First real try at birds this afternoon

Hi all. I took a trip down to the lake (only 5 minutes away ) to finally try and shoot some local birds. I simply went down to the boat ramp about an hour before sunset as I knew the pelicans and seagulls hang there for dinner. Problem is I am on the eastern side of the lake, and of course the sun sets on the other side. Anyhow I got a few I'm happy with mostly.

Please C&C them, and be tough, but with a smile!

I know they can be better (as always) but thought I'd throw some up so you all can let me know how I'm going. My real issue this afternooon was trying not to blow out the whites. I have way too many.

Oh, the seagull was actually yawning !! I have never seen one do that, but then again, I have never checked one out long enough to notice either

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Top notch!
Excellent work for just starting out on birds...

Nice shots, especially the pelican landing. The whites are a little hot though. What mode were you shooting in? The EXIF doesn't show it.

When you say hot do you mean too yellow as in WB? That's what I am thinking so I did another version below with a slightly lower WB setting. Slightly different crop too though.

I was shooting manual and did have to up the exposure by .8. I still have alot to learn in manual! But what I found was if I went just that little more, the white parts that were in the sun got smashed.

The sun was about 20 minutes from hitting the horizon, and was very yellow.

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No, when I say hot I mean the whites were blown out. That last gull looks very good though. The pelican still has that hot spot on it's breast. Not sure how you could fix that though, dodge and burn maybe. I've never messed with it myself.

Are you shooting in RAW?

Yes Raw. I have to to save my butt!

Ah, ok, hot. Yes, that was my problem ALL afternoon. Either too dark or too "hot" Very tricky, but a challenge for sure! Not sure how to PP that, I might just try again over the weekend if the weather stays good. I think I need to get the sun more behind me for those pelicans. I am almost 90* to the sun in some shots. I have another spot I will try next time.

Here's another gull, and one of my favorites, the magpie. Birds with attitude! Although he didn't hang around too long so I only got this shot. I hope you like green
After almost 3 solid weeks of rain there is no more brown around here. The sun FINALLY came out today so I was stinging to shoot something!

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I always shoot RAW, but I never use manual for birds. Too much changing positions and lighting situations and Av Mode works much better for that. When you have turned the On switch to the second On, you can then use the Rear thumb whell to set Exposute Compensation. It's fast and you can see it in the viewfinder. Dialing in -Ev for white birds, speeds up the shutter speed, over riding what the camera would have set for a perfect exposure and under exposing the frame. The background will come out darker, but the white bird will then be properly exposed. +Ev slows the shutter down to over expose those black birds, but the background may be lightened. But the point is, to expose the bird properly.

A little experimentation will teach you where to set the Ev for good exposures and you can fix the rest in PP. Use the Recovery, Fill Light and Blacks sliders in ACR to tweak it just right. And when your not sure, take a shot, then look at the preview and adjust for the next one.

Very nice work! Colors, lighting, poses, and picture quality are great!

Don't worry, I was chimpin like an orang-utan this arvo!

Thinking about it some more, rather than purely concentrating on the brightest parts, I was trying to expose the majority of the bird, from the white to the shadows, and of course, that will never work.
I have weened off from Av or Tv, purely to learn manual, but for these types of shots I might have a play with Av next time. I used to almost always shoot Av with the 20D, before using manual when I got my 50D.

Last couple.

The one of the pelican flying away was timed right (fluke of course!) but he was a fair way away by then and is a big crop. The one coming in on short finals would have been nice except for the one behind him.

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Some nice shots there. Getting exposure correct and focus and the bird and the composition, it's all so difficult

I'd be happy with those. Great start in to a fascinating field. Hope to see more from you.

Mike

These are very good! Love the Pelicans....You do better than a lot of us! That gull sure has some orange legs!

artyman wrote in post #8054844
Some nice shots there. Getting exposure correct and focus and the bird and the composition, it's all so difficult

I sure found that out today! I think that's what is going to keep me interested in birds for a while yet.
We have an abundance of birds around here. I just need to go out and track them down, find the spots and go for it. There is a fair sized wetlands not far from here, but I beleive there are a lot of snakes in there too.

Thanks for the feedback and C&C everyone. I am happy with what I have today, but really need to improve, you don't want to know my % of keepers, I only have about 20 that even got converted from RAW from nearly 90 or so shots
I guess that just shows if you take enough shots, even hams can jag a half decent one now and again!

One last one, but a repeat.
It's version 4 of the landing pelican. I dumped the original exposure + I gave it in DPP which kept the *hot spots* (thanks canon loader ) to a minimum. And knocked a bit more temp out of the WB, then had a play in PS. I think it's a big improvement over the first attempt in the original post

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Well done!! Keep it up, looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Great shots i would be over the moon with any of those shots. There is so much to learn.
good thread guys I got a lot of tips on this one. Thanks