Posted by Andy Astbury on June 11, 2008 at 5:46 PM
A superb capture of a magnificent subject Paul - very nice feather detail, head turn and catch light.
For me personally I wish you'd not used such a narrow aperture - somewhere around f7 f8 would have made the BG a lot smoother and less defined - as it is its a bit busy and dominating for me, but it's my only niggle mate
Please, if you get a chance to redo it then use a lower f number
It's great to be getting a frame filling shot of a peregrine, most of my sightings of them have been flying past in the distance. The eye contact makes this shot for me. My only minor nit is that the bookeh looks a bit hectic and distracting.
Very good picture love the fact it fills the frame and the eye contact, only nit for me is the BG which is a bit ugly. Still wish it was one of mine though
I reckon at 1000mm, an aperture down might have been struggling with the depth a bit.
Good shot though.
I suppose you could Gausian the background a bit .
JohnR
Posted by Paul Hillion on June 11, 2008 at 7:21 PM
Thanks for your comments. As the Peregrine kindly sat there for a couple of minutes I took various shots from f/8 through to f/11 and to be honest looking through them f/8 made little or no difference to the BG. However with the 2x on board f/11 gave the sharpest results. Personally the BG doesn't bother me that much but when I get chance I may try a bit of Gausian blur as JohnR suggests. I should have also mentioned that this is about a 40% crop of the original.
Posted by eric weight on June 12, 2008 at 12:40 AM
I am not sure how this suggestion would go down, but I don't sell my pictures, so the only person I would be 'cheating' would be me. So just for my own amusement, I would dump the background and replace it altogether. Maybe next time you go past and the bird isn't there, take the same shot at f4 and combine the two in PS. Then it would be a stack, albeit with the components taken on different days. If it is there of course, you could take the shot again at a larger aperture. It is a fine memory and not a bad shot at all whatever you do with it. The eye contact makes it for me. Eric
I am going to diasgree with the other posters, and say that I find the interesting background adds something to the picture, which, although of an unusual and difficult-to-photograph species, could have become just another rather repetitive BOAS (or BOAR, in this case!) without it. I find your choice of aperture about right.
Why does everyone want to see these boring studio-like backdrops to bird shots?
Interesting discussion on a related subject HERE.
Interesting to look down on the top raptor when that's what he's normally doing to others. I've got no particular suggestion for how it could be improved - I like it a lot as it is.
It looks fine to me, the bg doesn't bother me at all and I love the eye contact, tis a super bird.
As you have noted with a 2x you need to be at least 2 stops down, there are a couple of exceptions but they are few and far between. perhaps all I would do with the bg is perhaps desaturate slightly...
Nothing wrong with the BG on this - indeed it gives an almost 3d effect. You certainly wouldn't be getting a smoother BG with the 500/2x combo unless you where closer/and or had a shallower shooting angle. F/11 tends to be a good choice for sharpness with the 2x and 500/4 as f/8 is effectively 'wide-open' .
There's not a lot of detail in the lighter feathering - not sure if it's because of your cropping, or if you've overexposed it slightly - possibly try dropping the exposure very slightly and adding a touch of contrast in post-processing.
I really like this, Paul. I had myself a similar look at a juv. peregrine the other day, but really couldn't get the light right. I therefore appreciate, the good light and the catch-ligth you got here. Make sure to exploit this opportunity because soon the young Falcons will not allow such a close approach.
Discussion
20 repliesCanon 1D MkIII, 500mm f/4 Lens, 2x, f/11, 1/250, ISO 400, tripod.
Thanks.
For me personally I wish you'd not used such a narrow aperture - somewhere around f7 f8 would have made the BG a lot smoother and less defined - as it is its a bit busy and dominating for me, but it's my only niggle mate
Please, if you get a chance to redo it then use a lower f number
Cheers,
Dan.
Ian
Good shot though.
I suppose you could Gausian the background a bit .
JohnR
Why does everyone want to see these boring studio-like backdrops to bird shots?
Interesting discussion on a related subject HERE.
Tim
Tim
Paul
Best wishes
Frederic
As you have noted with a 2x you need to be at least 2 stops down, there are a couple of exceptions but they are few and far between. perhaps all I would do with the bg is perhaps desaturate slightly...
Fantastic capture! I love it as presented!
Matt
There's not a lot of detail in the lighter feathering - not sure if it's because of your cropping, or if you've overexposed it slightly - possibly try dropping the exposure very slightly and adding a touch of contrast in post-processing.
Pretty bird - nice to see a youngster in the wild
Great result Paul
Alan