LM's 6th BY, 2021 - in search of consistency, with better photography

[lmSA84]

@TonyQ@xelas@PeterHG@shazdwn @pedro maia- thanks for the kind words 

 

I've got a bit of backlog building up so I had better get posting. First with a few of the classics

 

28. European Robin, January, London Wetland Centre

 

 

 

[lmSA84]

29. Tufted Duck, London Wetland Centre, January

 

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by lmSA84

[lmSA84]

30. Carrion Crow, London Wetland Centre, January

 

 

[lmSA84]

31. Lesser Black-backed Gull, London Wetland Centre, January

 

[lmSA84]

32. Mute Swan, Burgess Park London, January

 

[lmSA84]

33. Great Cormorant, London Wetland Centre, January

 

[xelas]

That is one golden photo of Mute Swans!

[shazdwn]

Very creative crow shots, fabulous 

[Galana]

Nice atmospheric photo of the swans in sunset.

[Dave Williams]

You have some lovely atmospheric shots and the bird count is impressive so far too!

[Kitsafari]

loving the birds in the moody ambient pieces!

[PeterHG]

Beautiful photos!

 

[lmSA84]

@shazdwn@xelas@Galana@PeterHG@Kitsafariand @Dave Williams- thanks for the kind words.

 

I'm trying to do a little more in terms of framing this year. Otherwise, I feel like I over focus on subject close-ups. With that in mind here is my ode to Northern Lapwings.

 

34. Northern Lapwings, Minsmere & Rainham Marshes, January 

 

 

 

 

I've never seen Starling murmuration's but four times this year I've seen large flocks of Lapwings performing in the year. Unfortunately, a zoom lens in low light doesn't do the scene justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by lmSA84

[lmSA84]

35. Common Kestrel, Rainham Marshes, January

 

Despite my earlier comments I was trying for a close-up on this shot and I screwed it. The kestrel had been hunting then returning to a regular post and I sitting down below it hoping to catch it swooping but I was just a hair slow with the shot.

 

  

[Dave Williams]

Please forgive my presumptive assumption that you might prefer the shot to look like this. 

If you do it's dead easy to fix in seconds in Photoshop.

 

Wish I'd taken it too!

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Dave Williams

[Galana]

10 hours ago, lmSA84 said:

With that in mind here is my ode to Northern Lapwings.

 

are you going to count the Black-tailed Godwits too?

[lmSA84]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:50 PM, Dave Williams said:

Please forgive my presumptive assumption that you might prefer the shot to look like this. 

If you do it's dead easy to fix in seconds in Photoshop.

 

Wish I'd taken it too!

 

 

@Dave Williams- that's brilliant! It now begs the question though, how did you do that? 

[lmSA84]

@Galana- I admittedly didn't realize there were so many Godwits in the air when I took that photo but I had saved another photo, just for you to use for my Godwits. I reckon their 5 species of bird in this photo including the Godwits. 

 

36. Black-tailed Godwits, Rainham Marshes, January

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by lmSA84

[lmSA84]

37. Common Magpie, Rainham Marshes, January

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by lmSA84

[lmSA84]

Building on my Godwits post I need to add Avocets, Redshanks and Dunlins. 

 

38. Pied Avocet, Rainham Marshes, January

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by lmSA84

[lmSA84]

39. Dunlin, Rainham Marshes, January

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by lmSA84

[lmSA84]

40. Common Redshank, Isle of Sheppey, January

 

This was my first trip to the Isle of Sheppey and I have to say that the birding was fantastic. These Redshanks were my first find, right next to the car park. 

 

I hadn't re-set deliberately set my shutter speed from to a some lower speed photography but I actually quite like to create a great effect it created. You should marvel at my brilliance! 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by lmSA84

[Dave Williams]

Sorry I missed the post about how to re position the Kestrel in Photoshop. 

Basically you crop outside of the image you have taken leaving a white space below the bird. 

Next, use the quick selection tool and separate the white block with it. It does it easily

Next go to edit > fill and the programme automatically chooses a content aware replacement for the white block.

De-select the marching ants that have appeared around the block when you chose the the quick selection tool ( used the top menu option under select> deselect

You are left with the final image below. When I did it the first time it was barely noticeable that there was a line showing where the block once was. It's a bit more obvious this time so use the clone tool or spot healing tool to bless in the two sections.

When you have a plain background it's really easy. In the past I I have thrown loads of BIF shots in the bin that had I kept could have been made to look pretty good if I had known then how to do it!

 

It's about the limit of my abilities though!

[Soukous]

15 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

It's about the limit of my abilities though!

 

false modesty.  Maybe you should start a thread on Photoshop tips & techniques. I'm sure we'd all benefit

[Soukous]

16 hours ago, lmSA84 said:

I hadn't re-set my shutter speed from some lower speed photography but I actually quite like the effect it created.

 

a really nice effect and a neat photo, you should have told us it was intentional