What have you seen

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  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited March 2018 #1292

    I meant to mention that the sharpen tool will just crispen the edges and therefore enhance fine detail unless it is overdone, which looks awful. It will not bring an out of focus pic back into focus.

    I thought you had told me it was canon, which model?

  • greylag
    greylag Club Member Posts: 585
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    edited March 2018 #1293

    70D.......The sharpen tool is not in the camera?...I think you mean the regular sharpen tool in the software.  You are correct in saying that over sharpening looks awful.  For the fun of it, I have just clicked the enhance button in the picture folder and it does indeed make a great difference, although I can't put the finished article down to waiting and watching.

    About to go and get the van out of storage, if the exit is driveable, then try up the river, which has been neglected of late.

  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited March 2018 #1294

    Yes I was referring to the unsharp mask in Photoshop or sharpening tool.

    I looked back last night to our original discussion on this and found the model was a 70D. Looking at the user quick guide for that camera, it looks like using either Standard or Landscape in the Picture Style menu give sharp or very sharp images without the need for post processing for sharpness.

    We tend to forget past images and looking through, I must say you have posted some excellent pictures. However I can't help but think how many you might have consigned to the bin without exploring the potential of all those hours behind the camera. After all you would never expect a concert pianist to drag their old parlour piano along to the Royal Albert Hall for a recital, or a carpenter not to use all the tools available to produce their best work.

    Now these comments are in the hope that you continue to explore some of your other images. With that in mind, I have posted some taken this morning whilst hoping for another sighting of the Short Eared Owls of which 7 were spotted yesterday in my usual spot.

    The pics show a less than accurate exposure from a little distant Kestrel, cropped and exposure corrected with a tiny hint of sharpening as my camera is not set up for optimum sharpening. 

    Pics 1 to 3 are the same image pic 4 is a similarly adjusted one. Not really fit for the bin I hope you agree.

  • greylag
    greylag Club Member Posts: 585
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    edited March 2018 #1295

    Bm

     

    Wow...superb images,,,,,I might just try and replicate.

    Before reading your latest post, I did a simple enhancement in Windows explorer.....just a one click job and was impressed with the improvement.  

    I might well try what you have done with the Kestrel, not sure I understand it all, but will have another read after my evening meal.

    Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me.

  • greylag
    greylag Club Member Posts: 585
    Name Dropper
    edited March 2018 #1296

    BM...should have said, I use Landscape in the user menu.

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1297

    BM what version of photoshop do you use? 

  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited March 2018 #1298

    OP

    I use the latest version of Photoshop CC 2018 Bundled with Lightroom which I am not really conversant, but they come together in the pay monthly package. I was a bit reluctant to commit to this, but it is something I would miss. The improvement were was just three clicks of the shadow/ highlight option in image adjustment menu. I did not realise until this exercise that you can do it more than once and improve incrementally. Free updates to the latest improvements each time they are released. I must admit it is overkill for my knowledge and ability but does what I know how to do.

    GL

    I feel sure that you will get a great deal of satisfaction from post capture processing and you can do it in the warm with your favourite drink (whatever that might be) Always willing to assist.

  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited March 2018 #1299

    GL / OP

    Just a thought, but if you have the urge to try using RAW, Canon'S DPP has most of the basic tools and some of the guys I bump into would not use anything else. Have not tried it myself as I am set in my ways with jpeg files. I do not even know if you can use it on jpeg files.

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1300

    Thanks BM

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1302

    Fantastic,never seen or heard that before 

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1303

    They are drumming now to impress their mates, we've got our local one either in a dead tree or on the telegraph pole in our garden. 

    Obviously yours can make the most impressive sound for miles so should be able to marry very soon and settle down! laughing

     

  • Milothedog
    Milothedog Forum Participant Posts: 1,433
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    edited March 2018 #1304

    When I first heard the noise many years back, I was still working so walking the dogs at 5.30 - 6am, I thought it was builders starting work early and thought that's not on making all that noise so early in the day cool

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1305

    I daren't tell you how long he might live.....wink 

  • Milothedog
    Milothedog Forum Participant Posts: 1,433
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    edited March 2018 #1306

    Brue, I actually enjoy seeing and hearing him and would be sad if he disappeared.  He has got slightly bigger over the years as well.

    Not sure how the home owners affected feel though cool 

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1307

    We love seeing "our" woodpecker, usually we see one baby later in the summer. I wonder if they pass the pitch on to their descendants? Lovely story Milo, we're lucky to see all these things. smile

  • Milothedog
    Milothedog Forum Participant Posts: 1,433
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    edited March 2018 #1308

    The wild parakeets we have locally can be quite entertaining as well, especially when the trees are laden with fruit.  I have also seen a Green Woodpecker in our garden on the odd occasion.  In fact we are very lucky with the amount of different wild life we have, especially when you consider how urban it is where we live in South London.

  • Pliers
    Pliers Forum Participant Posts: 1,864
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    edited March 2018 #1309

    Heard curlew calling on our local moors this morning, 1st ones of the year here on their regular breeding grounds.

    Didn't see them, in fact didn't see anything, not even the sheep, just thick, swirling mist 😱

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1310

    Have been outside quite a bit today, spotted a blackbird with a mouthful of nesting material heading into a bay bush by our home. also a robin has started nest building in one of the hedges. Time to stop hedge cutting, but we've managed to get some tree pruning done.

    Spring has sprung (hopefully!) It's lovely and mild today, but squelchy under foot. smile

  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,607 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1311

    Great story Milo. We have 2 pairs in the woods behind us and you can tell the difference in pitch between the two. Gets interesting at this of year when the interloper is feeding on the nuts and the other one arrives.

    The owners of that house that he likes should be grateful that they don't live in Germany and have a Black Woodpecker visiting. Boy, you should hear them.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1312

    I wish we'd set our trail camera up near our house to film the blackbirds building their nest, I've seen so much "stuff" being taken in over the last few days. The large Bay bush has been used for the same purpose before and they go in via the back, well out of sight from the garden but in view from our conservatory. Blackbirds use all sort of things for their nests. I found a YouTube video of something similar.

  • Milothedog
    Milothedog Forum Participant Posts: 1,433
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    edited March 2018 #1313

    I mentioned Parakeets in my post above. this is about 1-2 miles from uscool

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1314

    Friends of ours lived on Mitcham Common, before the Parakeets arrived, they moved a bit further away and the parakeets have reached them now. When I saw a pair in Bristol recently I realised just how far they have spread. 

  • neveramsure
    neveramsure Forum Participant Posts: 712
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    edited March 2018 #1315

    Spring must have finally arrived in the bird kingdom.smile

    Today while on my dog walk I watched a crow peel a large length of moss from a tree branch and fly off with it.cool

    I did not even know that crows used moss, I thought it would just be twigs and leaves.

  • HelenandTrevor
    HelenandTrevor Forum Participant Posts: 3,221
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    edited March 2018 #1316

    Our single Parakeet is still around, being very vocal in the park, he/she needs a mate now. 

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited March 2018 #1317

    I will have a word with those we have cool

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1318

    OH picked one of these egg cases up on the beach today. Have never bothered to think what they are so extended my limited wildlife knowledge and discovered they are whelk egg cases. smile

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2018 #1319

    Stood watching 2 red kites sky dancing when suddenly a hen harrier flew between calling furiously.  Best spot at Sculthorpe was Water Rail

  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited March 2018 #1320

    Spring was definitely in the air at Slimbridge today as the drakes pursued the females all around the pools.

    Shoveler and Tufted ducks in abundance along with flocks of Pintail,Teal and Wigeon.

    However some got more exercise than they expected when a Peregrine  came calling. Pic is very distant so not sure what its target was in the bottom right of the heavily cropped pic. The attack failed by the way.

  • neveramsure
    neveramsure Forum Participant Posts: 712
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    edited March 2018 #1321

    Great pics BM, you don't often get to catch a Peregrine in flight.smile