Perched on a jetty post on the lake.

[RobG]

Yep, it looks like a Welcome Swallow to me. The most similar bird is the Tree Martin - you can tell the Tree Martin in flight easily by the white band across the rump. Nice shot! You might want to sacrifice some ISO and bump up the aperture to 7.1.

[K2 to K50]

Yep, it looks like a Welcome Swallow to me. The most similar bird is the Tree Martin - you can tell the Tree Martin in flight easily by the white band across the rump. Nice shot! You might want to sacrifice some ISO and bump up the aperture to 7.1.

Thanks Rob. You are right - I too often go on a shooting spree, and don't pay enough attention to changing light conditions. I started shooting in early morning, but when the light got better I should have upped my aperture, especially when the subjects were in full sun.

[pichaser]

Very nice !!

[MikeNArk]

It is a nice image. Has similar colors to an Eastern Bluebird in the US. Thanks for posting.

[ToddK]

Very nice capture! It is very similar to a barn swallow other than it doesn't have a blue band on its breast. Colors are very similar.

[angkymac]

Straight on investigative eye he is giving you.
I'd think this is a very fine shot if I were able to get one like it.
Angky.

[K2 to K50]

Very nice !!

It is a nice image. Has similar colors to an Eastern Bluebird in the US. Thanks for posting.

Very nice capture! It is very similar to a barn swallow other than it doesn't have a blue band on its breast. Colors are very similar.

Straight on investigative eye he is giving you.
I'd think this is a very fine shot if I were able to get one like it.
Angky.

Thank you all for your encouraging comments!
Thanks also to Kiddo70, pichaser, rhanz, ToddK for the "Likes".

[Des]

Lovely shot Peter.

You might want to sacrifice some ISO and bump up the aperture to 7.1.

I too often go on a shooting spree, and don't pay enough attention to changing light conditions. I started shooting in early morning, but when the light got better I should have upped my aperture, especially when the subjects were in full sun.

I suspect what Rob meant was more depth of field (you must have been quite close) and to give a little more margin for focus. At 1/2000th you had plenty of shutter speed to play with (e.g. f8, 1/1000th) - when the swallow was perched anyway. That's easy to say with hindsight of course - if you are trying to track a swallow in flight you would need 1/2000th. The bonus of f5.6 of course is very smooth background. All this is a counsel of perfection - for probably half of my shots some other setting would have been better!

I like the aspect ratio but personally I would crop a bit, particularly on the right and top. (I don't think the hot spot on the post behind adds anything.) Here's a quick and dirty edit with Nik Color Efex (added a little more warmth, contrast and microcontrast on the subject, lightened centre and a touch of vignetting).



Hope you don't mind this liberty.

[K2 to K50]

Lovely shot Peter.


I suspect what Rob meant was more depth of field (you must have been quite close) and to give a little more margin for focus.

I took that at his meaning, Des. But when I said I "should have upped my aperture" I should have said "shut down my aperture" to make my understanding clearer!!! And yes, was barely 2 metres away, if that, so more DOF would have been useful!!!

(I don't think the hot spot on the post behind adds anything.

.

Yep, you are right, there! That shiny bit of capping on the post behind was better cropped out.




"Hope you don't mind this liberty."

Not at all, Des. Always helpful to see alternative approaches. The pic was taken at 9:42 am, so, at this time of year (here, Down Under) the light was still a little cool.

I have made some progress in DxO Photolab, but haven't really played with colour temperature at all. Getting the hang of adjusting shadows and highlights, played a little with saturation, de-noising, and the tone curve - but still learning and experimenting.
Have also purchased Affinity Photo, and need to get into layers etc.

Your comments always welcome.

[Des]

I have made some progress in DxO Photolab, but haven't really played with colour temperature at all.

The auto white balance on the K-3iii is probably very good (the KP and K-3 are), so you often won't need much if any adjustment, but as a general rule AWB tends a little to the cool (blue) side, at least to my taste. It's a matter of trial and error to see what you like; with practice you will have an idea of what setting is likely to work best. If there are clouds in the shot, or surf, or something cream or grey (like the front feathers on the swallow), I would generally try to use the dropper to meter from that. Different clouds will give a different reading; if you don't like what you get, you can go back to the As Shot setting.

I'm not being critical. Your processing here is good. In particular, it's not over-sharpened - which is all too common now. Less is more, a lot of the time.

[RobG]

Thanks Rob. You are right - I too often go on a shooting spree, and don't pay enough attention to changing light conditions. I started shooting in early morning, but when the light got better I should have upped my aperture, especially when the subjects were in full sun.

I am the same - I quite often get so wrapped up in taking photos that I forget to check the settings!

---------- Post added 28-06-22 at 09:24 PM ----------

I suspect what Rob meant was more depth of field (you must have been quite close) and to give a little more margin for focus.

Yes, it was the margin for focus that I was looking for more than DOF. The eyes looked slightly soft.