oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

This was taken using a Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 lens and a Sigma 2X TC. I don't use this combination very often, I have never been a big fan of 2X TC's. In the past it seemed there was too much lost in the IQ, but have decided to work with it more. I can see the advantage to using it at times. A photo like this one makes me question my reasoning. How acceptable is the detail in this photo?

Have fun playing with it. Do as you please. I am looking forward to your thoughts and comments.

Jim D

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

If you really blow it up, there is some loss of clarity. However, in download without zooming in, it looks pretty good. I also like the raindrop explosion going on on the right side of the photo. Well done. I don't think I would change anything.

Nightski

I love this one Jim! Nicely composed, love the splashing raindrop, fairly good focus. It's not tack sharp, but I'm not sure you have to have that in the rain. Your bokeh is lovely. It's a little odd that it's so bright in the rain. You must have caught this right at the end of the storm when the sun was coming out. You caught the bird in a great moment and it makes the image fun to view.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

I really like this shot of a cardinal in falling, splashing rain. The composition and color are appealing. The railing looked a little crooked, so I straightened it, and also removed a few small spots here and there. I simplified the background slightly to remove some light areas and other elements that seemed to take focus away from the bright cardinal and falling rain.

Nightski

HT, I enjoy your edits. You have a wonderful eye for detail. Thank you.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Thank you, Nightski. I really appreciate that. I think my years of art school, and later working on high volume photo-intensive real estate newspapers, and then running an art department, and also watching lots and lots of beautifully photographed movies and TV have sharpened my eye for detail. I'm not an expert, but I love beautiful images wherever they are found. They are food for the eyes, and nourishment for the soul.

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

Jim this is certainly a keeper and the rain makes it very interesting. I like the composition but you might wish to remove a couple of distracting elements below the perch of the cardinal. Although a very nice photograph, in my opinion the image fails to completely stand up to exacting standards as the focus on the cardinal is too soft around the eye.

According to the EXIF this shot was taken at a focal length at 334mm with an aperture of f/5.6 and exposed at 1/80 of a second. At that focal length and with that long an exposure time it would be extremely difficult to insure sharpness if this photo was handheld. Understanding the difficult lighting conditions you attempted at this focal length I think you missed by just a hair.

An attractive photograph. 8-)

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

HT,

Thank you. I appreciate what you have done and like it! The corrections you made have helped this photo quite a bit. An excellent job! You just made it a keeper for me.

Jim D

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

I agree!

Jim D

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Thank you, I appreciate your comment. I will see what I can do about removing the weed below the shelf, I am sure I can remove a lot of it and it will help.

Jim D

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

I am honored that you allow me to do small enhancements to your photos, Jim. I'm happy that you liked what I did.

Tomato

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

You are more than welcome to work on any of my photos! I have not seen anything you have done that I did not like, and appreciate the time you take to help them.

Jim D

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

:-P :-P :-P

snails_pace Loc: Utah

A few quick thoughts on your lens and 2x combo.

I use a sigma 70 - 200mm f2.8 ex dg lens with a 2x teleconverter all of the time. Feather and fur detail does fall off with distance. But some things I've learned -

- try f8 for your aperture with 1/1250 sec shutter .. assuming you have something equivalent to Nikon D7000 or better, don't worry about running up ISO to 1600 - 2200 or even 3200

- are you using sharpen/ denoise software? ... it helps really a lot ... almost all of the "wow" photos you see have been sharpened

- with my lens, I had to use the fine tune camera adjustment for my lens and 2x combo... there's a lot of info on how to do it

- don't just assume that because some internet stuff says 2x teleconverters are "bad" or "soft" that it's necessarily true for your combo - if you really want to shoot at wide open aperture and get sharp results .. well that's what the extra several thousand dollars will get you - that and good edge focus (almost never an issue for birds)

I'll try to post some examples later. Maybe it would be good to make a post on the BIF forum.

I suspect that you're not getting the most from your lens yet. Don't give up on it.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Is this better?

Jim D