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These three images are part of a series of 'snaps" I took whilst holidaying in Cornwall in mid April 2019. They were taken late in the afternoon as I walked along the path by the Red River. The sun was very bright and as you can see from the way the light falls, it was both above but also relatively low and to the left hand side when looking at the images. In so far as the inside of the wing has been illuminated by this, I suppose you might say the images are backlit to some degree? Concurrently, however, the outside of wings and the head of the Egret is over bright. This said, looking at the original histogram, I was surprised to see the highlights were not burnt out. The significance of my mentioning this will become apparent later in the post.
Other issues I faced when trying to process the images included the reeds, which were photographically a distraction. Also, the white balance was not at all attractive - exhibiting a greenish caste on most of the image except the bird. ( I wonder to what extent, if any this might be because between myself and the Egret there were other reeds and I wonder if what I am seeing is the out of focus effects of these reeds? )
Finally, there is the thorny issue of reach; or rather the lack of it and the need therefore to crop the images a lot in post to ensure the subject was a reasonable size in the frame.
At various times I have shown one, or other, of these images or others taken on the same trip in our internal club competition and the most common complaint is that there is insufficient detail in the wings. A lot of people immediately say the wings are burnt out but, honestly, the instagram says not. I wondered if what they are seeing is a problem with motion blur but these images were taken with the Olympus 300mm at f4 at base iso of 200 and a shutter speed of 1/2500th sec or slightly higher. This said, I was panning and it was very early on in my attempts with the 300mm, so I would not rule out my poor technique. ( fancy way of saying….perhaps thy are just not sharp enough and thats down to myself ! )
I have tried various things in post, including warming up the white balance a lot and toning down the highlights and the whites, to the point where I feel, we have reached the point where the white feathers of the Egret are in danger of looking cream or worse looking grey.
What you see here is my best effort at trying to get something decent out of the images I took on the day.
Is there anything you could suggest to improve them or is it a case that the audience and myself are jut too inexperienced at photographing Egrets like this in bright light and that what we are looking at is there or there about and the result of the light just reflecting off the white wings, i.e. its what we should expect and no amount of post production is going to bring out the detail the audience says they want or expect to see?
Thanks.
Steven
Other issues I faced when trying to process the images included the reeds, which were photographically a distraction. Also, the white balance was not at all attractive - exhibiting a greenish caste on most of the image except the bird. ( I wonder to what extent, if any this might be because between myself and the Egret there were other reeds and I wonder if what I am seeing is the out of focus effects of these reeds? )
Finally, there is the thorny issue of reach; or rather the lack of it and the need therefore to crop the images a lot in post to ensure the subject was a reasonable size in the frame.
At various times I have shown one, or other, of these images or others taken on the same trip in our internal club competition and the most common complaint is that there is insufficient detail in the wings. A lot of people immediately say the wings are burnt out but, honestly, the instagram says not. I wondered if what they are seeing is a problem with motion blur but these images were taken with the Olympus 300mm at f4 at base iso of 200 and a shutter speed of 1/2500th sec or slightly higher. This said, I was panning and it was very early on in my attempts with the 300mm, so I would not rule out my poor technique. ( fancy way of saying….perhaps thy are just not sharp enough and thats down to myself ! )
I have tried various things in post, including warming up the white balance a lot and toning down the highlights and the whites, to the point where I feel, we have reached the point where the white feathers of the Egret are in danger of looking cream or worse looking grey.
What you see here is my best effort at trying to get something decent out of the images I took on the day.
Is there anything you could suggest to improve them or is it a case that the audience and myself are jut too inexperienced at photographing Egrets like this in bright light and that what we are looking at is there or there about and the result of the light just reflecting off the white wings, i.e. its what we should expect and no amount of post production is going to bring out the detail the audience says they want or expect to see?
Thanks.
Steven
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