Jump to content

The "Post a Picture You Took" thread


Patricio Swayze

Recommended Posts

My birding and photo activity has been largely curtailed by other priorities this month. But I managed to get to the lake yesterday and watched a bunch of buzzards engaging in all kinds of debauchery.

 

vultureswoop.jpg

vulturedrama.jpg

vulturefight.jpg

 

blackvulture.jpg

vultureblack.jpg

turkeyvulture.jpg

turkeyvulture2.jpg

 

vultureheron.jpg

vulturebeer.jpg?fbclid=IwAR2U8FqWsf94sjR

 

Black vultures outnumbered the turkey vultures 4 to 1, but the turkey buzzards held their own in squabbles. Black vultures were the clear leaders in debauchery, didn't even leave a single beer for the turkey buzzards.

 

 

Edited by DougO
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm thinking maybe tomorrow I'll venture out of the house to play with the camera. I live in the middle of a concrete island, not shit to really work with as far as photo ops. Downtown with the proximity to the river, the Silos area and Cameron Park should provide some opportunities that are all within walking distance of each other.

I still haven't explored any software for post processing but still have some questions to pose to you guys.  I'll post a pic once I get home later today but basically my example picture is typical of what I get from shooting in the aquarium; some really brightly lit area along with deep shadows. The bright areas are kinda blown out and the shaded areas are, well, dark.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, naija said:

I'm thinking the aquarium shots are probably not the best examples of testing your camera

Lighting is lighting and how those issues are resolved are probably the same across the board, no? Metering, exposure etc... all have to be accounted for and I would think that lessons learned, however they might be learned, could be applied to other situations. Anyway, here's a sample picture. Original is in RAW format. In post processing what is the, element(?) ( not even sure of the nomenclature...) that would need to be adjusted to bring out the fish that is in the shadows?

 

hu2d1u.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had big hopes for today, drove a ton and managed to only get a few photos I am happy with.  One snake I had never caught before got away before I could get a photo (as soon as I put him down, he was gone).  Another big and very nicely colored Rat Snake was dead in the road.  The abandoned spots I went to were not accessible.  It was mostly a let down.  But I did finally get to photograph a Great Horned Owl.  Here are a few from today and one from yesterday.

47442957282_4935a75063_b.jpg

33619310558_e179e6b320_b.jpg

47489351331_316eb75ceb_b.jpg

46772423244_0b1899e60e_b.jpg

46580676385_250e2f9c91_b.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

Lighting is lighting and how those issues are resolved are probably the same across the board, no? Metering, exposure etc... all have to be accounted for and I would think that lessons learned, however they might be learned, could be applied to other situations. Anyway, here's a sample picture. Original is in RAW format. In post processing what is the, element(?) ( not even sure of the nomenclature...) that would need to be adjusted to bring out the fish that is in the shadows?

 

hu2d1u.jpg

You are shooting across glass. I'm not saying not to do it, but don't think of it as a true representation of what your system is capable of.

If you are using Lightroom, you would move the Shadow slider to the right

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, naija said:

You are shooting across glass. I'm not saying not to do it, but don't think of it as a true representation of what your system is capable of.

If you are using Lightroom, you would move the Shadow slider to the right

Shooting across glass I'm sure makes a difference, you're right about that. I'm doing this basically in the dark so that the only light is coming from inside the glass box (aquarium). 

With Lightroom would you be able to apply that Shadow reduction(?) to just that area?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shooting across glass I'm sure makes a difference, you're right about that. I'm doing this basically in the dark so that the only light is coming from inside the glass box (aquarium). 
With Lightroom would you be able to apply that Shadow reduction(?) to just that area?


Yes. LR is pretty powerful am can do local adjustments with masks.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, DougO said:

Stellar owl, PS. On my bucket list, super tough bird to grab in daylight. I doubt I'll ever get one that good.

Thanks.  Well, it is a long drive for you, but I can tell you exactly where a baby and mating pair of owls are at in Brazos Bend State Park.  And if you have never been there, I think you would like it.  A lot of birds and alligators (the photo of one above was not at the park though).  Here is the baby owl.  There were two, not sure what happened to the other.

47500640211_a8c320e306_b.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a 100-400 which is great.  For those shots of the owls I was borrowing a 1.4x and a 2x.  The quality is ok, but definitely a drop off from just the lens alone.  I had to do a bit more editing than usual to get the images to look like that.  Well, of the adult owl, I let it ride with the baby owl image as the shake reduction was too harsh.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used both of the I and II 100-400 Canons. They are both fantastic, I just rent from time to time since I do mostly landscapes. The IS on the II is even better and it’s not a push/pull so it’s easier to use. I’ll probably try and get a 70-200 soon though, since I can also use it for Astro work since I have an equatorial mount now.

23996855588_1abd262f14_h.jpg

38027800896_4c7be2a266_k.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Thanks.  Well, it is a long drive for you, but I can tell you exactly where a baby and mating pair of owls are at in Brazos Bend State Park.  And if you have never been there, I think you would like it.  A lot of birds and alligators (the photo of one above was not at the park though).  Here is the baby owl.  There were two, not sure what happened to the other.

47500640211_a8c320e306_b.jpg

That's awesome. I really need to get out that way for some coastal area type birding, but I have to find somebody to fill in for cattle feeding time and such.

 

I had a great bald eagle connection in Waco, a guy who can get right near an active nest invited me and said call any time, a few weeks ago when I was waiting on my lens to get back from repair. But my phone died in the meantime and I lost all of my contacts and have been unable to find a contact for him. Maybe next year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, DougO said:

That's awesome. I really need to get out that way for some coastal area type birding, but I have to find somebody to fill in for cattle feeding time and such.

 

I had a great bald eagle connection in Waco, a guy who can get right near an active nest invited me and said call any time, a few weeks ago when I was waiting on my lens to get back from repair. But my phone died in the meantime and I lost all of my contacts and have been unable to find a contact for him. Maybe next year.

I'm pretty sure that my buddy I mentioned to you has been out there and knows the same guy. Give me a holler if you want to get hooked up again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A friend let me borrow his Pentax 645Z setup for awhile.  

I'll have to take some portraits or something to get a better feel of the resolution and files, but the dynamic range was pretty nice here.

This may be a bit of a strange tangent, but I use Capture One to import, add curves/adjustments and process my files.  Capture One owns Phase camera which is a direct competitor to Pentax and therefore doesn't support the Pentax in the program (so you could never tether in the studio).  You have to edit the images in Terminal to trick the program into thinking they're an IQ250 file.  Even then your color temp is all wacked out.  Annoying and a major hindrance to shooting this camera.  Even if I had the money to spend on a Phase camera/digital back, I would never do it. 

IMGP0257.jpg
IMGP0253.jpg

Edited by nycHorn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/30/2019 at 5:56 PM, DougO said:

That's awesome. I really need to get out that way for some coastal area type birding, but I have to find somebody to fill in for cattle feeding time and such.

 

I had a great bald eagle connection in Waco, a guy who can get right near an active nest invited me and said call any time, a few weeks ago when I was waiting on my lens to get back from repair. But my phone died in the meantime and I lost all of my contacts and have been unable to find a contact for him. Maybe next year.

Is his name Brian? If so I can get you his contact info, just let me know. The guy I know posted this picture yesterday taken at Lake Waco. 

mikrdi.jpg

Edited by El Diablo
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/11/2019 at 11:37 PM, Anton Chigurh said:

I really dig old brickwork. Cool stuff.

That's Carcosa...aka Fort Macomb.  200 Years old.  Very cool and also said that Louisiana is such a fucked up and poor state that they can't maintain historical sites like this and Fort Pike.

A couple from yesterday...

46680296175_b311c1f118_b.jpg

46871773764_53c4639a7c_b.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally got with the eagle guy earlier this week and made a trip to the nest before the young'uns are ready to fly off, which could be about any day now, so probably a one and done for me. Haven't had a lot of time for editing the mass of photos that mostly look the same. Picked out a few "highlights."

 

eaglevert

eaglecall

eaglecrappie2

eaglecrappie

eaglelaunch

eaglenest

 

 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, DougO said:

I missed a bunch of shots. It's like shooting baseball. Lots of waiting for something to happen, then the second your attention lapses the cool thing happens and you're too late to get a decent grab.

I know the feeling. I spent the afternoon down at the suspension bridge and snapped a few pictures of the ducks but nothing worth a shit. Little bastards can go fuck themselves. :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Damn. Awesome as always. How hard were you panning to get that scissor tail?

 

 

It was more bouncing than panning. I set the shutter speed pretty high, 2500-3200, because it was very windy and it was bobbing all around on stuff. I started watching it when it was sitting on a fence wire, then to my delight it went to the trees and bushes around the small pond just beyond and started frittering around in the wind. It was just grabbing things and dropping them, for practice, I guess. They seem to like a bit of wind.

Edited by DougO
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...