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Cooling Off

© Susan K. Snow

Cooling Off

Uploaded: April 27, 2011

Description

Unseasonably warm 88 degree temps at the end of April empowered birds to hit the shower. This jay was totally drenched as he hogged the shower.

One blue-jay captured using AI Servo, multiple frames. Tripod with remote.
300.0mm f4L lens plus short extender equaling 425mm.
f/5.6@1/1000 sec.
ISO 2000.
partial metering

Three single images brought together in layers. FlamingPear Flood provided the reflection. Noise Ninja reduced noise.
20110425_3557+3558+3661.jpg

Exif: F Number: 5.6, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/500 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 2000, White balance: Manual white balance, FocalLength: 420.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 50D

Comments

Julie Christiansen April 27, 2011

What a capture. #1372689

Susan K. Snow April 27, 2011

Thank you, Julia. It was a fun capture, and what's more, it was fun to do in photoshop using a method learned from Lewis Kemper! #9374859

Michelle Alton April 28, 2011

This is wonderful, Susan. #9376305

Susan K. Snow April 28, 2011

Thank you, Michelle. It helps to not move the camera so that the subject is on each layer and then blended together using masking. #9377165

Patrick Rouzes level-classic April 28, 2011

Love the colors, detail, action, clarity, reflections, focus & dof here, Susan! Lovely & well done, indeed! #9377750

Bunny Snow April 28, 2011

Thank you for the lovely comment, Patrick. #9378693

Songbird Cline level-classic November 16, 2011

You have so many terrific wildlife and bird images.. they are all just wonderful!! #9809156

Susan K. Snow November 16, 2011

Thank you, Songbird. The wildlife and bird images are those that I can capture from my bathroom window, because I'm unable to walk well. They give me great joy!

I appreciate your taking the time to comment.

Have a wonderful evening. #9810986

Songbird Cline level-classic November 16, 2011

I just love your beautiful birds!! You have really captured their spirit so well! #9811007

Susan K. Snow November 16, 2011

Thank you. This just came together. It is one bird captured using a tripod (set lens to AI Servo and multiple exposure. Focused and when the bird was in the appropriate place, held down the trigger.

The bird started on the viewer's left, moved to the right, went into the water and splashed to get water under its wings, tail, etc. Then jumped up to dry off all in about 6 seconds. Hitting the trigger twice gave me 5-6 frames per second. From there, it was simply a matter of finding images that would work together and not overlap each other.

Again, using techniques Lewis taught, layers and a reveal all layer mask, I wanted through one layer to place the bird where I wanted, and then added another layer, repeating the process. If the bird didn't land right on its own, I used the transform tool, to move the bird. But, these three worked just right. Because the lighting was exactly the same on all three birds shots, I chose to correct the tonality after the image was together rather than one each as it was placed into position. It was easier for me to keep everything even.

I actually had fun putting this together, perhaps because the images cooperated perfectly.

Several people think I captured three birds at the same time. Now, that would be difficult to do.

I'm so glad I took Lewis class because his techniques just make images come together easier. I just wish I learned faster and wasn't so dense. #9811572

Songbird Cline level-classic November 17, 2011

wow, I thought it was three birds also... You are very good with layering..I dont do any of that.
Keep up the excellent work! #9812815

Susan K. Snow November 18, 2011

I struggled with layering with Richard Lynch and didn't quite get it, but was much more successful with Lewis Kemper, Photoshop Toolbox I: Exposure and Color. This course was definitely worthy of being taken and the DVD's really helped with the learning process. Lewis covered a lot and the DVD's were very helpful as a means to return time after time and learn or relearn some more. It's the best for learning, I've found. ...Jim Zuckerman made a couple DVD's that contained techniques that I had difficulty achieving in Creative Techniques. By listening to the DVD's again and again, it was like having Jim next to me walking me through it again. And, if I missed something, I could listen over again without driving him crazy! (LOL!)

With Lewis, we had written class material, but the "movies" as Lewis called them, which took him extra work, made our learning experience easier. The whole class agreed with this concept, although they learned faster than I. #9816462


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