very nice

Those shots look somewhat familiar, Tom. Nice work!

Nice set, Tom. I think that's the first flight shot I've ever seen of a barred owl. Well done.

I had a better one but in the gloom I didn't set my ISO high enough and the camera needs proper exposure for the subject AI to properly focus

Ooo I like him though Tom. Verynice

One photographer complained that the Osprey in the sky was over sharpened. What do you think?

Nice.

Love the owl shot coming out of the tree. And that osprey stare is great.I was there on Saturday. We also saw the barred owl, osprey and a bald eagle. Although, prior trips that were earlier in the season had more bird activity and volume, I came away with more than enough shots to keep me busy in Lightroom and Photoshop for a while.

Nice shots, Tom. Did you stay for the whole week? If so, how did the bird activity later in the week compare to Monday and Tuesday? For me, I feel like the trip was both too late-in-the-season and too early-in-the-season at the same time. Just like how I always seemed to have the wrong length lens on my camera at Fort DeSoto on Friday.

I hope you and Ginnie enjoyed your visit to the area. It certainly is a different kind of place with different photo opportunities than you have back home. I certainly enjoyed meeting both of you. Please let me know if and when you have plans to come back this way. If I make it out your way any time soon, I'll be in touch beforehand.

Tom Reynolds said:

One photographer complained that the Osprey in the sky was over sharpened. What do you think?

Click to expand...

I can see where they might think that, but I've had Osprey/Blue Sky photos with no extra sharpening applied look like that. (Of course, there is usually some sharpening applied during post processing.) The important question is what do you think about its sharpening?

TonyB said:

Love the owl shot coming out of the tree. And that osprey stare is great.I was there on Saturday. We also saw the barred owl, osprey and a bald eagle. Although, prior trips that were earlier in the season had more bird activity and volume, I came away with more than enough shots to keep me busy in Lightroom and Photoshop for a while.

Click to expand...

TonyB, were there more chicks on the nests earlier in the year? Our guide thought the Ospreys are late to nest and mate this year due to the damage from the hurricane last year.

Actually, that Osprey in a blue sky shot is a sky replacement done with ON-1. I suspect I could remove the halo with proper feathering, but I didn't have the knowledge or want to spend the time. The sky was actually 100% blue. The clouds really improved the shot in my estimation.

I am doing Dick's lake next year and am trying to find a time to go back to the Alligator Farm but I have a trip scheduled to South Padre Island and Laguna Seca Ranch in the Rio Grande Vally in late April so I might not have a 2024 slot for the alligator farm.

Tom Reynolds said:

Actually, that Osprey in a blue sky shot is a sky replacement done with ON-1. I suspect I could remove the halo with proper feathering, but I didn't have the knowledge or want to spend the time. The sky was actually 100% blue. The clouds really improved the shot in my estimation.

Click to expand...

In that case, you might apply some slight "de-focusing" application to the sky to lessen the effect, in addition to a slight feathering of the Osprey's outline, but only if you think you need to. I'm certainly not competent enough to do so in post processing workflow, but I do need to learn how some day.

Tom Reynolds said:

I am doing Dick's lake next year and am trying to find a time to go back to the Alligator Farm but I have a trip scheduled to South Padre Island and Laguna Seca Ranch in the Rio Grande Vally in late April so I might not have a 2024 slot for the alligator farm.

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Both South Padre Island and Laguna Seca Ranch are spots I want to visit, but never have. I believe that there are participants of the forum that have, and that know the areas well. I've already started planning my 2024 trip to the Florida SW coast in mid-March to Mid-April. I'm hoping to spend at least two days at Fort Desoto. When are you planning to visit Dick's lake?

Is the photo of the Osprey and chick on the nest of the one where it appeared the chick was about to fall from the nest?

There might be a spot with us at Laguna Seca Ranch? Do you want me to ask? We are there 19-20-21 April 2024. We will do south Padre Island either before or after. Dick's Lake Monday, February 19 through Friday February 24.

tom

Tom Reynolds said:

There might be a spot with us at Laguna Seca Ranch? Do you want me to ask? We are there 19-20-21 April 2024. We will do south Padre Island either before or after. Dick's Lake Monday, February 19 through Friday February 24.

tom

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Interesting that the .tiff file that I processed in ON-1 doesn't show the halo around the bird. Using photoshop to create the .jpg came our better but still not as good as the tiff

Many nice images

TonyB said:

Love the owl shot coming out of the tree. And that osprey stare is great.I was there on Saturday. We also saw the barred owl, osprey and a bald eagle. Although, prior trips that were earlier in the season had more bird activity and volume, I came away with more than enough shots to keep me busy in Lightroom and Photoshop for a while.

Click to expand...

On photographer didn't like the shot because he wanted the background blurred. However, to me the shot of the owl taking off from that tree and not a Owl-in-flight shot because that is what I saw and the tree belongs in the shot.

-tom

Beautiful shots.

Tom Reynolds said:

There might be a spot with us at Laguna Seca Ranch? Do you want me to ask? We are there 19-20-21 April 2024. We will do south Padre Island either before or after. Dick's Lake Monday, February 19 through Friday February 24.

tom

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Hi, Tom. I already have work comitments in April and May of next year, so LSR is out for me unless things change later on.

I will look at adding a day with you out with Dick in February 2024. I'm still working on my plans for another run around Florida again next year, and will let you or Dick know sometime within about one month.

Thank you.

Wayne

cool

Lovely series of photos,would have been a great experience

Tom Reynolds said:

One photographer complained that the Osprey in the sky was over sharpened. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Back in 2005 when I started with digital photography, one of the things that other folks always mentioned is that when an image is over-sharpened, it shows a halo effect around the edges. This halo is apparent in your osprey picture. Having looked at the video in this link


I guess it's sometimes too simplistic to talk about an image being over-sharpened. It may actually be a case where the sharpening is appropriate, but Radius or Threshold settings may be out of balance.

I've been hyper-sensitive to sharpening halos in my own images ever since. They tend to be especially obvious in images like this where there is a strong contrast between the bird's wing edges and the sky.

Rassie said:

Back in 2005 when I started with digital photography, one of the things that other folks always mentioned is that when an image is over-sharpened, it shows a halo effect around the edges. This halo is apparent in your osprey picture. Having looked at the video in this link

I guess it's sometimes too simplistic to talk about an image being over-sharpened. It may actually be a case where the sharpening is appropriate, but Radius or Threshold settings may be out of balance.

I've been hyper-sensitive to sharpening halos in my own images ever since. They tend to be especially obvious in images like this where there is a strong contrast between the bird's wing edges and the sky.

Click to expand...

I just saw this today, and I'm glad I did! What a great presentation and explination of photo halos, their cause and how to set adjustments to minimize them.

Thank you for sharing this, Rassie! Cheers!