Pigeon Posing in front of 80-320mm

A Pigeon at Martin Mere, happily posing for the camera:
[IMG]http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/johnriley1uk/006-Pigeon-Posing.jpg[/IMG]
This is using the SMC Pentax-FA 80-320mm, which I am very pleased with. The extra 20mm at the long end is quite useful for wildlife.

well the 80-320 clearly performs well in the right hands, I must try harder with mine!

nice shot John

The only thing wrong with the 80-320 is its tendency to hunt for focus, apart from that I find it an excelent lens, In the past I have sung its praises by saying the quality is better than the considerably more expensive Bigma, though to be fair I am comparing these at 320 and 500mm respectively.
I think I read somewhere that the 80-320 is the best of Pentax's cheaper range long zooms and that the silver version is slightly better than the older black.

PS; dare I say John that I think its a tad oversharpened?

I have to agree with Spiders PS. Sth odd about this pic, really: Colors and light.
As if flash used ? Or really sharpening ?

No flash, just low natural light last Monday at Martin Mere. We've got to the point these days where nobody believes a picture can be just as it is and we tend to look for complicated post processing. Here the only processing was a slight tweak to levels and some sharpening.

Too much sharpening or not is a matter of taste I suppose, but I would generally favour less rather than more. If you think I've overdone it fair enough!

Strange how the light can fool us.
We had a guy to the camera club a few years ago, he'd been fortunate enough to visit the Falklands, after several shots of birds, gulls etc I asked him what his flash set up was, no flash he said, its all natural light, I would have put money on that flash had been used.

OK, yes you did

Hence I must try harder, I have the silver version and I've never been completely satisfied with its results beyond 200mm. My Dad's 55-300 blows it out of the water in all respects.

I couldn't see any evidence of the haloing that's characteristic of oversharpening, and the detail in the feathers is quite natural looking. So I can't see any oversharpening myself.

I think what makes it look slightly suspect is the way the foreground stands out so dramatically from the background. In fact, my initial reaction was to suspect flash, or even that that the pigeon had been placed on a different background from the original. But of course, if you say it's just one exposure, and the PP as you say, minor, then fair play.

If that's just natural light, then it's very unusual, and very well captured.

In your case, John, you'd have to concede that it wouldn't be an unreasonable assumption.

I had an 80-320 for a short while, and was quite disappointed with it. Then I got a 55-300, and found it much superior.

Indeed thought so at first too.

It's a wonderful shot John and a lucky one
Really like how the green in his neck comes out.

Nice shot John, clear crisp and well posed.
Does look like there is a snake in the background waiting to strike

I was hesitating to ask my "flash" question I thought I am the only fooled one But as I see, the light is unusual for others too

The low light is really warm. But usually then the light is not so strong any more. But here the shadows are really dark. Contrast and saturation ...

Not sure what the time was without checking but it was getting towards the end of the day, so I guess 3pm or so at this time of year.

I think what fooled me in this shot is the light streak just over the back and the darkish one around the right side of the head. It looks a bit like cut out and stuck to the background.
My suspicion was a darkening of the background.
As for the sharpening, I don't think it is overdone, apart from the two areas I mentioned perhaps.

The sharp bird and blurred background make this an interesting shot (at least for me), even if a pigeon might not be the most exciting bird...

Prieni

I think it's great. Not oversharpened at all for my taste - it's just a sharp photo

Very nice shot, John. Clean and crisp and nice composition.