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My attempt at a seagull
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It’s rare I shoot birds, even rarer I shoot colour, but as I commented on someone elses shot, I think it’s only fair to give people the opportunity to tear mine apart :D
Shot handheld 400mm, lying flat on my back looking up into the sky.
Now there’s a thought :). Excellent shot and excellent positioning in the frame. Yep, you’re just too damn good :D
I’m confused. You were on your back looking up, but you’ve caught the top of the bird – was he flying upside down? Apart from that, I really like the shot. Great sharpness for 400mm handheld. I presume there’s some cropping to get the bird in that position in the frame but well done for catching him with enough space in front to allow that. (EDIT: noticing the vignetting I gather this wasn’t a crop or did you add that yourself in PS)
I’ve tried shooting birds in flight with my telephoto lens before and I’ve come to the conclusion that the photographers that did it before digital cameras must have been a little crazy. I wanted to try out my new zoom lens but ended up wasting loads of film between shaky hands, birds flying out of the scene and not knowing what I’d captured for several days! At least with digital, I suppose you’d know when you’ve got the shot and can stop and also that your exposure was correct.
Fantastic shot. Great colour, and great sharpness on the bird. The only complaint I have about it is that you’re just too damn good at this photography thing. :)
jlang wrote:
I’m confused. You were on your back looking up, but you’ve caught the top of the bird – was he flying upside down?
Well spotted :D When I posted this shot before in a different forum, someone else made the same observation and a whole debate started about why, how or indeed can seagulls fly upside down. I quietly bowed out because I’m not a bird expert and don’t have a clue. What I can say is that I was lying on my back, panning with the birds as they flew by, so my best guess is that I was on my side when this shot was taken and the bird was banking left :?:
jlang wrote:
Apart from that, I really like the shot. Great sharpness for 400mm handheld. I presume there’s some cropping to get the bird in that position in the frame but well done for catching him with enough space in front to allow that. (EDIT: noticing the vignetting I gather this wasn’t a crop or did you add that yourself in PS)
The crop is a little bit of a cheat to put the bird in a sweet spot in the picture which his eyes looking down the diagonal. But the full sized image isn’t too far away from the crop shown here. The 400mm hand held is helped by the VR which really does make a difference if you’re hand holding it at this length. And as for the vignetting, it is a PS enhancement which I hope draws people into the shot and brings attention to the bird. I like it as an artistic effect and I use it to varying degrees in a lot of my photos, but if my lenses were doing that all the time on their own, I’d be bitterly disappointed.
jlang wrote:
I’ve tried shooting birds in flight with my telephoto lens before and I’ve come to the conclusion that the photographers that did it before digital cameras must have been a little crazy. I wanted to try out my new zoom lens but ended up wasting loads of film between shaky hands, birds flying out of the scene and not knowing what I’d captured for several days! At least with digital, I suppose you’d know when you’ve got the shot and can stop and also that your exposure was correct.
I took about 60 that day, managing to nail the exposure in most of them. But as for blur, cutting off birds wings/heads etc I only had about 30 reasonable shots, of which I kept 5 as a series.
Thanks for the comments.
antifuse wrote:
Fantastic shot. Great colour, and great sharpness on the bird. The only complaint I have about it is that you’re just too damn good at this photography thing. :)
Thanks :)
As for being too good… I seriously doubt that. I’ve been shooting since April 2004 and my photography has improved greatly since day one (thankfully!!!). I am still improving, but what I am getting MUCH better at is hiding my crap shots from the public eye :wink:
Don’t think that the vignetting adds anything to be honest. There is nothing in the picture
but the bird and space so you couldn’t but be drawn into the bird.
Also I tihnk that there is a little bit too much sky and too little bird.On the plus side the exposure looks good and the image is sharp.
gooner wrote:
Don’t think that the vignetting adds anything to be honest. There is nothing in the picture
but the bird and space so you couldn’t but be drawn into the bird.
Also I tihnk that there is a little bit too much sky and too little bird.On the plus side the exposure looks good and the image is sharp.
By default when I add a border I also add vignetting – so each of my shots has it. Then by varying the opacity of the vignetting layer I can change the degree in which it is in the final image. You’re bang on about saying that you have to be drawn into the bird on this shot. I guess another reason for the vignetting here was just to add a little tonal range to the sjy rather than having it a completely flat blue.
As for more bird/less sky – again this was an “artistic” decision (for the want of a better word). At the time of taking it, I was just banging away shots. This was one of the shots that came out exposed well and in sharp focus. With a 12MP capture I did have the option to go for a much tighter crop, but being honest I thought if I did, it would be just another picture of just another seagull. By leaving him/her up in the left corner I made it more about space than about the bird. Well that was the aim anyway!
Thanks for the comments.
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