Gallery: AvianPosted April 19, 2010112 views5 comments
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
EXIF/IPTC:
Canon EOS 50D
Focal Length: 400.0mm
Shutter Speed: 1/3200s
Aperture: 6.3
ISO Equivalent: 400
Date: 14-04-10 17:42
Comments
5 comments
Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on April 19, 2010 at 4:37 PM
Hi Claus,
First off, a very nice Shelduck in flight. That part is well done. The exposure has a few problems though. The whites are very bright so there is no detail. Also, the blacks are very dark so there is no detail. This is a tough bird to expose properly because of the combination of black and white. You'll need use exposure compensation settings on your camera to get this one right, and in bright light it can be even more difficult. You also might be able to adjust for some of this in photoshop using the shadows/highlights command. Let's see some more.
Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments
Comment posted by Dan Harbour on April 19, 2010 at 5:41 PM
I like the nice flight pose you captured, and the detail looks good for a flight shot. Black and white birds are a difficult exposure problem, even sitting still. I'm no expert, but I think you need soft light to get details in both black and white.
Registered on January 4, 2008, 113 Posts, 2416 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 19, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Claus, BIF are very tough, and this is a nice image as far as sharpness.
It's very very hard to expose correctly when there are blacks and whites so near each other, plus with a moving bird!
As Charlie suggested, try tweaking a bit with the brightnes/contrast slider, and with the shadow/highlight slider - and practice practise practise!
Looking forward to more images of yours!
Sandy r
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Colin Smale on April 21, 2010 at 3:50 AM
You set yourself a challenge here Claus. Blue sky means sunshine and these guys are very hard to photograph in such conditions. If you get the exposure 'right' the pic can still only be brought to life via photoshop using highlight & shadows.
You had the sunshine and this guy flew past, who wouldn't have had a pop at it. It is a super pic composition-wise, lovely wing position but the neck does look like it might be too dark to recover details, you will only know that when you get it into photoshop but my advice with these guys is to go for them in soft light conditions, a nice overcast sky to reduce contrast.
Registered on November 10, 2003, 48 Posts, 1158 Comments
Comment posted by Claus Johansson on April 21, 2010 at 1:01 PM
Thank you all for your feedback
I can see your point, but sometimes you have to strike when the subject is there and
as Colin mentioned - suddenly the birds were there and then I had to get them in the box. Although lacking details - I still think the picture works
Registered on March 28, 2010, 18 Posts, 48 Comments
Comments
5 commentsFirst off, a very nice Shelduck in flight. That part is well done. The exposure has a few problems though. The whites are very bright so there is no detail. Also, the blacks are very dark so there is no detail. This is a tough bird to expose properly because of the combination of black and white. You'll need use exposure compensation settings on your camera to get this one right, and in bright light it can be even more difficult. You also might be able to adjust for some of this in photoshop using the shadows/highlights command. Let's see some more.
It's very very hard to expose correctly when there are blacks and whites so near each other, plus with a moving bird!
As Charlie suggested, try tweaking a bit with the brightnes/contrast slider, and with the shadow/highlight slider - and practice practise practise!
Looking forward to more images of yours!
Sandy r
You had the sunshine and this guy flew past, who wouldn't have had a pop at it. It is a super pic composition-wise, lovely wing position but the neck does look like it might be too dark to recover details, you will only know that when you get it into photoshop but my advice with these guys is to go for them in soft light conditions, a nice overcast sky to reduce contrast.
I can see your point, but sometimes you have to strike when the subject is there and
as Colin mentioned - suddenly the birds were there and then I had to get them in the box. Although lacking details - I still think the picture works