[DonV]

Nice!

---------- Post added 03-08-22 at 12:43 AM ----------

A common kestrel praying (is that what the hovering to search for prey is called?) taken with the M300/4 green star lens on my K-50

Perhaps "preying" ?

[tim60]

Perhaps "preying" ?

Both may be involved.

[alfa75ts]

A demo of Topaz Sharpen AI.

1/ jpg straight from camera
2/ after sharpen AI
3/ after a second run through sharpen AI

[brewmaster15]

Great eagle pictures, and so true about the "scarcity" of the Bald Eagle.

For years there were no Bald Eagles around NC, I never expected to see one in the wild - but now it can and does happen.

A week or so ago my son called upstairs to me to "bring your real camera", so I grabbed what was on the desk, my new old K-x with 18-135 DA lens; so these pictures don't really belong in the 300mm + sub-forum, but they "should" have been taken with a 300 mm lens !!! So maybe it will be ok?

The eagle taken from inside behind double pane glass , he didn't hang around long at all; but there on the sand 75 feet away was a bald eagle.

I was inspired by the brewmaster's great pictures and a little embarrassed by my poor imitation;
not the greatest light or focus, grey day- almost foggy and the K-x is not the fastest to focus, and significantly cropped- but a once in a very long while opportunity.
Just wanted to share my eagle pictures.

I like to think we are all here to do that...inspire others. Thank you!

I can truly appreciate your thrill at seeing that eagle unexpectly. Great memory captured Don!

Al

[K2 to K50]

A demo of Topaz Sharpen AI.

1/ jpg straight from camera
2/ after sharpen AI
3/ after a second run through sharpen AI

Wow - that is pretty convincing!

[cmohr]

A demo of Topaz Sharpen AI.

1/ jpg straight from camera
2/ after sharpen AI
3/ after a second run through sharpen AI

I'm intrigued, Birds feathers look excellent, but what's happening there in the defocused leaves, . will have a look into this stuff more.

[alfa75ts]

but what's happening there in the defocused leaves

Basically I didn't use the mask option to select only the Goshawk.

[cmohr]

I thought there would be something like that, I am still only realy getting into these sorts of post-processing softwares .

[bspn]

A demo of Topaz Sharpen AI.

1/ jpg straight from camera
2/ after sharpen AI
3/ after a second run through sharpen AI

Gotta luv what Topaz can do...

[WPRESTO]

FYI for anyone who does not know, what Topaz Sharpen AI basically does is increase ACUTANCE, a quality that was talked about considerably back when I was in college about 1960. There was consideration of which lenses had high vs low acutance. Easier to see an example thaN understand a description, but here goes. Acutance is the abruptness of change from an area of one tone or color to an adjacent area of slightly different tone or color. The transition or edge can be gradual, or blended, or "soft," or the transition can be very abrupt, or "sharp" with essentially no blending. We see or interpret high acutance as "sharp." A program such as Sharpen AI does not, cannot add more detail, but it can delineate or separate the detail that is already present and we see that as much improved "sharpness" although in technical terms the image has been given higher acutance.

GOOGLE "acutance" for visual examples that are easier to understand than my description.

[zzeitg]

DFA 150-450

[MossyRocks]

I forgot to post this here the other day but here it is now. The Flame and Horse Head Nebulae in the belt region of orion taken Monday night. For me a very short total exposure of only 5m20s (8x40s) using the K-3iii and SMC A* 400mm F/2.8 ED [IF]. I was using the new astrtracer type 3 (GPS free) and this was mostly an experiment to find out how type 3 astrotracer actually performs. I can say I am pleased with its ability to do accurate tracking as I was able to do 40s shots with great results instead of the 20s shots I have managed with GPS based astrotracer, so I can double my exposure time basically. With only 8 shots there are stacking artifacts since outlier rejection doesn't work very well with so few shots. This is the actual framing with the lens and camera as I cropped the mosaic to the resolution of the camera and then resampled down to this resolution.

K-3iii
SMC A* 400mm F/2.8 ED [IF]
f/3.5
ISO 640

[normhead]

Pine siskin
K3iii and DA 560

The best BiF tracking of a small bird I've ever seen. Great job.

[jacamar]

Saw-whet Owl



Rough-legged Hawk (major crop)



Added: another view of the hawk. Here it is hunting from its perch, in the above shot its prey is concealed behind the snow bank.



K-3 iii, DA* 300m, plus DA 1.4x TC for the hawk.

[othar]

Some deer crossing a branch of the Mur to a small island.


K-3 + Tokina SD 400mm F5.6