Just for the Heck of It: Telephone Pole Cropping Insanity! « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Just for the Heck of It: Telephone Pole Cropping Insanity!

What’s Up?

Friday dawned clear and sunny so I decided to try for bird rather than flowers. Both fields and the South Peninsula were dangerously soft and muddy from the continued heavy rains so I was limited to staying on the roads. After I did the Osprey on the telephone poles, I cruised the side streets and had a decent chance on a tom Wild Turkey.

When I get back to working off the tripod from my current SUV my plan is to switch from the FlexShooter Mini to the Levered Clamp FlexShooter Pro as the stronger tension of the latter will make it easier to keep the big lens from shifting as I drive around.

As the plumber is supposed to be here at 7:45am — Saturday 1 AUGUST 2020 — I will be photographing the blooming Spotted Beabalm in our butterfly garden this morning.

I amazed myself by brokering a deal for a second wanted-to-buy Canon 600 II this week, a never used copy for $7500.00.

Kudos to Steve Elkins at Bedford’s for securing a new EOS R5 for at least one blog regular. BAA-friend and multiple IPT veteran Luis Alberto Grunauer is #1 on Steve’s list. Canon has delayed its second shipment of the R5. I will be doing a feature covering the R5 and the R6 here soon.

Feel free to leave a comment as to which of today’s two featured cropped Osprey head shots if your favorite. And do let us know why you made your choice. I love the tongue in Image #2.

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Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

Image A: Photo Mechanic Screen Capture of Osprey on telephone pole.

Just for the Heck of It: Telephone Pole Cropping Insanity!

What can I say? It was a slow morning. About a week ago I thought of photographing an Osprey sitting atop a telephone pole but as I positioned my SUV, the bird flew. Yesterday it did not. In the full-frame capture above, it is evident that my shooting angle was very steep and obvious that the top of the telephone pole at the bottom of the frame is an image killer. But as I planned the shot, I thought that a tight crop or two would make it look as if I was working in a situation with a much shallower angle of inclination. As it turned out, I was right.

This image was created on 31 JULY 2020 down by the lake at Indian Lake Estates. Working from my SUV, I used the Induro GIT 204/FlexShooter Mini-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and the 61-MP Monster, the Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO: 400. Exposure determined by Zebras with exposure compensation on the rear wheel: 1/640 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. The exposure was confirmed as perfect in RawDigger. AWB at 7:58am on a mostly sunny morning.

Tracking Flexible Spot (M) AF-C performed perfectly and produced a razor-sharp eye.

Image #1: Osprey head portrait: almost 77% of the original pixels were cropped away.

Just 23% of the Original Pixels!

I have never been a fan of very large crops, but with the a7riv — even when working at 1200mm in a difficult situation, large crops become a reality. The optimized master file here is 40.5 MBs.

Because the lens was pointed up so high, I was unable to get my eye to the viewfinder so I focused and composed using the rear monitor. If I try this again — I am hoping that one of the juvie Ospreys will land on a telephone pole — I will tilt the rear monitor to make things even easier. (One SONY negative is that you can only tilt the rear screens on the a7r iii, a7r iv, a9, and a9 ii when working horizontally …)

This image was also created on 31 JULY 2020 down by the lake at Indian Lake Estates. Still working from my SUV, I used the Induro GIT 204/FlexShooter Mini-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and the 61-MP Monster, the Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO: 400. Exposure determined by Zebras with exposure compensation on the rear wheel: 1/800 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. The exposure was confirmed as almost perfect in RawDigger. AWB at 7:58am on a mostly sunny morning.

Tracking Flexible Spot (M) AF-C performed perfectly and produced a razor-sharp eye.

Image #2: Osprey tight preening head portrait: more than 86% of the original pixels were cropped away.

Just 14% of the Original Pixels!

The crop here was even larger, yet the optimized master file checks in at a still-respectable 23.4 MBs.

As I was unsure of the right degree of Zebras — I was worried that I might have had too many — so I increased the shutter speed one click from 1/640 to 1/800 sec. When the bird began preening, I should have decreased the shutter speed one click since the raptor’s white neck was mostly obscured as a result of the preening pose. That is why RawDigger showed the exposure as almost perfect. I am hoping to have the RawDigger guide finished by the end of August.

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4 comments to Just for the Heck of It: Telephone Pole Cropping Insanity!

  • avatar Adam

    The a7riv has introduced new horizons for the ability to crop images as you’ve deftly demonstrated. #2 is my favorite as not only the tongue a fantastic feature but it conveys a sense of movement and has more of an “aww” factor. Out of curiosity where was the af point on image #1?

    • avatar Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

      Thanks, Adam. The active AF point was on the bird’s neck right below the bill, right on the same plane as the eyess.

      with love, artie

  • avatar James Saxon

    While image #2 is much different that most Osprey images that I have seen, I love image #1 the best due to the eyes. Even though you are photographing from below those eyes are staring right at you.

  • Nice!!! And good info for me!! Thanks!!

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