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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Hoshedar, I just read your request - I hope this explains how I did it - I've attached an image I titled "Not so fast buddy!"
• Camera on a tripod - settings ISO 500 - f22 - 1/160th second
• Hummingbird feeder just out of the frame
• Flower - bought at a local grocery store and set on a table 8 feet in front of the camera and about a foot from the feeder (the goal was to attract hummingbirds & bees to the feeder)
• I then used an eyedropper to place a few drops of sugar water between the petals of the flower hoping the hummingbirds and the bees would stop and feed from the flower before they got to the feeder - they did :-)
• Cardboard backdrop 8 feet behind the table.
• Six linked flashes set a 1/64nd power equals a rough during of 1/20,000th second - that's how I froze the action of the birds and the bees
• Three flashes between the camera and the flower facing the flower to light the "target area" above the flower; one flash behind the flower but facing towards the flower to backlight the "target area" above the flower. Two flashes about 12" either side of the backdrop to light the backdrop. Note, once I had my settings, if the background was too dark instead of changing settings, I would move the flashes closer to the backdrop; if too bright, I would move the flashes a couple of inches further from the backdrop
• I Pre-focused on the target area just to the left of the red flowers
• Used a remote trigger and sat and waited, and every time a hummingbird or a bee hovered in the "target area" above the flower, I triggered the flashes
• I took a couple of thousand shots over a period of about 3 hours and got 8 good shots of a hummingbird (or birds) in the same frame with a bee or bees.
|
Jul 30th |
 |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Reply |
Tomi - Since I shoot in RAW it all 'depends' re: the White Balance. But whatever I do, I do in post instead of in the camera when I'm shooting I keep my R5 on Auto WB - I think I'll use one of my MW photos next month so you can see and give me your thoughts. |
Jul 20th |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Thanks for the comments Tomi, much appreciated |
Jul 20th |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Tomi - I do a bit of MW shooting in the fall when the Galactic Core is above the horizon and the MW itself is more perpendicular. Frankly I'm amazed at how well this came out and capturing the light from the setting sun and its reflection was the pièce de résistance. Foreground is always the key element in Milky Way photography and you really captured this well. As you probably know, the stroke would not be allowed in a PSA nature competition but it's a nice touch. I'm also a bit surprised at the clarity and lack of blur shooting at 30 seconds and would be curious as to how you arrived at those settings. I'd also be curious to know which camera you prefer, the R3 or the R5 and why - in any event, this is really a great effort and real keeper - thanks for sharing |
Jul 10th |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Tom - your technical skills are apparent and for a static subject you did a very nice job. In my VF I added canvas and used AI in PS to add some gravel under the truck and I thought there was a bit too much uninteresting sky, so I tried to balance the top and bottom of the frame - I then punched it up a bit with texture and clarity - would love your thoughts on my changes. |
Jul 9th |
 |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Gaetan - the first thing that struck me about your image was the light, which created the mood - just excellent. What bothered me was I thought there was more foreground than was necessary, so I cropped up. I also cropped in from the right as again, there wasn't much visual interest in the real estate to the right of the fence, so I kept the pano format, which emphasizes your great fence line. I also opened the shadows on the tree and the shed and straightened what appears to be a not straight horizon line, I feel this image cants to the right a bit - see my VF |
Jul 9th |
 |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Judith, I agree with Gaetan, you captured and interesting abstract. Meanwhile, a good abstract is simple, balanced, proportional & cohesive and should have clear structural design. Light should enhance the image, and it should have a sense of mystery. Using that 'formula' while your image meets or comes close in most areas, my eye bounces between the leaf against the black background and the bright column on the right causing me to "wonder" and "Wander" rather than my eye flowing thru the image. Nonetheless, VERY creative, nice job. |
Jul 9th |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Hoshedar, You did an outstanding job in your 'classic' image - sometimes it's just not possible to capture everything when there's so much to see in a scene, but your capture was excellent - and certainly not run of the mill. Photographing the scene from above the lighting fixtures was most creative and I think it's just outstanding.
Regarding the varied image, we must remember, that Impact, Visual Interest, and Storytelling are the fundamental characteristics that most often succeed in competitions; thus, these three aspects of an image need to be the hook that grabs and keeps the viewer's attention and outweigh any minor technical deficiencies. And in this case, your image certainly has impact and a good degree of visual interest, but you have a composition where the pillars, which are an incredibly powerful component fights with the visual interest of the ceiling - it's not cohesive, and is much more abstract, but without the continuity one needs in an abstract image.
The comment, "what did you as a photo artist bring to a building which was not your creation" was answered (in my opinion) in the classic image vis-à-vis the perspective you chose. And while you did an even more creative job in your varied image, the composition is not harmonious or cohesive and thus it defeats what you were trying to do. I think you could make two boffo images by focusing one on the pillars and one on the ceiling.
|
Jul 9th |
| 7 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Barbara,
Your ability to continue with your passion vis-à-vis your personal challenges is beyond admirable, God bless. To begin, I am amazed at the quality of this image vis-à-vis the description you gave of how you shot this, although I'm a bit unclear if you shot this through a window.
I do a bit of judging at various photo clubs, so I'm going to assess this image as I would if in a competition, and I'll begin by saying, photographing hummingbirds requires a good degree of skill, which you've aptly demonstrated. The strengths of the image are in the two most important aspects of wildlife photography; you've captured tack sharp eyes (and even got some catchlight) and you've separated a compelling subject from its background - kudos. Its weaknesses are its inconsistent lighting and a soft flower in parts of the image. So, on a 1 to 5 scale, I would award this image a 4, i.e., a damn good image that needs minor corrections.
Your settings were (ISO 2500 - f10 - 1/2000th second) with a focal length of 560mm, i.e., 400mm x 1.4 teleconverter. You did not indicate whether or not you used a tripod, but I assume you did because the part of the flower on the same plane with the subject is tack sharp.
The issue with the soft flower is due to an inadequate DOF - and you needed f22 instead of f10 - that's two and a half stops too shallow. Meanwhile, I think this is an Anna hummingbird whose wings flap at roughly 40-50 beats per second, which requires a shutter speed of 1/4000th second to 1/8000th second to freeze, but to be safe, I would use 1/8000th second, which is two stops too little. So, to get the proper exposure you would have to increase your ISO by 4.5 stops i.e., raise it to roughly 70,000, which you're not going to do with an R5.
The best way to do this is with a flash, or in this case a series of linked flashes as you really need a minimum of 4 linked flashes to really capture a meaningful hummingbird shot.
The following settings would work (in a shaded area or at least out of the bright sunlight) if you used flash instead of shutter speed to freeze the wings- ISO 400 - f22 - 1/125th second with the flashes set at 1/64th power. Here's the rational
You need f22 to capture tack sharp wingtip to wingtip plus the flowers and stems not in the same plane as the subject, and a flash set at 1/64th power which emits light for approximately 1/20,000th second, which WILL freeze all motion.
If you send me your email address I'll gladly send you a more detailed step-by-step description.
|
Jul 9th |
8 comments - 1 reply for Group 7
|
| 67 |
Jul 25 |
Reply |
Thank you Cindy, comments much appreciated |
Jul 20th |
| 67 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Thank you Doc, and I didn't think up Color Wheel, I found it Online :-) |
Jul 15th |
| 67 |
Jul 25 |
Reply |
Thanks for your comment Bud, it was thoughtful and appreciated. My perspective on this was much like photographing the Milky Way, the phenomena or the subject needs a strong foreground to anchor it and I didn't want a big Saguaro cactus or it would have drawn the eye too much. And to me, the shot was really about the anti-crepuscular rays the rainbow was the "Pièce de résistance" because it evinced the fact that perspective was 180 degrees opposite the sun - Thanks again for your comments |
Jul 15th |
| 67 |
Jul 25 |
Reply |
I see your point Larry, but behind me there was so much scrub brush, small cacti and other things with spines I did not want to deal with it. What I've learned since moving down here is that EVERYTHING in the desert wants to sting, bite or stick you - and I learned that the hard way :-) |
Jul 9th |
| 67 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Cindy, you were fortunate that you were able to capture these birds with a non-distracting background in good light - just terrific Cindy. In my VF, I cropped in and opened up the shadows as I thought a bit more detail in the dark feathers would at some visual interest, but either way, a terrific capture. |
Jul 9th |
 |
| 67 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
This shot is terrific Larry, God bless! When I lived in Vail we had deer everywhere and never was I able to get off a clean shot of a running buck (or any other deer.) Maybe not exciting to you, but I love this image - great job of panning and an excellent low perspective. I also think f4 was a perfect choice here. As an aside, I usually use a smaller aperture because I'm always afraid of a sharp nose and a soft tail in these types of situations. And when I first saw the image I thought all four hooves were off the ground, they're not, but the position of the subject's hooves are the next best thing :-) - great shot Larry |
Jul 2nd |
3 comments - 3 replies for Group 67
|
| 73 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Thanks for your comments Peter |
Jul 30th |
| 73 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Thanks for your kind words, I would love to see your Blue Mountains :-) |
Jul 24th |
| 73 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
When I was in Grade school and living on the West side of Chicago the only mountains I ever saw were in the movies and one day I asked Sister Helen Marie, "Why does the song have Purple Mountains Majesty in it, mountains aren't purple" She said, when you look at them from a distance they are purple. Well, at 10 years old I didn't get it and never gave it much thought. But after moving to Colorado in 1975 we lived in Denver before moving to Vail and sure enough just about every day when I looked at the front range the mountains had a purple tint. This image is VERY close to what I saw save for for fences and a car I removed from the scene. Most/many of my Colorado images have the same bluish/purple tint - good eye! |
Jul 15th |
| 73 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Sherry - I'm a bit torn on this image, but not about your colors which I feel you handled very well - I actually prefer the image with the walkway and the people, in fact if it were mine, I'd consider leaving the walkway because of its story and interest value but perhaps crop out three of the four people to give it context but leaving an individual on the walkway adds a ton of visual interest and of course the story. I would not worry about the color, you did an outstanding job |
Jul 9th |
| 73 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
One of the least talked about aspects of photography, at least from what I read in these DD reviews is mood - capturing a mood is truly upper level photography and that's what you did here Gary - I'm not going to describe what everyone can see with their own eyes, but I have to comment on the mood - wonderful shot, worthy of a wall :-) |
Jul 9th |
| 73 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Welcome aboard Raymond, and you certainly started with a high impact image. As we know, Impact, Visual Interest, and Storytelling are the fundamental characteristics that most often succeed in competitions; thus, these three aspects of an image need to be the hook that grabs and keeps the viewer's attention and outweigh any minor technical deficiencies. And your image captures all three - Impact for sure and a ton of visual interest, and a story - the sunburst and the light on the rocks, well, they rock! Nice job. Two issues though, the image appears a touch over-processed and I'm unsure of what the white/light/bright specs are on the rocks. But as I wrote, the capture is terrific and outweighs the minor technical issues. Look forward to seeing more of your images. |
Jul 9th |
| 73 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
I absolutely love the concept and the execution vis-a-vis your big stopper filter. If I were judging I would award this the highest score, however, I think it might have even more impact if the perspective had been a bit lower. Please correct me if I'm wrong but this appears to have been taken at eye level. - nonetheless, a image worthy of a wall :-) |
Jul 9th |
7 comments - 0 replies for Group 73
|
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Thank you Julia, I felt I came away with 3 competition worthy shots, which I was pleased with for a morning shoot with gathering crowds. Thanks for your comments on this one |
Jul 13th |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Roy - I can why you cropped in, to focus on the story. At the same time, I'm a member of Mile Hi Wildlife Photography Club in Denver (https://mhwpc.org/) one of the premier nature/wildlife clubs in the country, and I've never seen a nature - wildlife image (not a portrait) with an appendage clipped even get an honorable mention, much less win anything. I always appreciate your comments. |
Jul 9th |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Synchronized movements in wildlife images are special and the strength of this image. Would have liked to have seen a bit better definition in birds' eyes and the full right foot of the Stilt on the right. Nonetheless, it's the positives that carry this image - nice job. |
Jul 9th |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Terrific shot Roy - I've never seen this either and glad you had a chance to capture it. Clear COI, well done technically, and a good nature story. |
Jul 9th |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Great capture of the subject, sharp, clear, story, detail - with that said, there are a lot of minor distractions in both the foreground and background - but your execution of the subject is just outstanding. |
Jul 9th |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
God I hate following Roy - OK, I agree, I don't know how I would improve it either :-) |
Jul 9th |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
For a resting subject you did a fantastic job on this with the wing action that brings this image to life - I agree with Roy and would crop in a bit - see my VF - also, I sharpened to try to reduce the softness of the log, but it's still a bit soft. I also tried to brighten just a touch and added a bit of a vignette to pull the eye away from the soft log - all in all an excellent image, but the soft log does militate against it a bit |
Jul 9th |
 |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
Agree with Roy - remove the second branch, it draws the eye away from your excellent capture |
Jul 9th |
| 97 |
Jul 25 |
Comment |
I shoot with a Canon R5 and I use Evaluative metering, Highlight Alert ON and when shooting birds my starting point is -1/3 to -2/3 stop and go from there. Thanks for your comments |
Jul 5th |
9 comments - 0 replies for Group 97
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27 comments - 4 replies Total
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