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Gannet

Discussion

10 replies
Posted by Andy Astbury on May 12, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Apologies for not posting in a while, and this is only just a straight BiF Gannet from a mighty windy Bempton yesterday.

Too sunny and the wind was all wrong for what we were after really but flight shots were the order of the day, and we got a few.

The sun was the main problem, causing quite excessive brightness ranges that were nearly too much for 14bit to handle, let alone 12bit.

This is off the D2Xs which didn't take too kindly at all to the excess contrast:frown:

What fascinates me in this is the 'skirt' of small feathers under the leading edge of the wings - still pointing forward even though the bird is doing a good 25mph+ - isn't nature great!

Managed to hold on the the texture and detail on the birds back and wings, but it took LR2 to process; in Bibble I couldn't really control the contrast and it just looked as flat as dishwater in CapNX!

D2Xs
200-400mm f4 @ 360mm
ISO 200
1/600th @ f5.6 -0.7EV
PP LR2 & CS3
Small crop of bottom edge for comp.

The blob on the lower wing isn't a dust bunny but a cocked feather tip!

Bigger version http://wildlifeinpixels.com/img/0509/WIP00041574L.jpg

Thanks for looking :toast: :toast: :toast:
Posted by kevin Treadwell on May 12, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Hey Andy

Very nice dude, not bad for an old'en. The camera that is!!!

K
Posted by Mark Davies on May 12, 2009 at 11:40 AM
No nits from me . The body shadow normally experienced has held up well here and the exposure is fine to me.Harsh light my a''''e, you aint got that till its -2 ev.LOL Nice one, Andy , great BIF
Posted by Lee Newman on May 12, 2009 at 12:09 PM
A cracking flight shot. I have done Gannets & they are far from an easy subject. Nice head turn, well exposed & nicely composed.

Lee
Posted by Paul King on May 12, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Hi Andy, looks good no nits here,, they are real blighters to control with all that white nicely caught. :toast: :toast:
Posted by Mike Smith on May 12, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Whites look a bit unnatural on leading edges and head, grey to white - have you adjusted the whites input channel for blown whites :confused:
Posted by Fran French on May 12, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Considering the conditions etc., you have done well here Andy.

Fran :toast:
Posted by Guy Rogers on May 12, 2009 at 12:35 PM
The pose, angle and composition are all good and the head turn is very nice. But I have to go with Mike and agree that the whites dont look right, and seem more grey than white.

A cracking shot but let down by the whites.

:wavey:
Posted by Andy Astbury on May 12, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Mike & Guy - each to their own chaps :biggrin:

Mike - what is the whites "INPUT" channel pray? If you mean OUTPUT it's a straight 0-255 white output.

Whites are not blown - all it's had is a slight "S-ing" of the curve in LR2 to lower the contrast a bit - the majority of your complaint is just down to the harsh lighting - if you saw the full res tiff I don't think you'd mind quite so much :wink:
Posted by Mike Smith on May 12, 2009 at 3:24 PM
No complaint, the whites just look odd, what I meant was reducing 255 down to 250 or lower on the slider below levels graph which induces a softening of blown whites - same effect as pulling down the line on rh "Y" axis in curves
Posted by PhilH on May 12, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Harsh lighting.... looks like it was handled well.. but I have to agree the whites do look a posterised grey... having trouble with my connection tonight so viewing the high res file is not possible... most of this look is probably down to the jpeg compression... was there any highlight recovery used in LR?

its a great flight shot, having been trying for a couple of sessions recently, appreciate how hard it is...

:toast: :wavey: :toast: