Bird Photography

[tough hull]

You can surely say it’s a personal item

[green canyon]

bags are limited to 40cm

[tough hull]

I mean cam

Cam is personal item

Attach cam to lens and carry

[green canyon]

not allowed

idk ask ryanair

[tough hull]

Bruh

Oh hell nah

[green canyon]

itll be the last time im using the 70-350

[tough hull]

Go on insta and tag Ryanair

[tough hull]

Why last

[green canyon]

selling it

money 🤑

[tough hull]

What lenses will you have then

Left

[green canyon]

200-600 and 16-50

[tough hull]

You are missing 50-200

[green canyon]

I know

[tough hull]

I’m disappointed

[green canyon]

might get a 70-200 some day idk

[tough hull]

Sell zv e10

[green canyon]

yes that too

[tough hull]

Oh well then I understand

I’m trying to sell my 50 1.8 rn

[green canyon]

the plan is as follows

1. sell 70-350 and rs3 mini
2. trade in zve10
3. buy a6700, maybe as a bundle with the sigma 18-50, if so i will sell the 16-50 too obviously

[tough hull]

I have it on eBay for 115€ because it’s in like very very good condition and someone asked if they could get it for 60 💀

[green canyon]

after that

1. buy thinktank backlight 18/26l
2. buy lens cover
3. buy tripod

[tough hull]

I got a 90€ suggestion but I don’t need the money that fast so I suggested 100€ but idk no response

[tough hull]

No tripod at all rn?

I hate tripod ngl

[green canyon]

i have one but its not good

[tough hull]

I’m using monopod

For the 200-600

[green canyon]

i dont use it that often anyways

[tough hull]

Same

[green canyon]

i have one too for airshows

[tough hull]

My tripod is also a monopod

[green canyon]

ah

2 in 1

[tough hull]

I can screw one of the legs of

I can even attach the like bearing head of the tripod to the monopod

And I can invert my tripod

I love that thing

It’s a bit like shaky sometimes but it’s ok

[green canyon]

my tripod head cant even hold the 200-600 in place

the legs feel like they would break any minute

[tough hull]

I have a similar problem

If I put it on a tripod to shoot the moon and lock it I need to put the moon fully out of frame and then lock it and when I let it go it sinks down and my moon is in center again

[green canyon]

same

[tough hull]

But it holds it there

Its just that aiming it and licking it his I would need to aim the camera by just rotating the ball bearing

Because the gravity would already be doing all the shit before

Alright imma go to bed now, my eyes are not being awake no more I am so tired

And idk I am forgetting words

[green canyon]

i should aswell

4h 30 until i have to wake up

[tough hull]

Damn Gn

[finite flower]

18 to 26 isnt as big of a diff as i thought

[unborn frost]

Have you set the camera on a plate or tripod, or did you flip the screen out to get right down to the ground for that shot?

[tough hull]

Both ig

[dark minnow]

Im on a kayak, sketchiest thing I ever did

I was in the middle of a lake, these birds practically never get close to the shore apart from when nesting but I didn’t want to disturb said nest

[visual wadi]

Mmhm

That would be cool

I do get back next sunday

[green canyon]

i dont have a preference either its just going to be which version is cheaper and available

[green canyon]

i am so fucking tired

horrible sleep

didnt start sleeping until 2

[undone slate]

3km

[grizzled nebula]

Rookie

Thats early for me

[undone slate]

do you speak spanish?

[green canyon]

it is for me aswell but i had to wake up at 5

[undone slate]

what hour it's for you now?

[green canyon]

9

[undone slate]

same

where are u from

[green canyon]

about to fly

[undone slate]

i'm from spain

[undone slate]

where

[green canyon]

germany

[green canyon]

london

[undone slate]

why are you gonna fly to london?

[green canyon]

idk

because

[undone slate]

um

what

[grizzled nebula]

London stinks of piss, shit and food

[undone slate]

[undone slate]

idk

[grizzled nebula]

Scottish highlands and hebrides clear smelldon

[undone slate]

i've never gone to london

[grizzled nebula]

Ive been there twice

[undone slate]

why

[grizzled nebula]

Cause why not?

[undone slate]

idk

anyone on #💡・open-feedback

for my bird photo

Why didn't I focus properly??? 😭 😭

[tough hull]

Camera said not today lol

[undone slate]

😭

it would be a great photo i think

[undone slate]

I don't understand anything but it's cool

[naive fiber]

@undone slate have you also looked into the Nikon d850 as your next camera

I heard you talking about cropping a lot and I was thinking that if you wanted to crop a lot maybe it's a better camera for you

You should look into it though

[undone slate]

I don't know if it's better than the Z6 III because I also want to do astrophotography.

[naive fiber]

It's a better camera just worse af

[undone slate]

how much does it cost?

[naive fiber]

Similar price I believe?

It's a DSLR though

If you care about that

[undone slate]

I think I prefer a mirrorless one, because that way it doesn't scare the birds.

[naive fiber]

Wait I'll DM you instead of clogging this chat

[undone slate]

ok

I saw a goose incubating her eggs in the enclosure, where they have geese and ducks. When should I return to see her goslings?

[naive fiber]

Yes definitely

[undone slate]

when should i return there?

[naive fiber]

Maybe a couple days

[undone slate]

Yesterday I almost died trying to take a picture of a goose, but oh well

[undone slate]

by the end of the month?

[naive fiber]

Oh yeah definitely

[undone slate]

maybe i die ☠️

Because if it attacks me

The goose doesn't mind me approaching because she's used to it, but won't she be territorial when she has chicks?

[unborn frost]

shame it wasnt flying towards me. been meaning to get a duck landing while they bank in

[undone slate]

Is there any way to take a picture of a duck in the water at water level?

[green canyon]

yeah

hold your camera above the water

[undone slate]

But I can't see the screen then

@green canyon Did you see my picture of the goose?

[visual wadi]

How long you in London for

[green canyon]

till friday

im on the bus right now and im 99% sure a kid infront of me just shat himself

that has got to he solid material

or wet idk

[grizzled nebula]

I dont think ur meant to dm to talk about this

[naive fiber]

Am I not allowed to DM?

Is it for like protection

[visual wadi]

So 4 days

I recommend you the shard building

[tender galleon]

ballerina goose 😂

[undone slate]

What kind of bird is it?

[undone slate]

?

that's not a species

what's wrong with this?

🦆

@grizzled nebula

[tender galleon]

greylag goose i think

[grizzled nebula]

oh well i destroyed my main keyboard*

i'm using some shitty one rn

[undone slate]

ok

[undone slate]

?

Well, I'm going this weekend if I can.

In fact, I live 4 minutes away

[grizzled nebula]

Have to use this ffs

[undone slate]

[tender galleon]

theres a lot of distracting stuff and the birb doesnt really stick out

[undone slate]

I don't know if I can do anything about it

[grizzled nebula]

my Z key on the other keyboard was acting as if it was pressed on even tho it wasn't cause i accidentally dropped my drink on it 🙁

[tender galleon]

lightroom delete tool

[undone slate]

for what?

i don't have lightroom

[tender galleon]

the pink thing and branches

[undone slate]

but that's not ugly

[tender galleon]

and make the bird centered

[undone slate]

it's natural

[tender galleon]

it distracts and makes the photo look worse

[undone slate]

yep

[grizzled nebula]

the flower could've been nice if there was any kind of background blur and if it was at the center of the duck

[undone slate]

but i don't have lighroom

It would be a good photo, but...

😭

[tender galleon]

and saturate it maybe, especially the bird looks pretty gray

[grizzled nebula]

average sony AF performance when grass is in the frame

[undone slate]

When I return at the end of the month I will try to take a similar photo, but in focus.

[tender galleon]

canon 🥰

[grizzled nebula]

missile 🙂

[finite flower]

af missed

zz

[undone slate]

And let's see if any baby geese have hatched, although I hope it doesn't attack me because yesterday I was almost attacked by a goose.

[tender galleon]

still pretty cool

[finite flower]

unusable

[grizzled nebula]

sony AF

[undone slate]

That's very frustrating.

[finite flower]

k bro

i have a few exit shots but lik

[undone slate]

nikon 🥰

[finite flower]

i dont like them

[magic crown]

Well this is a really insane week planned
3 days at falconry and 2 days in natural reserves

[tender galleon]

i came to my grandparents and theres lot of goose along the way

[undone slate]

i think they're good

[undone slate]

wow

[grizzled nebula]

btw idk if u saw my message in shopping help but 600 F/4 IS III is much worse than RF and IS II

[magic crown]

Yeah this is a good week

[grizzled nebula]

which natural reserves

[undone slate]

i don't have lightroom

[finite flower]

yeah i did

[magic crown]

A local protected area and idk for the others one

[tender galleon]

you dont need lightroom to saturate

[undone slate]

what do i neeed

[grizzled nebula]

it's shocking how awful the IS III actually is

[tender galleon]

you can saturate in your phones gallery

[undone slate]

i don't have phone gallery

[finite flower]

hais no full green

[tender galleon]

and if you have a newer samsung the ai delete is pretty good

[undone slate]

i have pc

[finite flower]

zzz today is ass

[tender galleon]

you can saturate in darktable

[undone slate]

[tender galleon]

or any free software

[undone slate]

darktable it's pretty difficult/confusing idk why

[grizzled nebula]

tried to find one today but didn't get lucky

[tender galleon]

try gimp or something

[grizzled nebula]

i need to go to the opposite side of where i was today

[undone slate]

but people told me that gimp it's bad

[tender galleon]

there might be some black grouses close to my grandparents im gonna go look for them

[tender galleon]

try pixlr its in chrome

[undone slate]

cool

[tender galleon]

i started with it

[finite flower]

this shot is also unusable

grr

i hate when the bg is 2 different colourts

i gotta PS the whole bg

[undone slate]

I don't know if I like trial subscriptions.

[tender galleon]

what if its a gradient

[tender galleon]

its free??

[grizzled nebula]

Could've been nice if i didn't fuck up the focus

should've used full zone af instead of spot

[undone slate]

When I log in, it says, START 7-DAY FREE TRIAL

idk

[tender galleon]

yeah some premium subscription you can use it for free

[undone slate]

And for the duck photo, do I have to remove the flower and the branch and increase the saturation?

[tender galleon]

atleast remove the flower

[finite flower]

probably might be better

[undone slate]

gray?

[undone slate]

That orange tail doesn't appear in the Google photos.

[tender galleon]

its the other foot

thats why its a ballerina goose

[tender galleon]

not saturated

[undone slate]

ohh ok

[undone slate]

ok

[undone slate]

When I remove the flower, it doesn't replace it with water.

[tender galleon]

yeah pixlr doesnt have a good remove tool

i meant lr remove, but if you dont have it you can just keep the flower

[finite flower]

its ok

i shall look back

at good photos

[undone slate]

?

[finite flower]

makes me hapiper

[grizzled nebula]

the white on the neck is fucked

[undone slate]

is that a feeder?

[finite flower]

no

its wild bird

catching another wild bird

[undone slate]

how do i change that?

[finite flower]

its a solar panel its standing on

[grizzled nebula]

lower highlights

i want to see a falcon

[undone slate]

what

[grizzled nebula]

i'll hopefully see one when i next go to the gorges du verdon or somehwere good

[undone slate]

This Sunday, if the weather is good, I'm going to the Fragas do Eume, but I don't know if there are any falcons, maybe some buzzards.

[dark minnow]

A bit

[undone slate]

interesting...

[dreamy tinsel]

havent you been saying that for like a week now?

[grizzled nebula]

doesn't look like a falcon habitat

[grizzled nebula]

i've been there...

[undone slate]

Have you ever been?

[dreamy tinsel]

no luck?

[grizzled nebula]

??? i posted loads of griffon vultures pics

[grizzled nebula]

no but i looked at google maps

[dreamy tinsel]

im stupid 🔥

mb mb

[grizzled nebula]

they like rocks

[undone slate]

Well, I saw that there are goshawks

[dark minnow]

I had classes from 12-15 years old

Albeit I lost most of it

[undone slate]

[dark minnow]

I was supposed to go to Spain with my high school but covid hit

[undone slate]

like this?

[tender galleon]

yeah thats good

and like aarvs said decrease the highlights because the birds neck is blown

[undone slate]

How do I select only the neck?

Should I use websites that upload high-quality images? Or does that make it look worse?

[tender galleon]

lower highlights from whole image

or find some free masking

[undone slate]

ok

[undone slate]

hmm

masking

[tender galleon]

looks like it was painted white 😭

no texture on the fur

and reflection looks weird now because its way brighter

[naive fiber]

Jeez overblown much

Anyways I keep seeing this one brahiminy kite

And I don't have my camera

[undone slate]

😭

[naive fiber]

Cute

Where are these found

[undone slate]

idk

[glossy sage]

Click "nearby places"

Or look in ebird for it instead of merlin, ebird will show a map

[wide flint]

North East Asia iirc

There was one in Norway last year, first for Europe

[naive fiber]

Oh yes Merlin has a map

[naive fiber]

Cool

[undone slate]

There had to be people in the back...

😭

[hardy fox]

its ok i fixed it

[naive fiber]

What a job

[tender galleon]

back home

on the way home there was a swan really close to the street bathing

it isnt fully focused and its cropped like crazy

[tender galleon]

probably cant save it

[undone slate]

what

[glossy sage]

Unfortunately this was max reach

[undone slate]

what bird is it?

[glossy sage]

Brown Thrasher

[tender galleon]

swan (screenshot not really this bad quality)

[glossy sage]

I know it'll fly away if I try and grab my camera

[grizzled nebula]

why would you be an idiot for doing that?

loads of people do it

[tough hull]

idk it feels weird doing it in every single image

[grizzled nebula]

i do it on most too

that's how you make an image look really good most of the time

[tough hull]

not all of these i did it perfectly yeah but those are all my edits since i got photolab

[tough hull]

k thx

[grizzled nebula]

all are nice excepr for the 2nd one, fake sun is overdone there

[tough hull]

yeah i did linear gradient there

because i couldnt figure out radial then

now i know though

[grizzled nebula]

fake sun

[grizzled nebula]

i use linear a lot

[tough hull]

mine is dxo i dont like to use it its weird

i cant do radial gradient if theres no blurry background btw

[grizzled nebula]

better example

[tough hull]

because it uses Ai and subtracts automatically

[grizzled nebula]

[tough hull]

nice shot

[grizzled nebula]

i didn't like photolab when i used it

[fast knoll]

i do radial mask a lot for in flight shots

makes the blue sky background more interesting

[glossy sage]

Thats a lot of sun for very little highlighting on the bird

I'm personally not a fan of fake sun. A lot of people don't do it correct either

#🦀・creatures message

for example, looks like the sun is in the wrong spot in this photo

[undone slate]

In what situations can I use A mode for birds?

[undone slate]

wow

And another question: why does my camera blur the background so much only when I zoom in?

[naive fiber]

What's it called again

Uhh

[glossy sage]

Lessens the depth of field in the photo

[naive fiber]

Yeah this

What's the name I forgot

[glossy sage]

Are you trying to say bokeh?

[glossy sage]

More distance you can see the less the image is magnified to fit in the view, lessening how much depth there is between subject and background. Bokeh is amplified the greater the distance between subject and background are

[naive fiber]

No

Uhh

Let me find it

There isn't a name for it I was being a bit stupid

[tender galleon]

its decent

the bg just sucks

[glossy sage]

What is the ISO?

[fast knoll]

get lower to the ground if u can

[tender galleon]

400

[tender galleon]

i was in car and already left

[fast knoll]

is that super cropped?

[tender galleon]

yes

[fast knoll]

i see

[tender galleon]

but its cool because the goose looks like a ballerina

the other foot is raised

[naive fiber]

When I go to Kenya next I really want to see one of these

[undone slate]

The distance was long.

[naive fiber]

2nd one overexposed?

[grizzled nebula]

I’ll be able to fix that in post

[naive fiber]

Don't jinx it

Well it doesn't look that bad in fairness

[grizzled nebula]

Looks worse than it is cause Its a picture of the screen

Sky in the first one for example is blue but it looks overexposed cause of me taking an image of the screen

[glossy sage]

right.. but the more you zoom out the less distance the camera can perceive

As you zoom in the camera better perceives the long distance and it amplifies the bokeh

The less magnification you have the less amplified the distance is

[undone slate]

wdym by magnification?

[dark ermine]

https://youtu.be/wO0q3HdAiak?t=246
basically the technique in this vid

it's a nice easy way to boost a photo usually

[naive fiber]

Let me save this just to never watch it

[tough hull]

just not possible for me to do

i cant afford ps rn

[naive fiber]

Affinity can do this no?

Idk I'm guessing

[tough hull]

idk about these radial gradients

[dark ermine]

probably don't need ps, just need to be able to do radial gradient masks. i use lr

[naive fiber]

Lr

Capture one

Dxo kinda does it but it sucks ass

[tough hull]

also cant afford

[tough hull]

yes

i am on trial rn

[naive fiber]

I did it on my feeder photo

[tough hull]

i cant do radial

[naive fiber]

It works somewhat

[dark ermine]

https://www.dxo.com/dxo-photolab/u-point/ - looks like referred to as control point in photolab

[tough hull]

yes

but it uses AI

it automatically subtracts stuff partly

makes it unusable sometimes

[naive fiber]

Local

Denoise uses ai

[dark ermine]

i prefer a more spotlight approach usually

[fast knoll]

lmao the cardinal

i mightve gone a little overboard with this one but playing with gradients is fun

[dark ermine]

good lord, the clarity of that eye.
haunting

[naive fiber]

FUCK DUDE

that scared me

[grizzled nebula]

how do u get the images to look like this

[undone slate]

umm

[naive fiber]

Something with the tone curve

[grizzled nebula]

does the background blur look too fake

[naive fiber]

I literally can't do it I can't move it like you are meant to

[grizzled nebula]

is this better or the first one?

[green canyon]

I love radial gradients

[grizzled nebula]

R6II DR so good

[glossy sage]

Terrible sensor

[grizzled nebula]

https://tenor.com/view/really-straight-face-sarcasm-blinking-gif-14588874

[grizzled nebula]

i tried one in that desaturated style and one that's what i would normally do, which one is better?

[dark ermine]

https://tenor.com/view/the-office-pam-beesly-theyre-the-same-picture-the-same-picture-they-are-the-same-picture-gif-20830121

lol marginally different, i prefer right though

[tough hull]

Yeah idk if it uses ai but it automatically subtracts

[dark ermine]

you can acheive the same with brushes, just downloaded pl to try it

[tough hull]

Ik

I also did that

It’s just annoying though

[undone slate]

Invasive bird, it's pretty but it was hiding.

[undone slate]

what's DR?

[unborn frost]

Imo adding in some fake lighting to this extent works well if theres an existing ray or flare that you then exaggerate. If theres nothing i find faking it on the subject itself with intersecting gradients and then having some subtle radial sunlight or god rays works better. Or at least it looks more natural.

[unborn frost]

On this last one, instead of a radial gradient i think faking god rays would make it pop just that much more

[unborn frost]

Does the video you linked cover this technique? Like pushing the background back by desaturating it or going to grey and then making the subject pop. Sorry im out atm and cant open the vid, wanted to check if i should bookmark it for later so i remember

[shut hazel]

I bought some flowew for my patio that hummingbirds would like

[dark ermine]

generally it's masking via excluding the subject and specifically desaturating / decreasing greens

[magic crown]

black kites and royal kites are back here

[fast knoll]

too strong imo

[tough hull]

which one

[fast knoll]

2 and 3

the background in 1 just looks quite blown out

[tough hull]

I agree

[dark ermine]

Sorry, didn't realize my msg got deleted b/c it had a link in it. The video doesn't really show that method but I have a link in my profile to my link tree > LR Editing Walkthroughs with those photos uploaded and the editing steps I took, if that helps. If you have lightroom you can save the presets too

[magic crown]

Holy background

There's something to do

[gilded yarrow]

ffs

[grizzled nebula]

time for me to go out birding

[tough hull]

I wish

[magic crown]

Weird looking birb

Someone told me there's a tawny owl singing every sunset near his home i'll try it today to get it

[analog kindle]

monthly ish check in

I went to arizona I guess

I have like 17k more pics to go through but here are some so far
spow was cool

[left brook]

what lens?

[tender galleon]

gonna go look for gooses and swans

waited all day

[analog kindle]

500 f4 G VR

the chonky boy

im too broke to get the 400 2.8 TC so had to settle for arm day everyday

[gilded yarrow]

Smh, my 1st actually nice bif pic and its completely out of focus

[left brook]

thinking to get the 500 F4E FL

did you use to have a d500?

[analog kindle]

Yes

[left brook]

Did you have the 500/4 with the D500 or did it come after the Z9?

[analog kindle]

I used the d500 with it for about a year or a little more

er a little less

idk

here are some pics from the combo though if you care to see them

sorry for photo spam everyone

[left brook]

very nice

[analog kindle]

so if you go with the FL

its only sharper

slightly better af

better stabilization

[left brook]

biggest thing is the weight and size over a 600/4 I think

[analog kindle]

and I think the new coating on the front should help it stay a teeny bit cleaner but otherwise its lighter

[analog kindle]

I think its very comparable size-wise to a 600 f4 tbh

I mean I think its around the same size as the G right

afaik it is

[left brook]

comparing the FL ED 500 and 600 the 500 is 6.8lbs and 600 8.3lbs

[analog kindle]

but yeah Id say if you can get it for anywhere under like 3200 usd it would be great

[analog kindle]

dang

[left brook]

and I think the 500/4 fits in my current bag while 600/4 doesn't

[analog kindle]

oh interesting

[left brook]

600/4 is heavy as hell, like 11lbs

G VR*

[analog kindle]

yeah......my setup with the z9 now is over 13 total I think

it was a pain dragging it across the country

but worth it for the f4

[left brook]

lots of very nice shots

[analog kindle]

and great considering I didnt spend much on it

next lens hopefully will be the 400 2.8 E FL VR

would love that one

I finally was able to use my 500 with a tc, and man its like plenty if not too much reach for me now

so having 400 at 2.8 with the option for 540 f4, would be so fun and I think perfect for what I do

[grizzled nebula]

Ass

Where the fuck are the birds

[dark ermine]

wym they're right there

[grizzled nebula]

Nice birb

[analog kindle]

Why does this look like you took a picture in a dream

[grizzled nebula]

Phone camera is dying

[fast knoll]

this is a fire pic lol

[tender galleon]

woah cool shot

could try to delete the gooses in the back

[grizzled nebula]

1h here and still 0 photos

Time to move

Couldnt get close cause of the 3 big ass dogs

[tough cipher]

anyone know what just flew by my window?

hawk? kite?

[magic crown]

It's a hawk

[tough cipher]

brown hawk yeah?

supposed to have those around here

or red idk

[magic crown]

Forests are the hardest area to have shots

[dark ermine]

looks like an osprey to me

[tough cipher]

it does

it dove into the water below my house fishing for something a few times

[wide flint]

That's indeed an Osprey, sick

[tough cipher]

google says theyre uncommon where i live and that they return from africa in april/may to spend the summers here hunting around lakes

pretty cool

[wide flint]

Yeah they're pretty uncommon all over Europe. There's breeding pairs all over, but generally they're a rare sight due to low populations

In the Netherlands we have like 12 breeding pairs or something like that

[wide flint]

Oh nvm it was only 6 in 2024, with the first ever breeding pairs only in 2016

[wide flint]

Red kite my beloved

[tough cipher]

i like this image

landscaper in me enjoys these with wider crops instead of right up in its face

background was soft and pretty here

first time since moving here i get to actually capture anything decent of a bird of prey, seen eagles, hawks and kites (i think) a bunch of times but never with a camera ready or just been too slow to get em

eagles are cunts, theyll spot me from 200 meters and then piss off lol

[grizzled nebula]

Now that the big birds are starting to show up more imma need to go back up the mountain

[wide flint]

Yeah very nice, good background separation as well, which I find hard to get in these kinda shots

[tough cipher]

700mm f5,6 helps but the distance from the bird to the background forest is also like a solid 200 meters which helped

[grizzled nebula]

came back home with a grand total of 0 bird photos

good bird photos*

[tender galleon]

didnt get to edit this one today :(

[naive fiber]

Yes 99% of birding session

[glossy sage]

It be like that

I like this photo but man this background is wild

[undone slate]

I already asked this, but I'll ask again because it wasn't very clear to me: why didn't my camera properly blur the background of some of the goose photos if the background was far away?

I only blurred the background well when I zoomed in on her face, but other than that, it didn't.

[grizzled nebula]

cause your sensor is tiny and the lens not good

you need to be very very close to get any kind of blur on that kind of camera

[undone slate]

i was like 1 meter away from the goose

[undone slate]

they aren't ugly

[undone slate]

And why does it blur properly when you zoom in?

[grizzled nebula]

it's a shitty point and shoot, lower your expectations

[unborn frost]

tried a more moody/spot edit following Vox's workflow. Definitely something to try more of, rather than pushing for brighter and more "complete" edits

[glossy sage]

Did you swap the natural light direction

[magic crown]

my very first good shot of a jackdaw

i really wanted to play with the foreground and background

[unborn frost]

well, it was top lit. I lost myself in masks trying this new approach. couldnt figure out where things went wrong so just went with what it came out to be. heres the original. I tried to go back in and fix it but it was proving too much c:

[glossy sage]

The light source appears to be either behind or overhead the bird but theres a strong highlight on the foreground side of the bird as if a flashlight is being shone on it. But if that was the case the branch is completely in shadow as if it is lit from the back or overhead without any frontal lighting

Thats the hard part of light manipulation that these videos don't go over... they just say "oh I'm going to put my gradient top left" but they don't typically explain they chose that to retain their highlights from their sun thats overhead to the left

[glossy sage]

If you're gonna do moody with that composition and lighting I think you can achieve about the same visual effect here without creating false light directions by doing a spotlight effect you'd retain the natural highlights but darken the rest of the photo even more. Wing/Underbelly of the bird should be dark not bright theres no light below.

Or just bring back the highlights on the branch I think that'd do well actually

[unborn frost]

yeah that makes sense. Looking back, I focused too much on the 'spot' effect, so I applied a radial gradient to the face to make it pop. That obviously threw the lighting off. Just subtracting the bird from that gradient helps remove the artificial lighting.

What was throwing me off was the bounce light at the bottom right, which made it seem like the spot worked. anywho heres a quick fix following the points you raised. not the greatest but It feels like an improvement c:

[glossy sage]

I like that better. Its less dramatic but the light is more correct. Brighten the top half of the bird and keep the head highlighted

You can select the background and make the greens more forest green again for drama

Thats much more similar to what I was actually just sketching on my phone to show you

[unborn frost]

It's difficult to stay on track with everything. especially when you go in with a particular aim or look in mind. A fundamental, such as keeping the lighting correct, easily gets lost. I'll try to wait a bit after an edit, just so I have a fresh look at things. It may seem like this is being too picky, but I'm kind of annoyed I missed that

[glossy sage]

Don't be annoyed lighting is really hard. I personally don't enjoy editing a lot so I don't mess with dramatic edits anymore despite how great they look and their popularity

[magic crown]

editing the light is something hard at start and can be messed up really fast

[glossy sage]

100%. Especially when the photo isn't fresh in your mind. I found myself editing months later and going "Huh. I can't even tell or remember where the light is truly coming from"

[unborn frost]

learnt the hard way 😭 . Still, I found the process enjoyable and its opened up a bunch of new avenues to explore with future shots

appreciate the feedback!

[magic crown]

you have the raw ? to show you an example of edit

[glossy sage]

Now that you're aware of it scroll through #🦀・creatures and look at how many people create fake light directions that don't match the actual source

Definitely a common oversight

[magic crown]

meanwhile me analyzing every pixel of shadow to see where the light exactly come from

[unborn frost]

Ah, not looked through that yet. Seems like a solid place to get inspiration

[glossy sage]

Its not the biggest photo killer (well, sometimes it is.) if you mess it up but its one of those things that'll elevate you from a natural vs over edited look

[unborn frost]

heres the raw, I think its attached correctly

[glossy sage]

And fwiw really good shot btw. I love that bird

[grizzled nebula]

jackdaw!

[magic crown]

light is very sensitive so be gentle with cursors this can be a mess really fast (too fast)

[glossy sage]

The last moody edit I remember doing I was in Photoshop with a 2 pixel brush burning and dodging things. That was probably when I decided I disliked editing and just enjoy the photo setup and capturing process

[grizzled nebula]

i can easily take pics of jackdows

now that leaves are coming back i could maybe get some nice ones

[magic crown]

lightroom is better for photo edit even if photoshop is more advanced but for editing it's a little bit too much

[grizzled nebula]

icl i just prefer photoshop to lightroom

[glossy sage]

Ive been familiar with PS for years so I was doing big edits in LR then small ones in PS. Ive come to love LR now though and everythings in LR

[unborn frost]

I like how Lightroom isn't for minute details; its clunkiness helps you look at the whole image and make "big" edits. I use Photoshop for other things, and I know that if I were editing on it, I'd be going into every crevice trying to get things to be pixel-perfect

[grizzled nebula]

lightroom need so much more ram than photoshop

i don't have lagging issues on photoshop but lightroom just feels so slow

[magic crown]

@unborn frost here a first result

[grizzled nebula]

try editing this one 🙂

[magic crown]

finished this one

btw this little silly tried to steal my food lmao

[grizzled nebula]

try fixing the CA

[magic crown]

light too strong

[glossy sage]

Needs Satoro Gojo eye

[grizzled nebula]

?

[unborn frost]

pretty significant difference based on editing choice. It's obvious but goes to show how theres always room to flip things and go in a complete different direction if you get stuck

[grizzled nebula]

man u make me wanna go see the jackdaws

imma go tomorrow maybe

[magic crown]

yeahon photos sometimes you need to try other things

[glossy sage]

What f stop was that jackdaw?

[grizzled nebula]

wait icl lightroom might be dealing with blown out highlights better for whatever reason

[magic crown]

f/6.3 for both shots

[glossy sage]

Dang for me to get that kinda bokeh I'd need to be in a zoo so much abundant foilage everywhere hard to get that kind of separation

[unborn frost]

clarity to -100

[grizzled nebula]

bokeh 🔥

[glossy sage]

Foreground bokeh drives me crazy

Unless its water

[magic crown]

i call that the double distance factor

the background need to be 2x more far than the original distance between you and the subject

likr that you can have this kind of bokeh

[magic crown]

@grizzled nebula

[magic crown]

foreground can be really creative when used properly

[glossy sage]

Thats nice

[magic crown]

here an example of good use of background and foreground

[glossy sage]

The kind of trees birds like to land in for me

[magic crown]

https://tenor.com/view/suffer-depression-no-noo-crying-gif-950269110864679378

[grizzled nebula]

R6II's dynamic range really is insane

[grizzled nebula]

look CA gone

[magic crown]

bro really need all of that ca disappeared omg

it's changed nothing lmao

[glossy sage]

I just got a really nice soaking wet blue jay but I think my lens stabilization was off. Hoping 1/1600 froze everything nicely. Ive been playing with turning lens stabilization off because I think its slowing down my tracking from bird stationary to flying

[glossy sage]

Nope, again bad sensor. I would never use it

[magic crown]

https://tenor.com/view/smg4-mario-laughing-gif-23988493

[glossy sage]

Day 2 of hating on the R6 II sensor until someone hits me with the "its the same sensor as the R8"

[magic crown]

Canon : you want a new sensor ? here a new body with the EXACT SAME SENSOR WHO COST EVEN MORE

[glossy sage]

The R8 II will be the R6 II

I am jealous of the dual sim and the battery life

[grizzled nebula]

my eyes can't stand purple

[glossy sage]

My battery life sucks so bad

[grizzled nebula]

literally sony

[glossy sage]

I honestly can't even spot the CA in the photo unless I zoom to like 250%

[magic crown]

for FX and a7/6 series

[grizzled nebula]

A1II and A1 have the exact same sensor

one is 3k more

[magic crown]

yeah bc theres more software but the a1 iii is with a global shutter

[grizzled nebula]

i wanna see what the R3II will be like

[grizzled nebula]

still same sensor

[magic crown]

but with a better overall optimization

[grizzled nebula]

yh but... still same sensor

R5II better sensor than R5, R6III better sensor than R6II, R6II better sensor than R6

also canon sexy evf on newer pro bodies

give me R5II evf or i retire

[magic crown]

well it's a little bit logic bc it's newer

[grizzled nebula]

not logical for sony

sony could've come out with some insane new next gen super sensor but they decided to keep the same one

[magic crown]

why changing something that's already good enough ?

https://tenor.com/view/jdg-joueur-du-grenier-frederic-sebastien-fred-gif-27667403

[glossy sage]

The high speed OLED EVF is so nice

[grizzled nebula]

good enough is not enough

[magic crown]

like canon with a global shutter sensor ? oh wait that's from sony

[grizzled nebula]

it sucks

the low light performance is ass and if 2.4ms is not enough you should stop photography

[magic crown]

still better than a bsi sensor

[glossy sage]

I wish I saw some falcons

[grizzled nebula]

i wish i could see some too

[grizzled nebula]

also it's a mid 24mp sensor

[magic crown]

just for 24mp for you it's bad okay

[grizzled nebula]

i mean low light is apparently ass

[charred holly]

Messed up my settings and ended up with a 1/2500 shot, IQ still looks alright

[magic crown]

btw i confused with the a1 iii (only rumors) with the a9 iii

[dark ermine]

this is probably what i would have done with a shot like that. that deep matte style is definitely not something you'll be able to apply to all photos

[grizzled nebula]

A1III ain't coming out any time soon lmao

A1II is less than 2 years old

[charred holly]

I have seen rumors about about a fully stacked a7rvi

Highly improbable, but I guess that would be what I would expect from a a1iii

[grizzled nebula]

it's just seems weird cause if it has an insanely good readout speed the A1II will just be outdated already

[magic crown]

not really bc it will got boosted with software tech

[grizzled nebula]

63mp ~12ms is what i've seen from rumours but that seems very unlikely

[grizzled nebula]

you can't boost the mp with software

if they fix the AF with the A7RIV madre mia

[charred holly]

I fully expect them to raise the price to silly levels

[magic crown]

just look the a1 and a1 ii same sensor but more software and AI chip

[charred holly]

a7rv was $3,900

[magic crown]

so they can do even better now plus with the V2 ai chip

[charred holly]

$5,000 for the next one?

[magic crown]

6k maybe

[grizzled nebula]

then this statement is incorrect

[charred holly]

yeah, I'm out

[magic crown]

[grizzled nebula]

honnestly if it's insane maybe it'll be worth the 6K

[magic crown]

it's "for pro"

pro like olympics photographers

[grizzled nebula]

R5II can be bought for 2.8K..

[charred holly]

"pro" being old people with too much money

[grizzled nebula]

A1II is 5K at the cheapest

[magic crown]

and who thinks they are insane photographers but don't know what ISO or speed is

[dark ermine]

how old is old, asking for a friend

[charred holly]

my age + 10

[magic crown]

idk 60yo ? (30yo for messed ppl )

[glossy sage]

Relative to the person asking

[grizzled nebula]

i am 67 years old

[glossy sage]

At least for men some studies suggest 30s is peak physical and mental performance. So 45+, 50+?

[magic crown]

https://tenor.com/view/stare-meme-pigeon-gif-7030103821931382315

never say that again

[glossy sage]

$1 its gonna be blurry AF and not worth my time once I import it

[charred holly]

Make it 2$

[magic crown]

nah 5€ better

[charred holly]

Insane shot btw

[magic crown]

the crow or other bird specie : OH GREAT HEAVEN A CAMERA

[glossy sage]

Thanks, I hate these birds on my feeder. I turned the siren on while holding down shutter

[grizzled nebula]

if it is what af zone did u use

[charred holly]

Precapture?

[glossy sage]

Nah my sd card 2smal for precapture

I was one handing my phone and the other my camera

[charred holly]

Precap has ruined my brain

[glossy sage]

I use 1 point on AF case 4

[charred holly]

I see incredible pictures of flying birds and my brain only says "nah its just precap, not that great"

[magic crown]

precapture is for weak
real men use skills

[glossy sage]

I mean I don't really see a need for precapture (called raw burst in Canon)

I just hold shutter down and let it take 2,000 photos until my subject moves

[charred holly]

this is the way

[dark ermine]

real pros get a z8 and a dummy battery and leave the camera on auto while they go make a sandwich

[glossy sage]

Also Lightroom can't unpack a burst capture

I have to use Canon's crappy software

[magic crown]

https://tenor.com/view/i-kneel-bejita-vegeta-dragon-ball-z-dbs-gif-9873872880292680534

too powerful

[glossy sage]

I can do that on my R8

[grizzled nebula]

real pros pair a Z8 with a 600 F/4

[glossy sage]

i wrote a software for it

[grizzled nebula]

yh that's jus the old version of precap

the new one is clear

[charred holly]

Isn't 400 f2.8 better?

[grizzled nebula]

depends

[magic crown]

and now look how have a prime lense here

[glossy sage]

I guess the R8 isn't loved enough for it

[grizzled nebula]

it's only on the newer cameras

R5II, R1 and R6III

this is the goat

[magic crown]

he's an old photographer

[grizzled nebula]

i'm going back to camargue in a few days but with someone again

[glossy sage]

R8 is a 2023 camera when was R6 II?

[grizzled nebula]

2022 i believe

[charred holly]

nice bird perch

[glossy sage]

Ok so Canon just hates people min maxing budget

[grizzled nebula]

well i have the same AF as u

[glossy sage]

Yes

[grizzled nebula]

i meant precap

how am i confusing AF and precap lmao

[glossy sage]

Oh you said R6 III

My brain dropped one of the I

[grizzled nebula]

yh nah i have the shitty version too

[glossy sage]

Did you set a custom AF zone for birds or what af area do you use

[magic crown]

spot af > all

[glossy sage]

But when the start to fly from stationary I lose em

[magic crown]

custom mapped button

https://tenor.com/view/ascension-sponge-bob-gif-15077046

[glossy sage]

To switch to whole area?

[charred holly]

wide af is just a big spot af

[glossy sage]

Man these birds fly at 30mph I aint able to switch that fast

[magic crown]

just map a custom button it will switch everything when you press it

[glossy sage]

I'm playing around with my settings, thinking of trying this zone

[charred holly]

Anyway, subject detection is so good now that I often pick whatever an it works fine

[glossy sage]

You use whole area?

[charred holly]

When the subject fill most of the frame yes

[grizzled nebula]

i use the expand area 4 af zone and full AF zone and also spot AF when it's small birds

canon subject recognition is the best

[magic crown]

always on spot af and when flying large af switch

[glossy sage]

I just mapped my record button to whole area subject track toggle

So I can swap one spot and whole area

[grizzled nebula]

sony AF struggles with perched birds

ur only option is spot AF

[magic crown]

why using large af on perched bird ?

[grizzled nebula]

cause why not?

[magic crown]

they don't moving they do nothing so it's just legit to put spot af

[magic crown]

to get a more precise eye af

[grizzled nebula]

canon AF detects the eyes perfectly

[magic crown]

yeah bc you have ai af

[grizzled nebula]

[magic crown]

and spot af just lead to a precise spot to focus

with ai af wich get better

[grizzled nebula]

i mostly use expand AF (4 Dots) cause it's not too big and is quite good for tracking

[dark ermine]

we should hijack creatures gallery one day and only post birds facing forwards

[magic crown]

great idea

https://tenor.com/view/hamstermert-gif-4959950239614197565

[glossy sage]

Then the next day only back shots

[grizzled nebula]

https://tenor.com/view/war-vietnam-ptsd-shell-shock-moment-gif-5099501693730168061

[unborn frost]

yup, wanted to just try it out, and this one looked somewhat menacing, so I thought, why not? c: The biggest thing I've taken away is not to shy away from editing the background itself if it requires it. Also picked up how to be more selective with colour adjustments as opposed to just using temp and saturation/vibrance sliders

[glossy sage]

(And don't mess with the natural light source)

[unborn frost]

yessir

[dark ermine]

yeah, definitely. at the least, for that style your starting photo should have a **lot ** of natural light, i.e

I think Mango said earlier, so when / if you do add a spotlight radial, you're not creating highlights from * nothing *, but accentuating what's already there

also getting this stylized is very polarizing. i have friends that absolutely hate it, whereas i love it lol

[glossy sage]

Yoo gang thanks for answering my AF questions @grizzled nebula @magic crown

I finally got a small bird from stationary to in flight

Its kinda mid bc I wasn't expecting it to work but it worked

[grizzled nebula]

idk which one looks more centered

[glossy sage]

U should do a wider crop and move it to the left top third so its staring off into space

[grizzled nebula]

square

[charred holly]

I feel like this one would benefit from some white balancing, it feels a bit too much green/yellow

[charred holly]

This is what I had in mind (edited from the really bad gallery app of my phone)

[grizzled nebula]

i'll re edit tomorrow, i'm too tired rn icl

[charred holly]

Obviously not the same mood though

[grizzled nebula]

i can barely keep my eyes open or stay focused

[charred holly]

lol I feel you

[grizzled nebula]

gn

[tough hull]

Whopper

[tough hull]

Osprey

[tough hull]

Mid

[glossy sage]

Lightroom's auto culling despite being beta is nice as heck man

No longer am I combing through 4,000 photos myself

I got this soaking wet blue jay in the rain on my fence but since I'm in a storm 12.8k ISO not really an issue except that denoiser is going to make the feathers look like melted together plastic

This photo is complete scrap right

[finite flower]

dont send a raw file

i cant open it

[glossy sage]

You want a screenshot over it?

[finite flower]

there are many things wrong with this to begin with tbh

[glossy sage]

I'll build the smart view, 1 min

[finite flower]

its savable

[glossy sage]

I like it minus the noise. That is a zoomed in screenshot over the photo

[finite flower]

do a wide crop, and clean up the image abit with ai remove

[glossy sage]

Like the branch that looks like the wing is melting into?

[finite flower]

yes

but honestly your camera angle can be improved

its too high, too much white whatever that is in the frame

[glossy sage]

My fence

2m tall privacy fence

[glossy sage]

So, setup a ladder and look down on top of it more?

I can do that at the moment I just come running when the bird feeder says a colorful songbird is on it

[finite flower]

youre too high

or idk

js set it up so you have a green bg

[glossy sage]

ah yeah I was standing

need to position more over here

[finite flower]

yeah works

[glossy sage]

I've been tempted to buy a bird blind and sit in my yard

I've been getting blue jays, cardinals, and painted buntings

New city is a ton of suburbs, not a lot of woodsy access to where I can bird spot more naturally. Such a shame because Florida birds are crazy

[naive fiber]

Non destructive Vs destructive

Lr saves every single change that you do

[glossy sage]

Photoshop has layers

[fast knoll]

wish me luck just submitted 3 photos to my local fair competition

[glossy sage]

Good luck!

[grizzled nebula]

Gl

[naive fiber]

Good luck

What competition is this

[grizzled nebula]

Cute birb

[fast knoll]

Just my county fair

[tough hull]

I need help

For a top down Bird Shot

How do I prevent my camera focusing the ground

[hardy fox]

erm

like how

are you on a tower

[tough hull]

Because I already have Center Focus and it even recognizes the eyes when I manually focus them but it defocuses still if I don’t hold focus

The birds were fully centered

[hardy fox]

is it on tracking

[tough hull]

Lemme look

But I think I didn’t disable

[hardy fox]

well play around and see if its better with or without

and also the lock on what was it called

af sensitivity

[hardy fox]

also wym it defocuses if you dont hold focus

are you on preview af

[tough hull]

Hold focus

This button

[hardy fox]

^

[tough hull]

?

What

Is that

[hardy fox]

basically af all the time even when youre not holding any button

[tough hull]

I literally am constantly holding the button

There ain’t no difference

[hardy fox]

but is it on...

[tough hull]

No

[hardy fox]

hm

sometimes i find that it works if i dont ask it to track birds

just track

like subject af detection off

also try play with the af area

[tough hull]

Unfortunately this is my best shot yet

But as you can see cropped in like crazy

[hardy fox]

i mean it is harder to track if its small in the frame

[tough hull]

It was wayyyy bigger in frame before

And it focused once

I just found another pic

[hardy fox]

ok wait

center focus?

yeah no try like wide or smth

[tough hull]

Yeah I just switched

I don’t think the kestrel will come back though

I had the same problem on a kite

This is the closest I got my camera to focus it

[dreamy tinsel]

im so buns at this 😭

[undone slate]

anyone?

[undone slate]

why?

I'm going to a riverside forest; is it difficult to take pictures of birds there?

[dreamy tinsel]

if you zoom in more youll get more bokeh me thinks

[dreamy tinsel]

idk why im bad thats what i wanna know 😭

[magic crown]

yeah they are pretty more scared than aquatic birds but you can get maybe some good images

[fast knoll]

this is pretty nice

u just dont have a ton of subject background separation

perhaps mask the background and do a tiny bit of negative clarity

it's a nice photo tho

[dreamy tinsel]

yeah looking at my photos thats what ive been struggling with, need to position myself better

[fast knoll]

whats ur setup?

[fast knoll]

yep it's all about moving around but also gotta make sure the bird doesnt fly away lmao

[dreamy tinsel]

d7200 + 100-400

[dreamy tinsel]

right now im happy if a bird even near me in the first place lol

but slowly starting to realize that getting one gud photo > tons of pics that ill never look at again

[fast knoll]

yea i cull pretty hard

[glossy sage]

I use the assisted culling in LR now its actually pretty awesome

[fast knoll]

i need to learn how to delete more tho i usually just dont choose them and let them sit

[fast knoll]

does it work for birds? i tried it when it first came out and it was shit

[glossy sage]

Whatever I don't edit gets deleted. I don't have much ssd space left

[fast knoll]

i think it was only good for human portraits at first

[glossy sage]

Its worked on all animals for me. I started using it about a month ago

[fast knoll]

hmm neat

[glossy sage]

I quickly scroll through the rejects and bring back any that I think I can save like if a not super sharp bird has its wings doing something cool

[fast knoll]

do u do eye focus?

[glossy sage]

But usually cuts my 4,000 photos down to like 150

No I only use the subject sharpness detection

[fast knoll]

i ese

i kinda star my fire photos in camera

so then i can sort easily

[glossy sage]

This was a reject because the bird's head isn't crazy sharp but I brought it back for the motion for example. Sometimes it misses things like this but it does pretty well

[fast knoll]

oh wow

it's quite sensitive then

impressive

[glossy sage]

I set it to 70% sharpness which feels aggressive but when I have 4k photos

I only want 1-3 edit options of each subject

[glossy sage]

I should do this, this is a good strat

[undone slate]

I like the photo

[undone slate]

Do you think I can take good photos with my camera?

[fast knoll]

u have asked this like 10 times already

it is possible yes

[undone slate]

mmm idk

[steady pasture]

Selective denoise, only denoise the background fully and denoise the bird slightly

[dark minnow]

Guys I’m going out birding for the first time in like 6 months

[fast knoll]

denoise does this automatically

it doesn't mess with the subject as much

[steady pasture]

My mobile always fucks it up, pc denoise is so much better

[fast knoll]

yep i only use lightroom classic

[glossy sage]

How do you do that?

[glossy sage]

Someone tell mine to stop being silly then

[undone slate]

good luck!

[glossy sage]

ok AI denoise actually did really well this time. I even tried to force it at 100%

I do have photos though where it makes the wings look like melted together plastic

like the body of this one under the dark wing

[tacit gazelle]

Bruh I was gonna say ts

[green canyon]

why did you stop

[undone slate]

And what is the reason for that?

[undone slate]

Any tips for taking photos of them in the riverside forest?

[dark minnow]

It’s not that I stopped but more like I didn’t have time for it

I went out once for owls this winter but otherwise I was too busy

[tough hull]

Brother

Denoise needed

[sick wave]

Not trying to shut you down, this is coming from a place of trying to improve but is the noise that bad? 🤔

In all fairness I’m looking at discord on mobile so I don’t know how noticeable it is on PC but the picture looks fine to me unless I super zoom in on the bird….

[glossy sage]

The background has decent noise, denoise will smooth their bokeh out

[tough hull]

It’s crazy amount of noise and the only improvement for that is either if the situation allowed it lower iso or better denoise though denoise is not a thing of you improving, it’s about technology

[grizzled nebula]

i mean it kind of is, there's a huge amount of color noise

[tough hull]

Yo

Do u use eBird btw

[grizzled nebula]

yes