Cosumnes River Preserve (Birds)

Cosumnes River Preserve (Birds) · 01:32 AM

Went to the Cosumnes River Preserve today and shot with the Bigma + Kenko 1.5x TC on a tripod (often used as a monopod). The TC definitely degrades image quality, but once in a while I'd get a pretty sharp image out of it. I'd bet not as good as the guy with the D300 and the Nikkor 600mm f/4 VR (I guess I wouldn't mind a $10,000 lens, but how do you ever leave it in your car???

) I shot at f/8 to sharpen the bigma up a bit and try to minimize CA (though experiments yesterday showed some acceptable results from f/6.7).

CA is present in many of the contrasty sections, and presents itself as a very very narrow band (only a few px thick) of blue/cyan.

I have post processed these photos as well as I could in a couple hours, so you're not seeing RAW output, but rather processed work...

Quite a bit of post work on this first one to recover feather detail while retaining good exposure on the background - and added work in PS killing CA...

EDIT: In an email conversation with Marc L., he better identified a few of these for me, so I'll update the info...

1. Egret (no crop)

exif

2. Black Necked Stilt (no crop) (thanks Marc for the ID)

exif

3. Red-winged Blackbird (no crop)

exif

4. Sandhill Cranes (cropped to 3233X2138)

exif

5. Red-winged Blackbird Female (thanks Heinrich)

exif

6. Great Blue Heron (cropped to 3212x2134)

exif

I'm no bird expert, so feel free to fill me in on names I don't know or correct me on what I got wrong

.

Dale · 03-01-2009, 01:43 AM

Cool shots Josh,

Number two looks like a pied stilt (wader) that you would see migrating across Australia.

I'm so getting a Bigma.

JMR · 03-01-2009, 04:55 AM

Yes, these are very nice.

JMR

OrenMc · 03-01-2009, 06:06 AM

I really like #2, great shot.

heliphoto · 03-01-2009, 11:22 AM

Originally posted by Dale

Cool shots Josh,

Number two looks like a pied stilt (wader) that you would see migrating across Australia.

I'm so getting a Bigma.

Thanks Dale... The Bigma's fun for sure, but it makes me want really really expensive glass... must get closer/faster

.

Originally posted by JMR

Yes, these are very nice.

JMR

Thank you JMR.

Originally posted by OrenMc

I really like #2, great shot.

Thanks Oren... I shot quite a series of that one - a very photogenic bird. got a couple keepers...

Here's another -

exif

gawan · 03-02-2009, 01:04 PM

Great series, thanks for sharing!

iced · 03-02-2009, 02:03 PM

You sure had Bigma singing a sweet and powerful song, excellent, thanks for sharing.

wildman · 03-02-2009, 03:45 PM

The Egret shot is as good as it gets.

heliphoto · 03-02-2009, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by gawan

Great series, thanks for sharing!

Thank you Georg.

Originally posted by iced

You sure had Bigma singing a sweet and powerful song, excellent, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for your poetic praise

. I'm glad you enjoyed the shots.

Originally posted by wildman

The Egret shot is as good as it gets.

I'm pretty sure you could get better but thanks!

It's really nice to hear that from one of our resident experts

... That egret shot was a lot of post work - I had to make two jpgs out of the RAW file, one with the exposure darkened way down to recover some feather detail, and then recombine them using Enfuse to get the image, some sort of single RAW file HDR shenanigans... I'm sure there's software which can do this sort of manipulation directly to the RAW file, but I don't think I have it. Then there was some CA which needed dealt with and if I were going to print it I'd have to go back in photoshop and do more detail work on that - so anyway, I'm glad it was worth all that

.

**Heinrich Lohmann** · 03-02-2009, 11:30 PM

Very nice shots Josh thanks for posting them. The second last one I believe is a Red-winged blackbird (female)

roentarre · 03-02-2009, 11:37 PM

They are very very well captured. Popping image with stark contrast.

heliphoto · 03-03-2009, 12:25 AM

Originally posted by Heinrich Lohmann

Very nice shots Josh thanks for posting them. The second last one I believe is a Red-winged blackbird (female)

Thanks Heinrich - Interesting, not being a birder, I'd have never thought the female would look so different... I'll update the original post.

Originally posted by roentarre

They are very very well captured. Popping image with stark contrast.

Thanks James.

heliphoto
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03-01-2009, 01:43 AM	#2
Dale Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Surfcoast Victoria Australia Posts: 560	Cool shots Josh, Number two looks like a pied stilt (wader) that you would see migrating across Australia. I'm so getting a Bigma.

03-01-2009, 04:55 AM	#3
JMR Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 3,332	Yes, these are very nice. JMR

03-01-2009, 06:06 AM	#4
OrenMc Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,901	I really like #2, great shot.

03-01-2009, 11:22 AM	#5
heliphoto Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Region 5 Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,539 Original Poster	Originally posted by Dale Cool shots Josh, Number two looks like a pied stilt (wader) that you would see migrating across Australia. I'm so getting a Bigma. Thanks Dale... The Bigma's fun for sure, but it makes me want really really expensive glass... must get closer/faster . Originally posted by JMR Yes, these are very nice. JMR Thank you JMR. Originally posted by OrenMc I really like #2, great shot. Thanks Oren... I shot quite a series of that one - a very photogenic bird. got a couple keepers... Here's another - exif

03-02-2009, 01:04 PM	#6
gawan Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Helsinki Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,400	Great series, thanks for sharing!

03-02-2009, 02:03 PM	#7
iced Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southwest Ga. Photos: Gallery Posts: 309	You sure had Bigma singing a sweet and powerful song, excellent, thanks for sharing.

03-02-2009, 03:45 PM	#8
wildman Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Flyover America Posts: 4,469	The Egret shot is as good as it gets.

03-02-2009, 10:10 PM	#9
heliphoto Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Region 5 Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,539 Original Poster	Originally posted by gawan Great series, thanks for sharing! Thank you Georg. Originally posted by iced You sure had Bigma singing a sweet and powerful song, excellent, thanks for sharing. Thanks for your poetic praise . I'm glad you enjoyed the shots. Originally posted by wildman The Egret shot is as good as it gets. I'm pretty sure you could get better but thanks! It's really nice to hear that from one of our resident experts ... That egret shot was a lot of post work - I had to make two jpgs out of the RAW file, one with the exposure darkened way down to recover some feather detail, and then recombine them using Enfuse to get the image, some sort of single RAW file HDR shenanigans... I'm sure there's software which can do this sort of manipulation directly to the RAW file, but I don't think I have it. Then there was some CA which needed dealt with and if I were going to print it I'd have to go back in photoshop and do more detail work on that - so anyway, I'm glad it was worth all that .

03-02-2009, 11:30 PM	#10
Heinrich Lohmann Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Airdrie, Alberta Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,097	Very nice shots Josh thanks for posting them. The second last one I believe is a Red-winged blackbird (female)

03-02-2009, 11:37 PM	#11
roentarre Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 11,783	They are very very well captured. Popping image with stark contrast.

03-03-2009, 12:25 AM	#12
heliphoto Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Region 5 Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,539 Original Poster	Originally posted by Heinrich Lohmann Very nice shots Josh thanks for posting them. The second last one I believe is a Red-winged blackbird (female) Thanks Heinrich - Interesting, not being a birder, I'd have never thought the female would look so different... I'll update the original post. Originally posted by roentarre They are very very well captured. Popping image with stark contrast. Thanks James.