Black Vulture

Posted by Gene Gwin on Wed Mar 01, 2017 5:54 am

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Photo taken at Laguna Seca Ranch in South Texas.

Nikon D810, 300mm lens, 1.4 TC, 1/640 sec at f/9.0, ISO 400.

I find it's difficult to get nice details from a solid black bird. Moved the f stop for more DOF, ISO down, and increased exposure by 2/3rd stop. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Thanks.

Click on image for better details.

www.lagunasecaranch.com

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by RLK on Wed Mar 01, 2017 10:17 am

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Birds only a mother could love! You did well with the exposure and I think you could darken the image a bit more and still keep the detail. I think it best to over expose black birds a bit to capture detail and then darken when processing.Bob

Bob Kothenbeutel
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by Ed Cordes on Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:09 pm

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I agree with Bob. The exposure of the original looks OK. I might consider post processing by moving the black slider in LR to the left just short of blocking the blacks. Then play with the highlights and white sliders to get a balance between the background and the black birds. A bit of clarity slider adjustment may help. Just some thoughts. All that said, nice image of this pair.

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by Denis55 on Wed Mar 01, 2017 5:41 pm

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Wonderful capture,and details,Gene!

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by Karl Egressy on Wed Mar 01, 2017 7:14 pm

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I like the image as is, Gene. Nice perch and background and it looks nice that they have identical pose.

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by Mike Wooding on Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:15 am

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Looks pretty darn good as is, Gene....maybe try toning down the highlights a bit.

Cheers from the Canadian west coast,
Mike Wooding

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by stevenmajor on Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:15 am

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Hi Gene...great birds wonderful shot. We use identical equipment. I give black birds at least 1 stop more exposure tho have found no easy quick way to make that temporary exposure adjustment "on the fly". Still working on that.
I find feather detail lacking in most black bird images I see anywhere. I recently purchased a screw on lens hood that will enable me to use (and rotate) a circular polarizer on the 300mm. The addition will present other challenges, (slower shutter / noise reduction )... but in the right light at the right angle, I will get a lot more detail.

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by Ron Day on Thu Mar 02, 2017 3:42 pm