On a hot Wednesday evening, the cathedral red-tail fledglings had apparently given up on the exposed hospital roof and moved to shadier locales. Robin alarms clued me into the location of one fledgling, perched 20 feet up a tree about 100 feet inside Morningside Park. Similar sounds suggested another might be across the street around the chapel rooftops or perhaps by the Cathedral School.
The fledgling looked well fed and curious.
Although panting a bit and wings slightly spread because of the heat.
The robin noise wasn't as bad as when two of the fledglings made their maiden forays into Morningside Park, but it was still irritating.
Hmmm, so many things to stare at.
Closer.
I made a quick pass around the lower level of the park and was again fooled by the fake owl on a rooftop on Manhattan Ave. Returning to the upper level, I found the one fledgling perking up. He hopped over to another tree and then worked his way up the branches, all the while staring at robins. So close, and yet so far.
Hi, I believe you've mentioned on an earlier post that you refine your photos with Photoshop. I'm curious what effects you use to make the Hawks 'glow' so beautifully as they do in these series of shots especially! Would you mind sharing your tips? And what camera and lens you use please? Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI use a Nikon D90 and I have the Picture Control setting at "vivid".
ReplyDeleteThis particular bunch of photos was underexposed as it was after 7 p.m. in a shady spot. I had the camera at ISO 500 or ISO 800 but didn't want to go higher and get more graininess. So I had to up the brightness in Photoshop, but not so much as to start losing detail in the bird's white feathers, which is why they still look a bit dark. I then applied Auto Contrast. After that I did an Unsharp Mask at a fairly low value.
I usually tinker with Auto Tone, Auto Color and Auto Contrast if colors don't look quite right. But often these corrections are way too much, so I have set up some saved actions in Photoshop to apply them fractionally, e.g., a 25% Auto Tone.
Thank you! I hadn't expected such a detailed response. Much appreciated!
ReplyDelete