I think for photo merge, for me personally it would have to be an exceptional photo opportunity. As this type of editing is generally not allowed in photo competitions, therefore I think people should be upfront and transparent about what they done to achieve it. It just bugs me when people don't share those kinds of things, because they'd rather you believe that they captured something perfectly
Great video, beautiful photos and a lot of good advices mate. Always learning something new in your videos. Wishing you and yours a great week. Cheers, Bjoern.
Excellent Video.. You cover all of the common sense areas of multiple subjects in focus, as in position for same focal plane and my favorite mentioned, Distance to subject. I pride myself in my approach to subjects, as in getting the closest distance possible, but that can backfire. Especially when one of the subjects takes flight. I find Further distance is my friend in these types of images. I also do a lot of 2x to 4x macro shooting and. have been focus stacking these for a Long Time. I've recently started stacking in wildlife, having never thought of this before for some reason.. The Only other thing I would mention is to have your exposure set to full manual. I'm guilty of using Spot metering when birding and that will resort to different exposures in some cases when stacking focused subjects. So much harder to blend.. Excellent video, I'm sure I'll learn lots going thru you other videos..........Subscribed..
I love your pictures with more than one bird on a perch interacting with each other. I'm far from being a good photographer and several times I've been wandering about the sharpness of each bird. This video reveals the secret. Well explained. Very interesting.
Exactly what I have been looking for ! Because I use eye tracker, that tracks one set of eyes ! I was wondering what to do when there is more than one individual you wish to image. Thanks
Great video, I'm interested in the scene with the Gouldian finches, have you done a video explaining how you made these and what issues you had when installing it.
Not sure I have talked about it in a video.I think I did a while ago. It's definitely shown in my ebook. You can check the bird photography show about the R5 Mark II, there's a bunch in there
Great videos with editing tips included into a photo situation 👏👍! According to this subject, I like to use out of focus birds in foreground and/or background to create a 3D feeling in the images, especially when photgraphing shorebirds, which I really love doing 🥰!
Hi Jan, Thanks a lot for sharing again your insights. And especially the fact some tips which are useful in one scenario can work against you in another scenario. This nicely illustrates there's no one single truth and we must remain agile in how we approach each shooting opportunity 👍 For your ultimate hack, I'll need to someday surrender to Photoshop 😛 But first I'm going to order the ZikeDrive you showed recently ;-)
@@jan_wegener 🤣 The ZikeDrive I did order last night, thanks for your coupon ! When my average image count during 3 weeks in Costa Rica doesn't exceed my peak day count in Bali, I should have enough storage 😛 Photoshop (& your masterclasses) only make sense once I have an even more efficient way for culling and I have time left after doing the basic edits on my best images. At the latest after retirement in 2037 🙈 Last week I found some awesome earlier overlooked shots of a rock pipit from July in Scotland, posing on rock full of seaweed, with great yellowish variations in the bokeh. It didn't even require any photoshop ;-)
Awesome practical insights! I'm definitely going to use these tips in the field. Quick side question: which software do you prefer for grading and editing your videos-Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro? Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Hola! agradezco mucho tu contenido. Me encantaría tomar tus clases magistrales, pero no sé nada de inglés. Veo tus videos con los subtítulos automáticos que proporciona TH-cam 😅
There’s a place in Townsville in the suburbs where they breed. I was there in October and you could get so close. Lots of them and beautiful as they sat in the blooming Jacaranda trees. . .for your next visit!
Analog cameras, like the Canon EOS 1V, had an exposure mode called DEP exposing for a required depth of field. I don’t understand why digital cameras dropped that feature.
It would work if the subjects were perfectly still. In macro photography you use manual exposure and focus, focus in front of the nearest subject, take the photographs with burst mode whilst quickly moving the camera forward until the furthest subject has been photographed.
Thank you for your video. Do you teach how to set up Sony camera for bird photography? Their new AI focus menu has too many settings. Wondering if you can help us with your expertise.
Focus stacking can be a pain with electronic shutter, you don't realise how much image wobble your sensor has until you try to focus stack. Even my Sony A1 is heavily affected, I don't usually focus stack but I encounter it when adding canvas, nothing lines up and I have to stretch or shrink the secondary image a surprising amount to get the tree or log to match up.
Another informative video Jan, but am I being dense about your overlay technique? How does this differ from image or focus stacking which I can do following processing?
we have in Boston area flock of winter birds from Artic called Snow Bunting. They fly very fast changing direction all the time with may as 50 to 100 of them in close formation. I am never satisfied photographing a flock … only few gets focused and others out of focus. I can’t say I shot them at very high f/stop. Any tip would be helpful. Shooting Sony a1 with 400 + 1.4TC with 1/2500 or higher.
Which would you choose (anyone who has experience with these cameras) Canon r7 (or the new sub 1500 canon aps c that it rumored) and the 100-500 or a canon r8/r6 mk3 and 200-800
You may hate the answer, it depends. I have had the R7 since it was released, I have both lenses that you mentioned, but I have had the R5 and now R5 MKIi, not the R8 and R6. Most of the answer is going to depend on your budget. In any case, if you can arrange to rent the equipment, or borrow, and figure out what works best for you, that would be ideal. Also, what level of weather sealing do you need? I recommend a rain cover in any case but you sometimes get caught by surprise. I will preface this by saying I love my R7 but it isn’t perfect. A couple of the biggest problems are low light performance and rolling shutter when shooting electric shutter, which I never do on that camera. Yes, software can clean up the image but I like starting with a clean image instead of relying on AI to clean and restore detail. Another issue with the R7 is the EVF. It isn’t as good as the other cameras. If you can accept these issues it is a great camera. The R8 has a very small buffer and battery. You would need to carry multiple batteries and may find yourself missing images while waiting on the buffer. However, the images the R8 gets are very good. A friend of mine rents one occasionally and really likes it except for the battery and buffer. The only issue with the R6 is a lot of people like more MP. If you are okay with 24mp, I would be, then the R6 is the best camera on your list. The lenses are another difficult decision. Both are very good. Both are “slower” lenses but they are sharp and have very good minimum focus distance. The RF 200-800 is not an L lens and is therefore not as sharp and can suffer from chromatic aberrations towards the edge of the image. I don’t like this lens on my R7 as much as on the R5(MKIi). The lens just doesn’t seem to resolve enough detail for that sensor, which would be 83mp if it were a full frame. The RF 100-500 is great. Some people don’t like it since it doesn’t reach 600mm but it is sharp, light, and fast. If you put a teleconverter on it you loose the ability to zoom out all the way, a big “flaw” in the design. Your subjects and your working distance from your subject are going to play a major role in your decision.
Hm... I think that this kind of image stacking is like a cheating :( Now we have sad times when there's no matter how a good photographer you are, but the more important is how's yours skills in LR or PS :(
Image merging has been around since forever, and LR/PS has been around for many years now. I think it's fair to not call the end result a photo as that's being a bit disingenuous, but I don't see the issue with any of this. It's the same as autofocus eye tracking at the end of the day, a tool for getting an image that might otherwise take years, or even be impossible, to take. I think it's always been the case that if you're good at editing then you'll often end up with a better image than people who don't, that's just reality unfortunately
This type of image merging was done with film cameras... The AI alterations are more of an issue, I recently removed an unwelcome relative from a family portrait using AI. Now that is (gleefully) cheating.
Landscape, astro, and macro photographers use focus and exposure stacking. Focus stacking in wildlife is usually done intentionally because you have to focus on 1 bird than the other in a split second, you are using the camera as a tool because you know the other subject is going to be out of focus. It can come down to trust because there is 1 potential situation where people could fake a photo using focus stacking, where 2 birds perch at completely different times and you merge the images like the birds were next to each other, I highly doubt people ever do this. If a photographer is going to focus stack, they are only going to be brushing over an out of focus bird that was there in the original raw file.
Danke! Ich finde deine "neuen" Tutorials super! Praktische Tips, die sofort umsetzbar sind 👍
Danke dir!
Extremely helpful info, Jan. Thanks for sharing this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great info! Thanks for taking me along!!
Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it!
I think for photo merge, for me personally it would have to be an exceptional photo opportunity. As this type of editing is generally not allowed in photo competitions, therefore I think people should be upfront and transparent about what they done to achieve it. It just bugs me when people don't share those kinds of things, because they'd rather you believe that they captured something perfectly
It’s always good to be transparent!
Yet another fantastic video Jan, thank you for all your work that goes into making these clips. 👍👍
Glad you like them!
Great video, beautiful photos and a lot of good advices mate. Always learning something new in your videos.
Wishing you and yours a great week.
Cheers, Bjoern.
Thanks, you too!
Amazing photos, thank you for sharing them and how you get them.
My pleasure 😊
Great video Jan! Love all your content
Thanks so much!
Perfect focus on two subjects that are not in tandem is simple, correct distance in focal plane and correct angle. No need to stack.
Excellent Video.. You cover all of the common sense areas of multiple subjects in focus, as in position for same focal plane and my favorite mentioned, Distance to subject. I pride myself in my approach to subjects, as in getting the closest distance possible, but that can backfire. Especially when one of the subjects takes flight. I find Further distance is my friend in these types of images. I also do a lot of 2x to 4x macro shooting and. have been focus stacking these for a Long Time. I've recently started stacking in wildlife, having never thought of this before for some reason.. The Only other thing I would mention is to have your exposure set to full manual. I'm guilty of using Spot metering when birding and that will resort to different exposures in some cases when stacking focused subjects. So much harder to blend.. Excellent video, I'm sure I'll learn lots going thru you other videos..........Subscribed..
Thanks for sharing! Yes full manual helps a lot in these cases
Excellent video Jan, very informative and well put together 👌🏻
I love your pictures with more than one bird on a perch interacting with each other. I'm far from being a good photographer and several times I've been wandering about the sharpness of each bird. This video reveals the secret. Well explained. Very interesting.
Wonderful!
FAAAAAAANTASTIC VIDEO!!!!
Thank you very much for sharing!!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent information and advice Jan.Of course you can’t please everyone..
Thanks Heather, glad you enjoyed it.
Exactly what I have been looking for ! Because I use eye tracker, that tracks one set of eyes ! I was wondering what to do when there is more than one individual you wish to image. Thanks
Great video, much appreciated!
Glad you found it helpful!
Jan, once again a very informative video, slowly implementing what I have learnt from your master class and videos, thanks again.
I’m glad you’re finding the videos helpful! Let me know how you go
Always thought your videos are informative and helpful. But the last videos are real keepers, worth rewatching and of course, sharing to help others🙏
I appreciate that!
Parabéns, belíssimas imagens, capturadas no melhor momento.
I am saving up for your Masterclass.
Great video, Jan!! 👏👏👏
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Great advice. I have used the multiple image method at times. It works very nice when the other methods won’t work.
Yes, it’s a great last resort
Great tips as usual, thanks !
Thank you
Great video ! Will use your Instructions going forward
Glad to hear it!
Great video Jan!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video,
I'm interested in the scene with the Gouldian finches, have you done a video explaining how you made these and what issues you had when installing it.
Not sure I have talked about it in a video.I think I did a while ago. It's definitely shown in my ebook.
You can check the bird photography show about the R5 Mark II, there's a bunch in there
Great videos with editing tips included into a photo situation 👏👍! According to this subject, I like to use out of focus birds in foreground and/or background to create a 3D feeling in the images, especially when photgraphing shorebirds, which I really love doing 🥰!
Yes, that can look very nice
Excellent advice Jan!!
Thanks! Glad it was helpful!
Hi Jan, Thanks a lot for sharing again your insights. And especially the fact some tips which are useful in one scenario can work against you in another scenario. This nicely illustrates there's no one single truth and we must remain agile in how we approach each shooting opportunity 👍
For your ultimate hack, I'll need to someday surrender to Photoshop 😛 But first I'm going to order the ZikeDrive you showed recently ;-)
Just do it 😜
@@jan_wegener 🤣 The ZikeDrive I did order last night, thanks for your coupon ! When my average image count during 3 weeks in Costa Rica doesn't exceed my peak day count in Bali, I should have enough storage 😛
Photoshop (& your masterclasses) only make sense once I have an even more efficient way for culling and I have time left after doing the basic edits on my best images. At the latest after retirement in 2037 🙈
Last week I found some awesome earlier overlooked shots of a rock pipit from July in Scotland, posing on rock full of seaweed, with great yellowish variations in the bokeh. It didn't even require any photoshop ;-)
Awesome practical insights! I'm definitely going to use these tips in the field. Quick side question: which software do you prefer for grading and editing your videos-Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro? Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Davinci Resolve :)
great suggestions, thanks
My pleasure!
Hola! agradezco mucho tu contenido. Me encantaría tomar tus clases magistrales, pero no sé nada de inglés. Veo tus videos con los subtítulos automáticos que proporciona TH-cam 😅
Yes that’s a great new feature at least
EXCELLENT! I use the same editing procedure of 2 photos as 2 layers each with a different subject sharp using ON1 Photo Raw 2025.
Great to hear that you’re using the same technique!
Man I love these rainbow bee-eaters. I wish I had gotten a bit coser to them on my last trip to AUS
Yes they’re beautiful
There’s a place in Townsville in the suburbs where they breed. I was there in October and you could get so close. Lots of them and beautiful as they sat in the blooming Jacaranda trees. . .for your next visit!
Analog cameras, like the Canon EOS 1V, had an exposure mode called DEP exposing for a required depth of field. I don’t understand why digital cameras dropped that feature.
Great video! I still shoot with a Canon 7D Mark II DLSR. Is this a specific technique for “eye tracking” or newer models? Thanks
It is
You basically only have the basic AF option I was talking about
I love the tip about layering at the end, would focus bracketing also be a way to achieve this ?
It would work if the subjects were perfectly still. In macro photography you use manual exposure and focus, focus in front of the nearest subject, take the photographs with burst mode whilst quickly moving the camera forward until the furthest subject has been photographed.
@ I have used it successfully for Dragonflies and Damselflies, perhaps it would work for stationary birds too
Yes, but with subjects moving a it’s trickier
Thank you for your video. Do you teach how to set up Sony camera for bird photography? Their new AI focus menu has too many settings. Wondering if you can help us with your expertise.
I am planning to make some videos soon
Hi Jan, great video once again. Are your Masterclass Course prices in Australian dollars or USD?
Cheers
Graeme
USD
Focus stacking can be a pain with electronic shutter, you don't realise how much image wobble your sensor has until you try to focus stack. Even my Sony A1 is heavily affected, I don't usually focus stack but I encounter it when adding canvas, nothing lines up and I have to stretch or shrink the secondary image a surprising amount to get the tree or log to match up.
Yes, can be annoying!
Another informative video Jan, but am I being dense about your overlay technique? How does this differ from image or focus stacking which I can do following processing?
I guess it’s similar, but with birds or nature, especially when you handhold things won’t line up properly
One more exceptionally useful video. Again, I love and appreciate the direction you have taken in 2025.
Appreciate you watching!
we have in Boston area flock of winter birds from Artic called Snow Bunting. They fly very fast changing direction all the time with may as 50 to 100 of them in close formation. I am never satisfied photographing a flock … only few gets focused and others out of focus. I can’t say I shot them at very high f/stop. Any tip would be helpful. Shooting Sony a1 with 400 + 1.4TC with 1/2500 or higher.
In that case, especially against the sky, a higher Fstop may be your only chance. And then also hope that the birds fly a good pattern
@@jan_wegener Thank you.
Which would you choose (anyone who has experience with these cameras)
Canon r7 (or the new sub 1500 canon aps c that it rumored) and the 100-500 or a canon r8/r6 mk3 and 200-800
You may hate the answer, it depends. I have had the R7 since it was released, I have both lenses that you mentioned, but I have had the R5 and now R5 MKIi, not the R8 and R6.
Most of the answer is going to depend on your budget. In any case, if you can arrange to rent the equipment, or borrow, and figure out what works best for you, that would be ideal. Also, what level of weather sealing do you need? I recommend a rain cover in any case but you sometimes get caught by surprise.
I will preface this by saying I love my R7 but it isn’t perfect. A couple of the biggest problems are low light performance and rolling shutter when shooting electric shutter, which I never do on that camera. Yes, software can clean up the image but I like starting with a clean image instead of relying on AI to clean and restore detail. Another issue with the R7 is the EVF. It isn’t as good as the other cameras. If you can accept these issues it is a great camera.
The R8 has a very small buffer and battery. You would need to carry multiple batteries and may find yourself missing images while waiting on the buffer. However, the images the R8 gets are very good. A friend of mine rents one occasionally and really likes it except for the battery and buffer.
The only issue with the R6 is a lot of people like more MP. If you are okay with 24mp, I would be, then the R6 is the best camera on your list.
The lenses are another difficult decision. Both are very good. Both are “slower” lenses but they are sharp and have very good minimum focus distance. The RF 200-800 is not an L lens and is therefore not as sharp and can suffer from chromatic aberrations towards the edge of the image. I don’t like this lens on my R7 as much as on the R5(MKIi). The lens just doesn’t seem to resolve enough detail for that sensor, which would be 83mp if it were a full frame. The RF 100-500 is great. Some people don’t like it since it doesn’t reach 600mm but it is sharp, light, and fast. If you put a teleconverter on it you loose the ability to zoom out all the way, a big “flaw” in the design.
Your subjects and your working distance from your subject are going to play a major role in your decision.
Please I want to know what you do with these pictures do you sell them or do you just do it for fun
Sometimes, but it’s not my main aim
for flocks in flight there seems to be little choice than aperture control
And hoping the flock flies in a good plane or is very thick
FOTOGRAFY!!??? MY BE ONLY TECNOLOGY!!!!!! BUT VERY BEATIFUL!!!
👍👍👍👍👍❤
Hm... I think that this kind of image stacking is like a cheating :( Now we have sad times when there's no matter how a good photographer you are, but the more important is how's yours skills in LR or PS :(
Image merging has been around since forever, and LR/PS has been around for many years now. I think it's fair to not call the end result a photo as that's being a bit disingenuous, but I don't see the issue with any of this. It's the same as autofocus eye tracking at the end of the day, a tool for getting an image that might otherwise take years, or even be impossible, to take. I think it's always been the case that if you're good at editing then you'll often end up with a better image than people who don't, that's just reality unfortunately
This type of image merging was done with film cameras... The AI alterations are more of an issue, I recently removed an unwelcome relative from a family portrait using AI. Now that is (gleefully) cheating.
I see it that way. It allows you to re create something our eyes can see but our cameras can’t capture properly
@@jan_wegener that's a better way of putting it!
Landscape, astro, and macro photographers use focus and exposure stacking. Focus stacking in wildlife is usually done intentionally because you have to focus on 1 bird than the other in a split second, you are using the camera as a tool because you know the other subject is going to be out of focus. It can come down to trust because there is 1 potential situation where people could fake a photo using focus stacking, where 2 birds perch at completely different times and you merge the images like the birds were next to each other, I highly doubt people ever do this. If a photographer is going to focus stack, they are only going to be brushing over an out of focus bird that was there in the original raw file.