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I am currently leading the 2015 Bear Catching Salmon Bear Boat IPT. I will be back soon.
Galapagos 2017
I would assume that after viewing the variety and quality of the images in recent and past blog posts that most passionate nature photographers would wish to join us on the next Galapagos photo adventure during the second and third weeks of August, 2017. If that includes you, please shoot me an e-mail with the words “Galapagos August 2017 Photo-Cruise” cut and pasted into the Subject Line. The best news is that there will be two great leaders, yours truly and Denise Ippolito.
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This image was created on the last morning of the 2015 Galapagos Photo-Cruise with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the Canon EOS 7D MK II.. ISO 400. Spot Metering (!) +2 1/3 stops off the sky: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB. Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The active AF point just caught the bottom of the frigatebird’s inflated pouch. Click on the image to see a larger version. Male frigatebird in flight with inflated pouch |
North Seymour/Part II: Whimsical Flight Pose
As mentioned here before, our last landing at North Seymour on the morning of July 28 was beyond perfect. Sweet early morning light turned to cloudy bright and we enjoyed a variety of spectacular birds both perched and in flight.
This, the 2nd frame of a two frame sequence, was the better of the two though the first one is quite good on its own; when I saw this one on the rear LCD, I jumped for joy. With the whimsical pose the frigatebird seemed to be saying, “Hey, look at me. What fun I am having.” Out of camera the image design was fortuitously perfect with the bird on the right and the small mountain nicely placed on the left. A small crop was executed from below and from the right, in part to level the horizon and in part tighten up the composition just a bit.
Is it Real or is it Photoshop?
If you believe that everything in the image above is as it was straight out of camera, let us know. If you think that the tip of the tail was clipped and replaced or that this or that body part or feature was added or replaced, please let us know and be sure to present the telltale evidence.
Spot Metering (?)
At some point before I made this image, spot metering had been set inadvertently. I never use spot metering. So how and why did I end up with a perfect exposure?
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Typos
In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).
The size of the feathers on the left and right wing do not appear to match, either!
OK, Artie is using this image in the trip announcement collage, so based on that I do not think there is anything too crazy going on with editing. Just a strange puffed up bird…
Good thinking. But we spend lots of time on all IPTs teaching Photoshop; maybe that is the hook! A
Looks to me like the whole bird is made up of bits.
It may not be, but the whole thing looks unnatural.
Is Artie having a bit of a laugh?
My first Impulse after seeing this image was “no way!” I love this image Artie. I really can’t say as to any post processing, I’m far from experienced with PS. Frigate birds are a fav of mine so I was intrigued. After a bit of reading, I did find that flight with inflated pouch is possible if the bird is spooked as pouches deflate very slowly! That being said, I gotta follow my 1st reaction and I do think this bird was patched together…. There is just something “hokey” (my technical term) going on … In my opinion.
Obviously possible. And nothing hokey at all. I did one thing that would disqualify this from the big contests but nobody has touched on it. I did not expect that anyone would from the JPEG…. a
So maybe something was removed from the RAW
file???
If you zoom in just ahead of the left wing you will see the line where the bird was patched together. The feather pattern does not line up. There’s a lot else going on here that does not look correct, but sometimes you just never know if your mind is being tricked because someone made mention of possible trickery. The tail feathers do not go with the bird as a whole, but that may be because of the replaced front portion. If Artie wanted to make this really difficult, he would have blended the patchwork and made this nearly impossible to figure out.
My Best,
Wayne
Wrongo! The wings are right out of camera as they are in the original RAW file 🙂 a
Wrong again; thanks for that! a
Hi Artie,
The entire head/chest/pouch has been pasted into a bird in flight or visa-versa. Something with at least the right wing is wrong because it appears there is a tip another right wing peeking out above the birds rump. Definitely a doctored photo. Thanks for the brain teaser.
My Best,
Wayne
Terrific image Artie, I think it would be great if you could put the amount of cropping the shots have had, if any.
Joe.
As II recall, this was a small crop from below and from the left. I will post the original soon. artie
Very striking image with the red and black.
Exposure question,
If you fill the frame with the bright sky what does it matter, spot or evaluative metering? I think either way will give you the same firing solution.
Once you have set your settings in manual mode then if that’s the right exposure for the subject, it is irrelevant what the meter says.
You are shooting wide open for flight in manual mode ( a method known as ‘taking your own advice’) so whatever background the bird is set against, you will always have the correct exposure on the subject so long as the light doesn’t change.
I cannot tell if you have otherwise doctored the image.
I like it a lot as it is presented.
Regards
David.
Thanks David, If you are working on a dreary day it does not matter whether you are in spot or evaluative metering. On cloudy bright days it would matter…. See in ABP II for why. All the rest is spot on. a
Hi Art, I don’t see any sign of wings being clipped and added via photoshop.
I think spot, partial or evaluative will not matter once you have set it correctly in manual mode.
However if the sky was not uniformly bright , thinking that you were in evaluative and not aware spot was set , you would have found it a bit difficult to set the right exposure manually
Or, if it was cloudy bright or sunny there would be a significant difference. See more in my response to David Peake. artie
I’ll take a guess at how the exposure came about…the spot meter caught equal parts of the black wing and the almost-white sky at the center of the photo, producing an exposure for something close to neutral gray.
Artie,
From what I witnessed during our Nickerson IPT daily critiques, you are not a huge fan of birds with ruffled or damaged feathers. Judging by the ruffles, specks, and spots on the birds wings, I would say you left the bird in the image alone. If you did anything, you may have clone-extended the canvas to the right of the bird to give it more breathing room in the composition. At my screen resolution, I cannot zoom in on the image enough to verify that claim.
I also agree with Gerald on the exposure theory. Spot or Evaluative Metering on a uniform sky will lead to the same proper exposure result when set in manual.
Nice work overall, it is quite the striking subject and picture!
Best,
Scott
The bird’s wings and the pose are all as they were right out of camera. Glad that you are all having fun inventing things 🙂 A
I believe the metering spot was on the bright sky. For your particular Canon body, +2 ⅓ stops on the meter would be a perfect exposure. You added +2 ⅓ stops to the meter so when you were looking at the bright sky the meter actually read 0 and you thought it was correct.
It’s John Shaw’s method of knowing where the meter should be depending on the scene.
David, You are confused…. The sky was a dull but light-toned gray. It was not bright. I took a meter reading off the sky and set it to +2 1/3 stops, made a photograph and saw a very few blinkies on the sky. Perfect for a bird with black feathers…. artie
Love the strong red and the black against that pale sky – looks terrific! I see no evidence of manipulation, but had the juxtaposition of the bird and the distant island not been so perfect, I imagine it would have been a simple matter to move it within the frame. Metered off the uniform sky and set in manual – Spot/Evaluative would have made no difference.
Best wishes, Gerald
Thanks. The perfect juxtaposition was right out of camera…. a
Love it!
Tanks! a
I didn’t realise they inflated their pouches while flying but otherwise wouldn’t like to speculate.
Smart man 🙂 a