Orioles and others (Pics included)

[Dbl]

A few from this past weekend. In response to the other Oriole thread, they are still feeding like crazy at the cabin. The jelly seems to do the trick.

1.

2.

In spite of the males being all over the place, I just could not get a good shot of them. They were moving fast and I was shooting in shade. This is the best of the bunch, not as sharp as I would like. This was with the ISO bumped to 800 and it still did not give me a fast enought shutter.

3.

Female Grosbeak, I shot a number of the males but they were in dark shade or at the feeder and just did not look that good.

4.

It seemed like there was either had hot, bright light, or shade, here is the hot light. The highlights were very hard to control.

5.

[Headin' North]

In my novice opinion Dbl,I think those are really good pics.My orioles have returned with their young after being pretty quiet for awhile.The young ones are pretty comical as they like to climb all over the lawn ornaments and are curious about everything.As soon as I get this pc glitch (resizing trouble) solved,I'll post some pics.

[Dbl]

Quote:

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The young ones are pretty comical as they like to climb all over the lawn ornaments and are curious about everything.As soon as I get this pc glitch (resizing trouble) solved,I'll post some pics.

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Please do.

[buzzsaw]

I like the white framing, I've only messed with darker framing.

[MT Net]

Cool pics! Fun to see the young orioles out and about.

[Dbl]

That is easy to do in Elements, and also put a light thin dark line outside the white. I was going to do it on these but was on the road and had forgot how to. I think you have the Kelby book, it is towards the back.

[buzzsaw]

The Scott Kelby book is awesome.

[Headin' North]

Dbl & Buzzsaw;I went out and bought Photoshop Elements because Nikon's Picture Project is just ok.This book by Kelby,is it instructional for this software?

[buzzsaw]

It is a book and it is phenominal... go spend the $34.99 at any major bookstore, you'll be very happy you did! or order it online for less $$$ at:

http://shop.scottkelbybooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4&products_id=20&zenid=cb3acc3c40e176e59947107aac34bf08

In my humble opinion Elements 4.0 is all you really need... some of the things CS can do that Elements supposedly can't do can be done through more steps or loopholes if you will with Elements... this book explains in detail specifics. For the money it's an easy decision, more bang for the buck kinda thing.

[Dbl]

I bought Kelby's PE4 for Digital Photographers locally for around $24 with some discounts. It is a VERY good book to get you through using PE4. I use both PE4 and CS2 and Elements will do most everything a photographer needs. I found when I started I used PE4 but now use CS2 the majority of the time, my work flow has changed. At any rate I think you made the right choice in software. If you have questions about using it feel free to ask, even though this is not a software site per say. I learn a new trick every week on how to get the most out of both programs.

[Headin' North]

Thanks Buzz and Dbl.Nice to know I bought the right stuff.I'll ask my questions in the Expert Advice forum,although maybe having a software forum would be a good idea.I don't know what the demand and traffic volume would be.I did find when trying to resize imported photos from Picture Project that PE4 didn't like the fact that they were already edited in PP.I'll see what happens when I take some shots and do it all in PE4.Be a while though.Gotta work all weekend.

[Tom Wilson]

DBL,

Exposure in bright sunlight, especially when mixed like in these photos, where the subject is shaded and the bright sun is dappled throughout the background are extremely tough to expose properly. Your best option of course is to use a powerful fill flash, but if that's not available, you're kind of stuck to exposing for the subject and just accepting the blown highlights in the background. It also helps in these situations to use your spot metering (if available). I think you did a good job at trying to do both, and you're photos are definitely not bad by any means. I read an article not too long ago from a "very pro" photographer, but I don't remember who it was---I think it was Art Morris, but I truly don't remember--anyways, his comment was this--"the hardest thing I ever had to learn about photography, was learning when to not take pictures." I hope you don't misunderstand what I'm saying, but given the lighting, these photos are almost impossible to take and make look really nice. I too know the dilema of shooting when you can, not when it's perfect. Again, I think you did a great job, and I have seen enough of your other work to know that you know what you are doing--I just thought I'd chime in and say good job.

[buzzsaw]

There's a section in the Kelby PE4 book that shows a man with the sky and mountains in the background, the camera could really only expose one properly so Mr. Kelby goes onto explain how to fix this by using layers and such... I forget all the details but the finished product was very nice.

[Swimmer]

Nice shots Dbl. And thanks again for the info guys. It looks like I'll need the PE4 and the Kellby book.

[Swimmer]

Just looked online for PE4. The box is $69 while the PE4 "CD with mini-digital camera" is $49. What is the difference? The boxed version mentioned an oem (what is this?) rebate for $20. Ah, that must be for owners of previous versions of elements. So for me, the CD would probably be best.