photo is perhaps a bit unrealistic. . Preparation, planning, and patience are everything.

.

Thank you for the great advice!!! Here is one I did recently although I just did a quick process on it and need to revisit it. I like the mist

Jeff USN Photog 72-76 wrote in post #18943062
Thank you Bob and the rest.
I appreciate all the helpful hints.

The light is an issue the only access to the pond is on the west end of the pond so in the morning you get that light.

Will try to integrate the suggestions

You have more noise than is typical of the ISO you used, if you had to subtract all of that lit fog from your finished product; only a fraction of the light captured actually remained, especially in the darker areas. This fog has texture and adds photon noise, neither of which reduce when you reduce global contrast.