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Trying to get away from the birds in my garden, here is a little exercise in Depth of Field. These are candid pics of Matt, who works at the British Wildlife Centre, Lingfield, with European Eagle Owl "Ethel". Matt is also an EPZ member - Sweetmart.
I took these the week before last, whilst Matt was doing his Birds of Prey talk, late in the afternoon with the light failing. Both images are full frame and haven't been cropped at all. Levels, highlights/shadows have been tweaked, but nothing more. In V1 I have focused on Matt's face and in V2 on "Ethel" - it is interesting to compare the dof and focus in both.
Settings: F/2.8 AV mode 1/5000sec EV -0.67 ISO1600 Spot metering 70-200mm@200mm handheld
Many thanks for your C&Cs on my House Sparrow - as always very much appreciated.
| Title: | Depth of Field |
| Username: | 
teocali |
| Uploaded: | 12 Jan 2010 - 12:37 PM |
| Camera: | Canon EOS 40D |
| Lens: | Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Tags: | Close-up / macro, Pets / captive animals, Portraits / people |
| Votes: | 42 |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
 | Variant - Report |
Comments
Two really nice images Sylvia - well done for experimenting like this.. it is good to see!
Andy
I like these too - and the lesson was invaluable! - Thanks! Sue
Lovely set of images Sylvia...I'm sure Matt will like them 
Mike
A nice little lesson to any new comer to our great hobby V2 is a lovely shot. - gary
Your mod is just brilliant Andy - would LOVE to know how you did that. I'm still struggling with layers!
Sylvia
Two interesting shots and well captured both the mod is superb ... thanks for sharing Colin
Hi Peeps!
The mod is an easy one if you want to have a go. You will, ofcourse, need both images. There are a couple of ways to do this but here is the easier of the bunch.
Open both files in PS (the focussed shot of Matt is going to be our backround) switch to the focussed shot of Ethal and using the Rectangular Marquee tool select everything except the frame.
Copy the selection and then make the Matt image active and paste your selection onto the backround. Lower the opacity of the Ethal Layer so you can see through it to line it up with the backround. When happy carefully erase the layer upto Ethals outline.
That is pretty much it - on the mod you'll see a blurred section on the bottom of the frame - this is where the compositions didn't match (camera movement between shots) if you want to be rid of this try resizing the Ethal layer until it's covered.
Enjoy!!
Andy
Hi Andy
THANK YOU so much for the PS tutorial - I am sure there will be plenty of people, myself included, who are going to be very grateful for this. Its really good of you to share your expertise with us 
Sylvia
Great photos. Lovely picture of Ethel, and my... what a handsome young man holding her!
My mother has a copy of this on her mantlepiece, I hope you dont mind?
Matt
Quote: Great photos. Lovely picture of Ethel, and my... what a handsome young man holding her!
My mother has a copy of this on her mantlepiece, I hope you dont mind?
Matt
Of course I don't mind Matt Please feel free to use the picture in any way you wish. I'm just delighted that you like it and it was really nice of you to agree to my uploading it as you didn't know you wereo on camera!
Sylvia
Very interesting exercise Sylvia and as you say the mod. from Andy is really worth while.
Ron
OOOOOOo I might have a go at this using your image Sylvia if you dont mind, its interesting to see the dof in both images but I notice your lens is f2.8 and mine is more than that I cant get the same dof as you do but well done on the 2 pictures
Quote: OOOOOOo I might have a go at this using your image Sylvia if you dont mind, its interesting to see the dof in both images but I notice your lens is f2.8 and mine is more than that I cant get the same dof as you do but well done on the 2 pictures
Delighted for you to have a go Ann - it is so good of Andy to post the method.
Sylvia
Two excellent captures and very good use of DOF Sylvia,great comp too.
Hey I saw them on telly the other day in Countryfile - two grand shots showing good dof and thank you so much for the opportunity to try a new skill, I think that is what I appreciate most about this site - Ina
Great portraits Sylvia; always think you can get some lovely effects with a shallow DOF - particularly work well with #1 in my opinion conveying the "man behind the owl"
Tim
A great exercise here Sylvia and you got it spot on I would say, liked the mod and the tutorial, learned something myself here
Geoff.
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