Redtail at Sunset

[sitarro]

Since we are looking at bird photos I thought I would share this shot I took last fall in Dallas at Glen Eagles Country Club. This immature Redtail let me shoot a few shots of him before he looked at me as if to say F-off asshole and flew away. I did a small amount of Photoshop work but this is really close to what I saw. :cof:

 

[Nienna]

That is breathtaking! I never cease to be amazed at the grandeur of nature. Great shot, Sitarro!

 

[sitarro]

different angle of the tree.

 

[sitarro]

tree variation.

 

[dmp]

Awesome - do you have full sized versions? those look great!

 

[sitarro]

Awesome - do you have full sized versions? those look great!

Thanks,
How full size? I believe the originals are at 300 dpi and approx. 8''x 10''

The tree with the blue sky is 7"x10.5" at 300 dpi, the oak @ sunset is 6.667" x 10"at 300 dpi and the red tail is about the same. They were shot with a Nikon D-70 in raw so the files are almost 6 megapixels each. From what my lab tells me they can push them to 16 x 20 and still get them to look pretty good. The D-200 that I plan to get soon is a 10.2 megapixel so it should be capable of enlarging quite a bit more. My brother just bought a Nikkor 70 -200 2.8 zoom with VR, 2 grand!, I haven't tried it out yet .He shot my cat with it indoors without a flash, this is it.

 

[dmp]

Thanks,
How full size? I believe the originals are at 300 dpi and approx. 8''x 10''

The tree with the blue sky is 7"x10.5" at 300 dpi, the oak @ sunset is 6.667" x 10"at 300 dpi and the red tail is about the same. They were shot with a Nikon D-70 in raw so the files are almost 6 megapixels each. From what my lab tells me they can push them to 16 x 20 and still get them to look pretty good. The D-200 that I plan to get soon is a 10.2 megapixel so it should be capable of enlarging quite a bit more. My brother just bought a Nikkor 70 -200 2.8 zoom with VR, 2 grand!, I haven't tried it out yet .He shot my cat with it indoors without a flash, this is it.

That'll work. I'm on broadband!

I was thinking something like 800x wide - at least. And maybe up to 200-500KB each?

 

[sitarro]

That'll work. I'm on broadband!

I was thinking something like 800x wide - at least. And maybe up to 200-500KB each?

I'm thinking of producing a Giclee of the redtail shot. Which would you like and how do I send 'm?

I couldn't believe the skies that week, North Texas has some killer big sky. I have some sunsets from the same place shot with a 6x7 Pentax on Fuji Velvia that are amazing, Velvia is still hard to beat. I need to get the transparencies scanned.

 

[misterblu]

Since we are looking at bird photos I thought I would share this shot I took last fall in Dallas at Glen Eagles Country Club. This immature Redtail let me shoot a few shots of him before he looked at me as if to say F-off asshole and flew away. I did a small amount of Photoshop work but this is really close to what I saw. :cof:

Great shots!

I second the call for larger versions. EXIF info? What lens/ focal length were you using? Handheld or tripod?

 

[dmp]

giclee??

wha?

I'll PM my email addy to ya!

 

[misterblu]

Thanks,
My brother just bought a Nikkor 70 -200 2.8 zoom with VR, 2 grand!, I haven't tried it out yet .

Translation into 'Canon'ese for Darin: The Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR is equivalent to the Canon 70-200 2.8 L with USM and IS. Sweet lens.

'course the Canon lens costs about $3-400 less.

 

[sitarro]

Translation into 'Canon'ese for Darin: The Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR is equivalent to the Canon 70-200 2.8 L with USM and IS. Sweet lens.

'course the Canon lens costs about $3-400 less.

With the smaller sensor on the Nikon that lens becomes a 105-300 with the same speed! Approx. 1.5x.

All of the shots are hand held, and I was using the lens that came with the D-70, a Nikkor 18-70mmDX or 27-105mm equivalent. I generally shoot at 125th to stop the flag on typical golf shots but I'm sure I dropped the speed down for these, don't remember the details. I should use the tripod more but I'm usually in a hurry.

 

[misterblu]

With the smaller sensor on the Nikon that lense becomes a 105-300 with the same speed! Approx. 1.5x. All of the shots are hand held, and I was using the lense that came with the D-70, a Nikkor 18-70mmDX or 27-105mm equivalent. I generally shoot at 125th to stop the flag on typical golf shots but I'm sure I dropped the speed down for these, don't remember the details.

The 20D has a 1.6 crop sensor so it becomes a 112-320mm on my camera. I'd love to own the Canon version of that lens.

However, for ~$600 I can get the 70-300 3.5-5.6 USM IS. It's 1-2 stops slower than the expensive lens, but Canon's IS is good for 3 stops. Doesn't help for moving subjects, but the noise at high ISOs on these Canon cameras is extremely low so you can reasonably shoot at ISO 1600.

BTW, that lens becomes a 112-480mm on my camera!

 

[Abbey Normal]

You three are so talented. Thanks for sharing your photos with us.

 

[sitarro]

giclee??

wha?

I'll PM my email addy to ya!

Giclee is a name that was given to high end prints by a customized Iris printer. Graham Nash from Crosby, Stills and Nash pioneered it with a company he started years ago in San Francisco. What is special is the variety of surfaces you can print on. You can print on canvas with archival inks that last over 125 years with a good uv varnish to protect them. This has opened a huge market for artists to be able to create an original, make a print and paint on top to create another original. It has also opened up the market for computer generated art. With some brush strokes in varnish it is hard to tell that you aren't looking at the original. If printed on canvas and varnished, you don't have to put them behind glass, huge advantage over regular prints.

Another big advantage is the ink jet doesn't have a dot pattern so the print looks even more like an original. The first one is expensive but they go down in price after that. Another advantage is that you don't have to print a bunch and then sit on them, you can print to order and pay for the print with the deposit you get from the customer.

I went into a shop in Carmel where a guy did great paintings of WW1 and WW2 planes, old cars and motorcycles. He could take an order from someone that flew a P-51, use the original painting that the customer chooses from his catalog and paint the guy's paint job for him on that canvas print....very cool. He scans the painting before he ads the detail so he has a blank to work from. He would also do different color cars and motorcycles.