Ducks

Well after me and the Mrs. finished cleaning up after the snowfall last night we went to the park and took a hike ... with the other storm heading our way there wasn't much wildlife movement ... but we did happen to see these 2 as we entered the trail ...

I snapped off a few shots of them and they were flying from open water to open water ... The wife then said that I am becoming a "bird nerd" :eek:

here is 2 shots that I kinda like ... I was suprised the 1st one came out as well as it did ...
the 2nd one is full frame with a slight levels adjustment ... the 1st one is cropped some and again with the levels adjustment

That's a nice tandem in-flight shot! Shutter speed is just about perfect - just fast enough to keep enough wing detail in the male mallard and just slow enough to blur the background.

Thanks for sharing.

I was just telling someone today that a p i c t u r e looks cool when a birds head is nice a sharp and the wings have some motion blur... good job! :D

It was all luck .... Appreciate the comments !!

I look around the shots taken and everything is just so crisp ... what kind of settings is needed for a shot like that ... the 2nd shot here was 300mm 1/200 f/9 ISO 200 -- the 1st shot was the same except for 70mm (I wanted to make sure I got them in the frame - tried to focus on the male - think I got that)

Do I need to bump the ISO up and shoot faster ? these were both handheld ...

Depends (you didn't think there was a straight answer did you :p )

I'm not knowledgeable on the Nikon products so I don't know what the noise characteristics on your camera. That will answer your ISO question. With my 10D, my max useable was ISO 200. With my new 30D, my max useable is ISO 400.

Do you shoot RAW?

yes 99% of my shooting is RAW

I didn't think there was a straight answer to the question but hoping for maybe a *guideline* of some sort ...

most of the shots I took were very soft ... they were all taken with my tamron lens

The reason I asked about RAW is because, straight out of the camera, the images always look flat and soft. All images are like an onion, you have to use post processing techniques to peel away each layer until you get to the good part. Of course one can peel too many layers and over do it too :)

So the answer to your question is most likely in post processing. Do you mind if I or others play around with your image?

I don't mind at all ... I can put the raw file up here also

OK, Ben, how's this rendition?

Mostly color balance, but slight adjustments to levels and curves. All these small adjustments can add up to change the feel of the entire shot.

I like it ... seems to have more pop to the colors .... and the ducks stand out more ...

I am still learning the pp of this ... most of the time i do auto levels ect... I have yet to learn the curves ...

the more I practice (hopefully) the better it will get