On the Wing + Colour RP

Gallery: AvianPosted November 1, 201586 views8 comments

Hi all! Been a crazy summer and fall for the Launstein clan behind the lenses...now if I can only dig out from the terabytes of RAW files to process! ;)

One of the blessings of living on waterfront is we get lots of waterfowl flying past. Sadly the flocks almost always fly past without much of a photo opp. However, the geese in particular often come in at dusk to feed in neighbouring fields, and Josiah and I always keep our eyes open for a cooperative group.

I've been wanting to get some images that show the incredible sense of motion and activity when the flocks lift off for the next feeding ground, and decided to crank down the ISO to get into the extremely-slow shutter speed category and see what I might end up with (I know, certainly not a new technique to avian photographers). I set up with a bank at the end of the field and the hills in the background and waited. Happily some rutting mule deer came through and the field went from calm to an eruption in a blink of an eye.

Curious to know what you think of this attempt at a motion blur (for me, the layers of background make it a little different).

Thanks in advance...

Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4 IF-ED
ISO 250
1/25sec @ f/4.5
-0.7EV
Tripod mounted

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on November 1, 2015 at 9:29 AM

Hi John:

Nice to see you posting! Keep 'em coming. I'm always up for these kinds of creative endeavors. I like the layers you captured very much. with the two "rows" of geese. That works well. The background layers also add interest. I think the image could be rotated CW just a fraction. I played with it in PS. It may be an illusion, but still think it helps just a touch. I also applied a couple of targeted TK masks to add just a it more contrast and slight richer blacks and it made this even stronger for me.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on November 1, 2015 at 3:35 PM

I like it! After reading Keith's comments, I agree, either TK Masking or Silfer Efex to try for a bit more contrast for drama would add to an already good picture.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on November 1, 2015 at 4:05 PM

Well, for me this doesn't work. I someti,es like these blurred fligght shots, but more often don't. In this case I think it is the added confusion of the OOF background layers.

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

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on November 1, 2015 at 5:11 PM

I love the double tier of birds, John, but your logo is playing havoc with the lower tier. I think I'd like to see the color version of this. There isn't much contrast between the birds and the bg and the upper tier doesn't seem to be popping from the hills. I tried to do a tone of these at Bosque del Apache a few years ago and I think I only had one or two that I liked very much, so it may just be a matter of taste.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on November 2, 2015 at 3:16 AM

Thanks, all! Keith & Phil, I had done quite a bit of work in Silver Efex Pro and with some selective luminosity adjustments...I kept the darks from going rich black because of personal taste and the feel of the colours of the geese in the original (lacking an angle showing the black necks and heads). But I definitely tend toward undercooked B&W conversions.

Keith, I had done a light CW rotation to level the top third dividing line (background hills to darker bank). In the colour version I rotated it further and used the bottom third dividing line (field to bank) as the anchor, which makes the top line tilted CW. Can't win for losing. ;)

Here is the colour version as requested. :) In this one I kept the tones fairly dark and representative of the dusk light the image was created in.

Thanks again and have a great week!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on November 2, 2015 at 7:47 PM

Hi John

Much prefer the black and white version.

Keith

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on November 2, 2015 at 8:23 PM

Thanks, Keith...there was never any question for me in going B&W. I have developed a tendency to decide how I want the shot to turn out in the field and actually shot this as B&W. Occasionally I've been surprised later to decide to keep the colour, but that wasn't the case here. Glad to have your vote of confirmation. :)

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on November 6, 2015 at 9:10 AM

Hi John, for me the B/W just has the edge of the colour as there appears to be more separation 'tonally', but a great call on the techs. I think the slight tweak in rotation on the RP works, as the eye registers the scene being more 'horizontal' so to speak.
A nice inspiration to others, thanks. devil

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments