Osprey flight

Gallery: AvianPosted January 6, 201286 views11 comments

I was delighted to find an osprey yesterday while visiting the preserve. I've only seen it there once before and could never get a decent shot. Before the sun came up this osprey was the first thing I saw as it was fishing, but because of the low light I didn't get any decent images of the osprey fishing. Later on in the morning I saw it perched on one of the artificial nesting posts. I waited until it would fly off as it preened itself for a good sum of time. Finally, the osprey took off and I was fortunate to fire a few frames before all I saw was it's rear end. I really wish there were some clouds in the sky to give the background some texture and interest, but I am happy with the pose I was able to capture of the bird. Comments and thoughts appreciated.

Osprey- Gilbert, Arizona

Canon 7d
Canon 400mm f5.6 @f6.3
1/2000 sec
ISO 200
Handheld

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Julia Flanagan on January 6, 2012 at 5:26 PM

Peter - good shot of an Osprey. I like the pose/wing position and the clarity of the eye. You should include info on your post-processing because it looks like you've done something to throw the blacks off. Perhaps something like dodging (photoshop) or "fill light" in Lightroom the undersides and wing top. Anyway, on this monitor they look like they need more contrast. Otherwise - well done!

Registered on November 13, 2003, 59 Posts, 986 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on January 6, 2012 at 5:30 PM

Thanks Julie. As far as post processing with my wildlife shots I do the very minimum. Simple curves and contrasts. The blacks were very heavy in the original, so in the RAW file I pulled the slider back on the blacks. Then I pumped up the exposure a few points to bring out more detail as it was slightly underexposed. I will go back and look at the contrast issue in the original.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Roman Kurywczak on January 7, 2012 at 10:29 AM

Excellent pose Peter but the light from above was working a bit against you......and that's why you had to pull up the blacks and they look a bit washed. A differnt time of day would have made this a real winner!

Registered on November 20, 2009, 56 Posts, 748 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on January 7, 2012 at 1:12 PM

I agree that the light was working against you but overall pretty nice. Looks nice and sharp on this small version and I like the flight pose. I think you did pretty well on this guy and I have had a lot of experience seeing the rear ends of departing birds so I know how that goes..

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 7, 2012 at 5:52 PM

There are two Osprey at the Gilbert Water Ranch currently, although it is more common to see just one. And as with your experience I often see one over pond 7 or the fisherman's pond right at first light. Despite lots of attempts I've yet to get a shot I'm happy with there.

As already stated this image suffers from the harsh light and subsequent processing tring to recover detail in the dark plumage. The flight position is good. You did well getting this large of an image with only 400mm, assuming you haven't cropped (since you didn't mention that).

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on January 7, 2012 at 5:53 PM

Roman- Thanks for the input. I wish the bird was at a much lower angle and closer to eye level. I was almost shooting at a 90 degree angle from where I was positioned. I think that has a lot to do with the contrast and the blacks. This was shot around 9am, still some good light but at about the time it begins to get harsh. If only it had flew off about an hour earlier. I will hopefully have a few more attempts trying to get my perfect shot of the bird, just the first time I have been successful with a flight shot.

Robert- Thank you. You would think that with an 8fps you would catch more incoming shot's than rear end. I think the birds like to slow down after they pass and laugh in their little heads at us.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on January 7, 2012 at 6:01 PM

Richard- Thank you. When I first arrived the osprey was the first thing I saw and it was fishing (a shot that I need to get) and saw it various times between that pond and then pond number one I think. I don't recall the order but its the one with the artificial nesting fixture close to the observatory. I forgot to mention that I did crop this about 20%. My apologies on that. I hope I can get a nice shot of one of the osprey fishing, but it looked like it preferred the small area between the parking lot and the "boardwalk" to fish.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on January 7, 2012 at 8:12 PM

I like the wing position and sharpness looks good at this small size. Agree with the lighting/processing statements already made.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on January 7, 2012 at 8:39 PM

Thanks Ron. Here is a repost that hopefully fixed these issues. When I went back to the RAW file I set the blacks at 5 points and had the exposure at +1 so I dialed that back to around +.65 and did a slight curves adjustment and finally some saturation to give some separation between the bird and sky, Let me know if this looks any better.