Posted by Rob Graham on January 1, 2009 at 10:57 PM
Happy New Year everybody!!!
After not getting out to shoot for a couple weeks, I finally was able to get out Monday and Wednesday this week. I focused on birds both times, due to time limits. In the 2 visits to Quivira NWR, I saw 3 life species of birds, which added to the excitement while I was photographing them. The small geese in this image are Ross's Geese, which until now I hadn't been able to separate from the larger Snow Geese. The day was getting late when the flock of thousands of geese took off, and I captured these 4 as they flew overhead. My wife was with me and got to experience the power of a flock of geese taking off for the first time.
My main problem with the image is the vignetting. I don't know how to fix this, and I can't add anymore canvas in front of the lead goose until I can fix it. Any suggestions on fixing it, or does it even need to be fixed? Thanks for looking.
If you shot in raw you can fix the vignette in camera raw. If not, simply add an overlay layer (Layer | New) select overlay mode and check the option to fill with 50% gray. Filter that layer with Distort | Lens Correction. Adjust the vignetting to taste than modify the layer opacity should get you pretty close.
Posted by Merle Cook on January 2, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Nice catch Rob. Good isolation of this group. I know how hard it is to try and seperate just a few when there are so darn many flying off. The lighting works great to highlight the birds.
Posted by Brad Mangas on January 2, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Well done Rob. Looks like Ed gave some good advice. Nice to see you out and about.
Posted by Rob Graham on January 2, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Thanks folks. Thanks the advice, Ed, I'll have to give it a try. I shot in RAW, but use Canon's DPP to process the raw file. I don't have the newest camera raw version that fully supports the 50D.
Posted by Scott Bean on January 2, 2009 at 4:53 PM
Beautiful light on the birds! I need to get down to Quivira sometime this winter.
Posted by Aaron Szabo on January 2, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Very well illuminated. They are easier on the eyes compared to the flock of Snow Geese I found yesterday. Usually you don't get that much vignetting on an APS-C sensor. I recommend shooting at F8 to F11 and sacrifice some shutter speed if possible.
Posted by Rob Graham on January 3, 2009 at 12:19 AM
I use a Tamron 200-500 f/5-6.3 lens, so I always stop down to f/8. I'm sure I was at ISO 800 as the light was slowly fading. It's a never ending battle to keep up enough shutter speed to reduce camera shake since the lens doesn't have IS.
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on January 3, 2009 at 10:15 PM
I think this is amazing detail and absolutely wonderful light Rob. If the goose in the center had been positioned just a couple of feet forward this would have been killer! Very nice shot!
Posted by John Moore on January 4, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Great shot Rob. Love the different positions of the wings, which you've captured well.
Posted by Randy Wilson on January 5, 2009 at 11:38 AM
I think the geese are pretty well positioned as is, and there doesn't seem to be a need to add any canvas to the left, at least to my eye. The lead goose is positioned pretty close to a rule-of-thirds spot, and the two in the lower right taken together are at another, with the one in the upper right breaking the pattern (which is good).
Discussion
11 repliesAfter not getting out to shoot for a couple weeks, I finally was able to get out Monday and Wednesday this week. I focused on birds both times, due to time limits. In the 2 visits to Quivira NWR, I saw 3 life species of birds, which added to the excitement while I was photographing them. The small geese in this image are Ross's Geese, which until now I hadn't been able to separate from the larger Snow Geese. The day was getting late when the flock of thousands of geese took off, and I captured these 4 as they flew overhead. My wife was with me and got to experience the power of a flock of geese taking off for the first time.
My main problem with the image is the vignetting. I don't know how to fix this, and I can't add anymore canvas in front of the lead goose until I can fix it. Any suggestions on fixing it, or does it even need to be fixed? Thanks for looking.
If you shot in raw you can fix the vignette in camera raw. If not, simply add an overlay layer (Layer | New) select overlay mode and check the option to fill with 50% gray. Filter that layer with Distort | Lens Correction. Adjust the vignetting to taste than modify the layer opacity should get you pretty close.