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Bar-tailed Godwit

Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:59 pm
by Manta
Some more birdies from today. 70-300G lens + ISO mistakenly left on 500 = soft shots!
Your thoughts welcome, as always.


Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:06 pm
by Nicole
Agree it is a little soft. I like the comp with the 4 birds and the colours. The little wave is nice too. This is what I am hoping to see when i'm up at Xmas. I'm jealous!


Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:09 pm
by Manta
Nicole wrote:Agree it is a little soft. I like the comp with the 4 birds and the colours. The little wave is nice too. This is what I am hoping to see when i'm up at Xmas. I'm jealous!

How can you tell it's waving to you Nicole?? Must be one of those bird-watcher talents!
Thanks for replying - hope to catch up with you when you visit.


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:21 am
by avkomp
a little soft but none the less a nice shot with the 4 birdies in it.
I need to get out after the birds again. I am waiting til daylight savings so I dont have to get up at 4am.
Steve

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:17 am
by Killakoala
Looks great, a very nice image and look at the size of those beaks!!!!!!! I'm glad i'm not a mollusc.

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm
by meicw
Nice capture. Great family portrait

Love the colours. Who cares if its a little soft. It's the pic that matters.
Regards
Meicw

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:30 pm
by Manta
Thank you Steve 1: 4.00am is the best time of the day!! (Can you guess who's done too much shift work in his time?

)
Cheers, Killa: They'd certainly do some damage. Pretty good for root canal work too, I'd imagine...
Thanks Meicw: Naturally we all like to get the best possible exposure but sometimes you have to settle for what you end up with.


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:43 pm
by blacknstormy
Simon - love this shot !!! Beautiful composition with the combination of 2;2. Damian loves this shot as well !!
You are right about the 2 birds at the back - bar tailed godwits. The 2 at the front are not godwits though.....
The front two are ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres) - either non-breeding adults or juveniles.
Was going to say something today at work, but wanted to come home and check first. Not great on waders, so had to check.....
Congrats (I'd wish I could take a shot like this)
Rel

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:46 pm
by Manta
Yeah, I wasn't sure at the time about the turnstones but I agree with your identification Narelle. They'll just have to put up with the indignity of not being credited!


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:05 pm
by Manta
I'm a stickler for detail....changed the image title to include the poor little turnstones.


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:34 pm
by Glen
Simon, I thought you made that name up

Nice capture

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:40 pm
by Manta
Glen wrote:Simon, I thought you made that name up

Nice capture
C'mon Glen...would I be so flippant??
If I was going to name them, they'd probably be called something like the Stick-legged Gawkhawk and the Fluff-Breasted Nut Scratcher, but I would never do such a thing.
Thanks for you comments!


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:50 pm
by Dargan
So your a twitcher Simon? Godwit Turnstone, even Dickens would be proud of a name like that. It's a lovely capture.

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:59 pm
by E1Shane
I think it a great composition and colours are very good.
Why is 500iso soft (not being a D70 user) or is it that you wanted higher iso to get faster shutter?.
Being a OlyE1 user we dont belive in anything above 400iso


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:01 pm
by Manta
Dargan wrote:So your a twitcher Simon? Godwit Turnstone, even Dickens would be proud of a name like that. It's a lovely capture.
Not quite a twitcher Dargan but developing an interest.

I'd like to get more shots of raptors but we don't have a lot around here apart from the occasional Osprey, Sea Eagle or Brahminy Kite down along the waterline.

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:07 pm
by Manta
E1Shane wrote:I think it a great composition and colours are very good.
Why is 500iso soft (not being a D70 user) or is it that you wanted higher iso to get faster shutter?.
Being a OlyE1 user we dont belive in anything above 400iso

Hi E1Shane. I had inadvertantly left my camera set to ISO500 after some recent night photography, otherwise it would have been on it's usual 200. While ISO doesn't necessarily mean 'soft' it can introduce digital noise that will reduce the overall clarity of the image. However, the softness of this particular shot is probably caused not by ISO but by the inherent softness of the 70-300mm G lens at the long end.

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:57 pm
by the foto fanatic
I like the image, Simon. I guess the softness might exclude it from a Nature Comp 1st place, but other than that, you have a pic to be proud of.
Are you developing your David Attenborough voice to go with your nature photography skills?


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:59 pm
by Manta
cricketfan wrote:I like the image, Simon. I guess the softness might exclude it from a Nature Comp 1st place, but other than that, you have a pic to be proud of.
Thanks Trevor.
ricketfan wrote:Are you developing your David Attenborough voice to go with your nature photography skills?

Absolutely...and I'm buying a complete wardrobe of long-sleeved blue shirts as well!

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:19 pm
by kinetic
Nice shots (as usual). I do like the birdies pink beaks. (Inane comments I know, but I really can't offer you anything constructive here

).

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:46 pm
by Manta
kinetic wrote:.. but I really can't offer you anything constructive here

).
I think you just did. Thanks K.


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:06 pm
by blacknstormy
Please, please please use your David Attenborough voice at our next training day


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:15 pm
by the foto fanatic
blacknstormy wrote:Please, please please use your David Attenborough voice at our next training day

I think a video recording for broadcast on the forum would be appropriate.
Would you please arrange, Rel?

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:26 pm
by Manta
You're on.....

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:31 pm
by kipper
Manta, you have heaps of raptors according to my ID book. I guess you just need to know where to find them.

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:53 pm
by Slider
Nice one Simon. I think I need to get down to the water


Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:08 pm
by Manta
You're right Darryl and I know where they are, it's just finding the time to really study their habits. Also, not having the lens reach to make some worthwhile images is a bit of a drawback as well.

Posted:
Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:29 pm
by mudder
Hey I really like this, it's not often when you can catch a family portrait shot like this of animals in the wild, well done...
Tempted to clone out what looks like a blurry bird(?) down on the bottom right and what looks like a photographers thumb in the bottom left, only joshin' about the thumb, dunno what it is, maybe a pale rock or something...


Posted:
Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:40 pm
by Manta
mudder wrote:Hey I really like this, it's not often when you can catch a family portrait shot like this of animals in the wild, well done...
Tempted to clone out what looks like a blurry bird(?) down on the bottom right and what looks like a photographers thumb in the bottom left, only joshin' about the thumb, dunno what it is, maybe a pale rock or something...

Hey Andrew. I originally thought it was a family portrait too but then realised it was two different species. BlacknStormy confirmed this and I then altered the original image title.
"Blurry bird" is actually a branch sticking up that I cloned out where it crossed the tail of the little bird on the left. I obviously didn't go far enough with the cloning to get rid of the whole stick!
Pale rock is just that - not my thumb.
