Soaking up the Sun

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Soaking up the Sun
Photo Information
Copyright: Sue Thomson (SueThomson) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 117 W: 0 N: 190] (595)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-04-27
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 400D, 75-300 Canon EF
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/20 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-04-30 3:15
Viewed: 468
Points: 21
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
I took this photo of this lovely female Darter at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre picnic ground at about 7.30 am in the morning. There was a lot of mist in the area which is unusual for Brisbane at this time of year and the sun had just risen. She had chased two other younger male Darters off the branch so she could be on the best perch.

There was a lot of light so I darkened the background in photoshop using curves, sharpened and added a border. I welcome your comments as to how I could have improved this shot in the conditions or in photoshop. I used the AV setting, a tripod and the ISO was 100.

About the Darter:
The Darter is a large, slim water bird, 85-90 cm high, wing span up to 1.2 metres, with a long snake-like neck, sharp pointed bill, and long, rounded tail. Male birds are dark brownish black with glossy black upperwings, streaked and spotted white, silver-grey and brown. The strongly kinked neck has a white or pale brown stripe from the bill to where the neck kinks and the breast is chestnut brown. Females and immatures are grey-brown above, pale grey to white below, with a white neck stripe that is less distinct in young birds.

The Darter is often seen swimming with only the snake-like neck visible above the water, or drying its wings while perched on a tree or stump over water.

In Australia, the Darter is found from Adelaide, South Australia, to Tennant Creek, Northern Territory and then to Broome, Western Australia. it is also found in south-western Australia, from Perth to Esperance.
The Darter catches fish with its sharp bill partly open while diving in water deeper than 60 cm. The fish is pierced from underneath, flicked onto the water's surface and then swallowed head first. Smaller items are eaten underwater and large items may be carried to a convenient perch and then swallowed. Insects and other aquatic animals, including tortoises, may also be eaten, as well as some vegetable matter. In hot weather, adult birds may pour water from their bills into the gullets of their young chicks when they are still in the nest.
PaulH, Lyndall, Gert-Paassen, inked, JPlumb, Catwalk, dB_grafix, bobair has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To bobair: Soaking up the SunSueThomson 1 05-27 03:01
To dB_grafix: Soaking up the SunSueThomson 2 05-02 19:14
To JPlumb: Soaking up the SunSueThomson 1 05-01 20:29
To Lyndall: Soaking up the SunSueThomson 1 04-30 12:49
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • PaulH Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 980 W: 17 N: 2559] (9440)
  • [2008-04-30 3:31]

Hi Sue,
i really like the lighting here, it's very effective and combined with that pose it's almost angelic or heavenly! Well seen and with a great composition too Looks like you might have lost a bit of detail in either the PP or resizing for TN. It's a still a great shot though, thanks!
Paul

Hi Sue
Wow! What a shot!! Great to have the sun behind the outstretched feathers and the wonderful pose of the bird. You must have been very happy to get this one!
Cheers
:)
Lyndall

Hello Sue,
apart lightning round the bird does it here good.

Gert

  • Great 
  • inked Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 125 W: 0 N: 214] (634)
  • [2008-05-01 2:35]

Hi Sue,
nice shot of this darter. really difficult lighting from the looks, but the whole pic has a glow about it because of it. great backlit effect. very nicely done.
im not too sure how to improve.. faster shutter speed would help make it sharp and less blurry, and also let in less light rather than doing it afterwards in photoshop.
(TV mode allows setting shutter speed, as well as M if you still want to keep the f/5.6 for max. light from your lens.. you have the same camera kit as me i think)
tripods help with less blur, but animals and fur, feathers and branches etc move so quite often, the faster the better to really freeze the frame. hope this helps some.
nice arty shot all the same! well done
Gethin

Hi Sue, I like this halo effect you have on the Darter. Looks like you metered off the bird. It worked very well, this with your PP give good detail on her, and the glow surrounding her, and the background didn't turn out bad here.

It really is a very difficult shot. Something like this might be handled with several shots (as an HDR) but then you would have a problem if the bird moved at all. I see you use photoshop, is it CS2(3) or Elements. With either you can do a couple of other things to darken the background (eg. duplicate the layer and change the blend mode to multiply, then mask (or erase with elements) to expose the bird, or use an overlay layer).

In any case, I think what you have is great, given the conditions under which you got it.

Thanks, John

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1687 W: 20 N: 4738] (15476)
  • [2008-05-01 5:59]

Hi Sue,
Wonderful shot of this Darter spreading its wings apart to soak in the sunlight. The back lighting creates a magical effect and you have captured a fabulous moment here. The blurred BG illustrates the habitat well and I like your POV to portray it. Very nicely composed. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

Thanks for sharing Sue.
I really like this shot of the darter. It looks eerie.
Good composition.
Di

Hi Sue,
Very creative effect.
You must be an early riser.
S

Hi Sue.
It is a great pose and has all the potential with the light behind the feathers, but the settings are very slow for this scene.
5/6 is letting a lot of light in while using a slow shutter speed of 1/20 sec lets even more in.
I believe this bird stays still for quite awhile with wings spread, so trying a few different setting would have allowed you to study the exif data, and come up with the best setting.
If I saw this, I would have started out using about 1/1250 sec over a f-6/3
Then worked down with speed to about 320/sec.
Keeping the shutter opening small so the sun will not wipe out the background.
You would still get the silhouette desired.
I just do this for a hobby,so that is how I try things.
Keep up the shooting.
D

sue, a very compelling photo. the backlighting and the stance of the bird are terrific - i particularly like the depth of field you have achieved.

Hi Sue,
this is a real nice pose for you to have captured this Cormorant in and one I have seen myself as well.They do not have water repellent oil to rub into their feathers so they must dry off like your capture shows ,often.I used to have the same lens as you used for this capture but I found it to be lacking somewhat as it had a bad habit of giving chromatic aberration halos red or blue.The back lighting looks wonderful to my eyes and I'm sure your were thrilled at the chance to get this photo.A nice photo with some softness in the focus but I know you will get ever better shots in the future.My lens that I use has made the difference for me and it costs 5-6 times as much as the one you have used but when you get one of those lenses you will find it to be a joy to use and the image stabilizer feature will be a boon to you and that lens is compatible with all Canon Eos Cameras,should you go with another Canon camera in the future.Sue please do not think of the foregoing as any kind of put down as you have an eye for our wildlife friends and I just know you like to get the kind of quality shots you often see here on TN,Rick Price here on this site has the same lens as me and after viewing his photos,I was taken with that lens and his work was the reason for me buying the lens.Thank you for sharing this Cormorant with us all,I like it. Bob

Hi Sue,
an astonishing shot of this darter with the back light.
thanks
Pierre

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