Check Us Out - Limpkin and Hawk

[troylim]

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Been going to the same place for 3 days in a row after work. Each day, the Limpkin gave me different shots with amazing pose. Here is another one from yesterday. Surface blur applied on FG and BG.

Camera Nikon D3S
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 1000 mm
ISO Speed 640
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Return detected


View attachment 869548

After I was done with shooing Limpkin, Ibis and Great Egret, during my walk back to the car, I spotted this Hawk on the ground. I slowly approached the hawk and he/she ended flying and perching on a big Oak tree and posing for me. BG has a big oak tree branch across. Kept moving around left and right, could not have gotten a better BG. Surface Blur applied on BG.

Camera Nikon D3S
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 1000 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Return detected

 

[andreasb]

Lovely shots Troy! I would only suggest to make the Hawk slightly brighter to make it stand out a little more... especially the eye.

 

[Someguy]

Troy,

You are a master at shooting these birds, you keep amazing me!

 

[Baxter]

Beautiful shots Troy. I'm interested in your settings on the first one. A relatively high ISO with a smaller aperture and flash. The image looks just a tiny bit hot to me and it has foreground vegetation. With my extremely limited knowledge and skill, I would have tried for a larger aperture at a lower ISO. And no doubt my photo would have been nowhere near as good as yours! Could you describe why you chose these settings? It would be very helpful.

 

[troylim]

Beautiful shots Troy. I'm interested in your settings on the first one. A relatively high ISO with a smaller aperture and flash. The image looks just a tiny bit hot to me and it has foreground vegetation. With my extremely limited knowledge and skill, I would have tried for a larger aperture at a lower ISO. And no doubt my photo would have been nowhere near as good as yours! Could you describe why you chose these settings? It would be very helpful.

Baxter, sure you could do what you just said but the question is how far are you from your subject? I shot at 600mm plus 1.7TC. The more FL you have and closer to your subject, the shallow the dof is, slight movement will move your focus point and sharpness. If you shoot with a wider aperture. Certain part of the bird may not be in focus, especially on bigger bird with more depth.
As for on the hot side, is your monitor calibrated? My white and dark points are set to 245 and 7. So no way my whitest point is over.

 

[troylim]

Troy,

You are a master at shooting these birds, you keep amazing me!

Thank you Kris.

 

[troylim]

Lovely shots Troy! I would only suggest to make the Hawk slightly brighter to make it stand out a little more... especially the eye.

Agree.

 

[Baxter]

Troy, no my monitor stinks! No question the whites are not over. It's more of a general impression on my part, probably due to the coolness of the background. Thanks for the information. It's very helpful.

 

[troylim]

Troy, no my monitor stinks! No question the whites are not over. It's more of a general impression on my part, probably due to the coolness of the background. Thanks for the information. It's very helpful.

Glad I could help. What lens do you usually shoot with? Don't be afraid to ask. I will share what I've learned in the last 1.5 year of shooting.

 

[Randy]

fine shots Troy
#1 is my fav only because the light on the hawk's head was a little weak

 

[raymond j barlow]

very cool shots Troy! You must live in a great place for birds!

 

[troylim]

very cool shots Troy! You must live in a great place for birds!

Florida Ray

 

[alexf]

Very nice shots!

 

[Louis Champan]

Very well done Troy, would go along with Andreas's comments.