A young Sandhill Crane wintering on private property in Springville, Utah. I've had adult Sandhills walk right up to me in Florida several times. Not sure if they're just very gregarious birds or their size makes them less timid.

D800E and Nikon 300mm 2.8

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Very sharp. Nice photo.

Larry
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Thanks Larry

Got close enough to this one to use the 300mm without a TC on it...along with the 800E you get some pretty nice results.

Peter

Nice shot Peter!

It seems a hair dark on my monitor. Looking at the histogram – there is a significant gap on the right. This means that the white feathers on his face are about half way between middle gray and white.

I think Sandhill Cranes are generally a shy bird. They are very difficult to approach in Nebraska during the big spring migration stopover and equally difficult here in Iowa. I think in some locations they have become habituated to humans.

Dave
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Hi Dave

It looked fine on my Thunderbolt monitor...and the feathers on this bird are between gray and off white..it's a young bird. Although when I look at my laptop the picture is a bit darker. I'm running the 27' Thunderbolt off the port on the 15' Mac. I'll have to see what I can do to get them looking more like each other. Appreciate the input.

Regarding the Sandhills and their comfort level with us humans. In Florida they're everywhere and in sub divisions that are built around golf courses...and there are lots of them in Florida...the cranes feed in peoples yards, walk around the streets and will come right to you on the golf course. Others, like the hundreds I've seen in California, especially during migration won't let you get within a hundred feet before they move away.

cheers
Peter

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Excellent shot Peter - that 800E and 300 2.8 combo is impressive even in less than great light.

Al

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Thanks Al

Yup.. it's a nice pairing...and it's nice to be able to shoot with the 300mm without the TC attached. They work ok together but the lens is much faster focusing and gives you that added f stop range when it's working directly with the camera. The tough part is getting close enough to something to get decent detail.

And as far as lighting goes... I was shooting directly into the sunlight...although it was pretty heavy overcast at the time...you could just see the bright area in the clouds where the sun was trying to burn thru...so this did well. Looking forward to some early morning/late afternoon light on my subjects next time I'm out

cheers
Peter

Very nice portrait Peter, a bird I'd like to add to my portfolio. They have been reported in Ontario, but they always seem to be far out in the middle of a farmers field!

You might be able to pop the whites 5 or 6 points, the snow looks quite gray on my screen.

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Richard

Hey Richard

It's a mixed bag with Sandhills depending what part of the country you're in. Some are very timid others will walk right up to you.. I've seen both.

As far as the way this shot looks on your screen... several people here have commented on the same thing including Dave and Scott...I'm going to take a close look at the origninal file histogram and what I'm working with on my Mac this week and compare notes. I know there's a marked difference between the color contrast and brightness of my Mac 15 retina and the Thunderbolt display I use. It looks ok on the Thunderbolt even the white levels but a bit darker on the laptop...

Peter

Very nice Peter!

Thanks for sharing,


Vaughn

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Thanks Vaughn..

For some reason I've found birds all over the place now that winter has set in..it was pretty quiet during the Fall. Now I'm finding lots of waterfowl around open water...

Peter

Nice portrait Peter. I do agree with the others though, it is a bit dark here as well.

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Scott Martin Sternberg

Scotts Fine Art

Thanks Scott..

It's nice to have a subject large enough and close enough to use the D800E and 300mm together...


Looks like I have some technical work to do this weekend. I'd like to see someone's histogram with this shot. I'll check the monitors and look at the histogram again on my Mac. Appreciate the input.

Peter

They winter here in the Wilcox Playa East of here. Literally by the thousands. It's a sight to see them leave in the morning to feed in the surrounding fields and return at sunset.

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Hi Ken

I spent a lot of time at a Sandhill Crane refuge west of Lodi when I was assigned there on projects for two years. Saw large numbers during the same time frame and it's a real treat seeing them winging there way out or into rest for the night in large flocks. They really make a racket when their on the wing. They have an annual Sandhill Crane festival in Lodi.

cheers
Peter

Peter,

" I'd like to see someone's histogram with this shot"

It's going to look the same on mine or anybody's computer. The histogram data comes form the image not the monitor unless I don't understand the statement above.

But here is what it looks like here.






As you can see all the info it bunched up in the middle which is one reason we see a lot of gray, there is no highlight info. I made all the adjustments in LR, so very easy edits.







here is the adjusted histogram:






As you can see I left room at both ends.

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Scott Martin Sternberg

Scotts Fine Art

Attachment #1, (jpg file)
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Attachment #3, (jpg file)

Thanks Scott

I just wanted to make sure the histogram matched mine...and mine does show everything bunched up in the gray zone...the monitor though made the picture appear brighter (the Thunderbolt Monitor). So I'm working on that and have to pay more attention to the histogram and make adjustments to the monitor. Appreicate the input.

Peter

"I just wanted to make sure the histogram matched mine"

Why do you think it wouldn't? If we are both looking at the same image then we are both looking at the same histogram regardless of system or monitors. Yes your monitor is set way too bright for accurate photo work. That is why most here are seeing your image as being dark. As long as we are talking about this I have noticed in the past that some of the images you have posted were on the dark side and show a lack of contrast. If you can, try setting your brightness within your software to 85-90cmd and contrast if you can to ratio of 350:1 - 400:1 as most all monitors come set too bright with a contrast level that is way up there. Some boast 3000:1. They look pretty and are nice for gaming but they are not real and will not print that way. I have talked to several people about this very same thing over the years here at Nikonians if one of them was you I apologize for the repeat. It is a common misconception that if one has a hardware calibrating system that all they have to do is run it with the defaults and their set. It will get the colors technically right and on target. But if your brightness & contrast are not set right for photo work the colors will not look right on screen and especially in print.

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Scott Martin Sternberg

Scotts Fine Art