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had to pick someone up from the airport today so I decided to a little early and get some shots of the raptors.
well, they were there but way over the airport so well out of range so I had a crawl amongst the rushes getting some water birds.
As I was trying to get a few shots of the water at sunset the wagtail landed more or less next to me. This is full frame with the 400mm lens,
unfortunately it was way too dark but I still dont mind the wagtail as they can be ellusive

is the wagtail too dark??
comments appreciated.

Steve

Steve great captures I would have liked to have seen all of the wiggies tail I think you would have risked blowing out highlights too much lighter though aa bit lighter may not have hurt. The eye contact is terrific.
#2 is a gem the wader fills the frame, great colour and perspective low with forground ripple
cheers
marco

marco, I have his tail in the original, but thought there was too much black.
I cropped just a little off this.

I risked blowing the chest to bring it out though.

Steve

hi

number 2...is excellent!!! woooowww amazing colours

did you used a flash? have you tryed to shoot some slow flash syn?

thanks for sharing

christian

christian: both shots were shot @400mm with sb800 and better beamer @ -2ev

Steve

I love the second one.

I think the wagtail looks over-flashed in my opinion. Probably due to it being dark?

I can appreciate how hard wagtails are to shoot. Fast little buggers!!

Paul

Paul:

I agree with the flash light, but was way too dark for natural light at this stage.

steve

edit:


original uncropped image with tail for marco.

think the extra black didnt help thats why I cropped it.
did I do the right thing??

Steve

I like the uncropped version better.

Ran a quick shadow/highlights on it. It's a bit messy but a 16bit file might respond better. Looks a little better IMO. What do you think?



Paul

paul I ran a little shadow hightlight, but didnt go much further than that.

looks a little better I think.

I might work it over when I get some time.

really wanted to get the black shouldered kites and nankeen kestrals today.
saw 4 but were all over the airport. these are kinda like consolation prize shots, I feel ripped off if I go out and dont press the button.

I got a grey teal also but wasnt game to post another duck!!

Steve

avkomp wrote:I feel ripped off if I go out and dont press the button.
Steve

That's why I always take my macro lens out with me when shooting birds... There's ALWAYS bugs about for backup

Paul

this park always has finchs wrens etc etc when the raptors arent at home.
not today.
and I left my macro lens at home, having said that I cant remeber seeing any bugs today either.
perhaps too windy for them??

Steve

You right Steve, in the perfect world the wiggy would have placed its tail against the white limb for contrast I stlii think with a little tighter cropping, maybe closer to your original crop, but still leaving the tail in. I think not having it there is a distraction as your mind's eye keeps looking for it, mine does anyway
cheers
marco

Steve,

Nice attempt at wagtail but a tad too dark and looks a little over-sharpened or crisp on my screen.

Stilt is a good shot and could do with some slight boosting of saturation, IMHO.

Cheers

Michael

Well done! the second one is my favorite!