Australian fauna

[Dennis]

Hi,

We managed to squeeze in a couple of day trips between the dull, wet, rainy, cloudy Brisbane nights so although the 40D hasn’t looked at the skies for quite some time now, it did manage to photograph some local fauna.

With La Nina active, I may give up the night job and stick to daytime photography. :lol:

Cheers

Dennis

[erick]

Peacocks are roaming Brisbane streets, these days?

Ps. love that pelican - he's looking at me. Lovely detail - sharp focus!

[h0ughy]

Mike will be happy - you took a pelican!!!! fantastic results Dennis

[Dennis]

Hi Eric

In plague proportions LOL! Alma Park zoo just N of Brissie and Currumbin on the Gold Coast were the venues. The Canon 70-200 F4 L is a beauty of a lens.:thumbsup:



Hi Dave

I missed the early Forum history of Pelicans on Ice In Space and for some reason, I had mistakenly thought that it was Striker (Tony) who had an, ahem, strong aversion to these?

I’m slowly getting used to the controls on the 40D and when I get it right, the camera can’t help but produce good photos so I can’t take too much credit. I spent about 15 minutes snapping away at the dragonflies using the EF 70-200mm F4 L and I noticed that I needed to select the central auto focus point only, as using the pattern of 9 sensors often focused on the far wing, or tail, leaving the body out of focus due to the shallow depth of field. It seems that technology can only go so far and then one has to use the old grey matter for the final touch.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Fantastic images, Dennis. A lovely array of wildlife.

I used to post a lot of shots of pelicans and Striker used to hassle me about it :) That's the history :)

[Jazza]

The dragonfly is going to be my background for a little while I think.
Awesome images! :)
Jay

[Dennis]

Thanks Mike and Jay, I’m pleased that you enjoyed looking at the photos – we had a great day out whilst taking them. We ended up discarding 100’s of failed efforts that were just out of focus, plane of focus in the wrong point in the frame, subject flown leaving an empty space, etc. Oh the joys of digital!:whistle:

To reduce the out-of-focus background noise of the dragon fly, this is what I did in Photoshop CS3:

Created a duplicate image from the cropped original.
Applied the median noise filter (default) to the duplicate which smoothed the background.
Copied and Pasted the duplicate median image as a new layer.
Selected “Multiply” as the mode of combining in the original photo Window.
Set opacity to 50%.
Flattened the Layers.

I also noticed that this amplified the green colour of the head, but without it appearing too artificial.

Cheers

Dennis

[gary]

Hi Dennis,

They certainly aren't all native Australian fauna but all are certainly
absolutely brilliant shots! :) Very much enjoyed looking at them.
Magnificent!

Best regards

Gary

[ving]

nice to see a water dragon in the element its named after! :)

[Dennis]

:lol:Lazy, sloppy writing; :doh: bad boy – I should have written something like “fauna photographed in Australia” as quite a few of the creatures are definitely imports!

Cheers

Dennis

[Tamtarn]

Stunning selection of images Dennis.

Beautifully composed and depth of detail and focus are outstanding. :thumbsup:

[rogerg]

That lizard and the dragon fly are stunning shots, very good depth of field and sharpness. How long did you have to wait, or keep taking shots, to get these so close and clear?

[Dennis]

Hi Roger - see previous msg below.



The dragonflies stayed in position for between 1 and 5 seconds on the 2 areas I targeted, so it was reasonably easy to squeeze off the shots as I was comfortably seated with the camera/lens nicely cradled in my hands. I’m sure the IS helped too, although the F6.3 1/400 sec combo at 400 ASA was nice to work with.

The dragon was static for, well, at least 5 to 10 mins so I was able to squeeze off several shots from different angles.



Thanks - these are the best of the bunch; I had to discard many due to minor defects and missed subject matter! I'm just glad that I don't do this for a living!

Cheers

Dennis

[robin]

Wonderful images Dennis. Love that 'little dinosaur'. What lens are you using?

[Dennis]

Thanks Robin. Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L IS.

Cheers

Dennis

[joshman]

hey, fantastic shots!!!! love the colour and details, those L lens' certainly show their quality!

hey with regard to your removing noise, go and grab a nifty program called Neat Image (http://www.neatimage.com), it's one of the best noise removal tools i've seen to date!

[Dennis]

Hi Josh

Thanks – I’m pleased that you enjoyed the photos. Yes, the L lenses are very good and I have found the Image Stabilisation (IS) very helpful when hand holding at low shutter speeds, although I would ideally prefer to use a tripod at low speeds.

I’ll take a look at NeatImage – especially if it makes life easier.:thumbsup:

Cheers

Dennis

[astro_south]

Great shots Dennis. Thanks for sharing

The 70-200F4 IS is a nice piece of work... I absolutely love mine, although it has taken a back seat to the 100 F2.8 macro in recent months. Given your love of fauna the 100 is something you might like to add to your kit soon (if you don't have it already). It is surprisingly sharp for both macro and general photography. I used it exclusively on a recent trip to Aust. Zoo and was impressed with the results.

How close were you to the Pelican? You must have been close to the minimum focus distance.

[Dennis]

Hi Andrew

Thanks, I’m pleased that you enjoyed looking at the photo’s too.

I think I was some 2 metres from the Pelican – it really filled the frame and I was mesmerised by the sense of there being “someone inside”; it’s not just a dumb bird!

I purchased the 60mm F2.8 macro some while ago to give me a ‘standard” lens to bridge between the 17-40 and 70-200. All I need now is the 400mm F5.6.

Please post some of your photos from Australia Zoo; I'd love to see them.

Cheers

Dennis

[astro_south]

Dennis

here are a few of the Australia Zoo pics with the 100mmm f2.8 macro lens - hopefully the quality is not lost too much after the resize

[Dennis]

Thanks Andrew, those are excellent photos. I particularly like the composition (and expression!) of the Emu and the fact that you have the eyes, head and beak in focus all the way through. The lighting on the snake is stunning as are the amazing colours and contrast with the background. That must have been difficult shot through the glass window.:thumbsup:

Cheers

Dennis

[astro_south]

Thanks Dennis

maybe we should organise a Brisbane IIS terrestrial photography meet - maybe somewhere like Roma Street Parklands - a full moon weekend of course ;) :thumbsup:

[joshman]

i ilke this idea. i'm planning to go down to southbank to watch the sunrise tomorrow morning, and go round southbank with the camera in the small hours of the morning, anyone is welcome to join me.

if not, then organise away there andrew!

oh yeah, fantastic shots andrew, good job!

[citivolus]

When I lived in the San Francisco area, I was a member of an informal group of photographers (some professional, some amateur) who would go out and visit interesting places/events every month or two. We all had a great time, and it was a good opportunity to share information & pick up some useful tips about topics I might not have considered otherwise. I'd definitely be up for a photography meet.