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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 6 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
I see you are still up to your old trick of Macro Mastery!
This is a well thought out and executed image. The vibrant colors and strong composition are excellent.
There may be a touch too much glare. |
Jun 18th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 6
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| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
Have you ever thought of setting the camera on a tripod outside focused on the branch and using a remote trigger to trip the shutter? This would let you be indoors, the camera outdoors and closer to the subject. Just put a plastic bag over the camera held in place with rubber bands. Remote triggers are realy cheap. |
Jun 18th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
As you shoot a longer lens you will begin to see that even when the manufacture says VR allows hand holding it is a problem. When I pick up a long lens my tripod comes along. High ISO, long lens and handheld are the ingredients for soft images. Look close and you will see the eagle is not truly sharp, and even the leaves, when shot at 1/1000 should be crisp. The tripod will really help. Check the link I provided below to a series of my eagle photos. These were shot at 600mm with the camera rig mounted on my tripod. I even used a cable release to be sure everything is steady.
https://reminisces.smugmug.com/RECENT-ADDITIONS-1/Milky-Way-and-West-Coast-of-Florida-Eagles/ |
Jun 18th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
Thank you Cheryl. I will confess that most of the time I am not a black and white fan and only converted this because of the group's suggestions. I hate to admit but the conversion actually looks pretty good. Perhaps the "God beams" are more pronounced in the B&W. I will also agree the the forest still contains the mystical feel I liked in the color version. I may have to try a few more of these B&W images.
And thanks for the compliment. I'm really happy you enjoyed the image. |
Jun 17th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
Welcome to Group 67 and your first image review. This is where members offer both their compliments and suggestions for how to improve your images so that we all become better photographers. Remember that these reviews are only the suggestions of the person doing the review and others may see the image in an entirely different manner. You as the maker are the one who has the final say.
So then, here are my thoughts on your image. First I think you did well in locating this eagle and managed to get off what I assume were several images of this bird. In general you have a pretty solid composition as you appear to have honored the rule of thirds by off setting the bird to the left side of the image rather than placing it in the center. Most PSA reviewers prefer to have creatures like this eagle looking to the left and often suggest flipping images to make this happen. Maybe you flipped it or maybe not but the bird is facing to the left so that is seen as a plus. My suggestion would be to move the entire bird more to the right side of the image so that the bird will seem to be looking into the frame rather than out of the frame. When you look at the bird closely you will note that the body appears to hold a fair amount of noise. Noise hides in shadows and since this bird is back lit and you seem to have exposed for the bird (shown by the high ISO of 1000) the shadow area will hold noise. This is also why the whites of the eagle as more grey than pure white. Your settings indicate that you use an aperture of f13 and I am going to ask you why you chose that setting? Your 600mm lens say that you must have an fstop of 6.3 because that is the lowest fstop you can have at 600mm. Assuming that you decided to raise the fstop so as to be to the "sweet" spot on the lens is never with the lens wide open perhaps you should have shot at f8. Here is why this matters. If you reduce your fstop to f8 Your 1000 ISO will be too high and the image will be over exposed. Thus you could have reduced your ISO to 400 and you would have had exactly the same exposure. At 400 ISO you would not have had as much noise and thus a higher quality image. Just something to think about for next time. I think it would be thrilling to be able to see an eagle in the wild and you have not only seen one, but captured it as well.
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Jun 17th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
As some of you requested I am posting a B&W version of my Smoky Mountain sunset. Comments are of course welcome. |
Jun 14th |
 |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
I checked my notes---it is called the Uncle Tom's Trail. Don't forget the Mormon Barn In the Tetons. from the fro nt of the barn, back up and try to use the trees off on the left as a frame. :-) |
Jun 14th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
Enjoy your trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons. Why not try Yellowstone Falls from the low vantage point instead of Artist point. There are one 300 plus steps to climb to get back up. I'm just thinking of you. :-) |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
Man, another guy who wants to make me work. :-) I'll have to consider this black and white style. Maybe it will work.
When the shooting was finished several photographers asked by I was not shooting the sunset that they were (I let two of them try my GND filter) so I showed them the image on the back of the camera---there were a few who wished they had shot when I did. :-) Like you, I really loved that misty look floating through the valley. I've shot landscapes using my 400mm lens for the compression effect. As for the yellow, I will admit to enhancing it a bit. The trees were such a lush green, that I left I had to balance them with a bit more color in the sky. Thus the extra yellow. The sky was pretty yellow to start with so what I really added was vibrance. At first I was not sure I liked it, but my wife did and 4 copies to took to my first show after I shot this sold real fast so I have not changed it. I suppose it could be toned down a bit. I've thought about it and I'm glad to know that someone else has too. That is the neat thing about photography----everyone has their own point of view and I'm not sure any of them are wrong. To each his own. I certainly do not have all the answers and you have set me to thinking. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
Thanks so much Wayne. The dynamic range is largely due to my Nikon D800 as it has a remarkable range and it was taxed on this image. I like pushing the limits of my cameras. Please note that once again I used my 3 stop GND filter. I do not know what I would do without that tool. Sometimes I wish it was built into the lens because I use it so much. When I was shooting this scene I kept thinking that I had competing subjects, the rim light in the clouds and the individual trees of the forest. Every time I look at this I think that there must be fairies living in that forest.
Thanks for the comment. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
When I was setting up I initially was planning on using my 24-70 but there was just too much foreground for my taste and I could not move closer as I was near the edge of a cliff. So all I could think of was a longer lens. As you can see the difference was just 22 mm of focal length but it seemed to be enough. As you note about daring to use a longer lens, I have two other shots from this vantage point taken on different days, one at 105mm and and taken at 185mm and they have completely different looks and feels as well as colors. I do agree that I would not have liked this image with a dark dark foreground. I really appreciate your thoughts and the compliment. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Reply |
Man! You just want me to do more work!!! :-) Never thought of this as a black and white, to me there would be too many grey tones and not enough black but in my spare time I may give it a try. Thanks for the compliment. This is one of my biggest sellers it does really well in the fall. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
WOW. The colors here are just over the top! I do agree with others about making this more artsy by just going for a more super saturated look simply because they are almost unbelievable anyway. I do agree that the white is quite distracting and that you get rid of it using a radial filter in Lightroom. If you are going to try the GND then might I suggest using it on a diagonal with the right side lower and the whole thing located in the upper right corner. I'm still not a fan of the ISO 6400 no matter what the camera companies say as it makes the image softer. I like the overall feel of the image and realize that the setting as they are are what makes this image. But I'll still wonder what a flash and a lower ISO might do for this image. As a work of art--- it is quite well presented. Well done. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
You did a nice job of capturing this Anole in courtship mode. I think I would agree with Madhusudhan about opening up the shutter to reduce the ISO. I know the camera makers all clime how well their various camera handle high ISO settings but I'm really not so sure about that 6400 setting. While the Anole's tail is a bit soft so it the entire body and that softness is largely due to the ISO 6400. I would crop off about half of the space to the right as it is doing nothing for you and that large circular piece of foliage is competing with the Anole for attention. After seeing so much of Madhusudhan's macro work, I'm shocked he did not suggest using diffused flash as that would certainly bring down the ISO levels. It is good to see one of these are they are about gone from south Florida having been eaten by invading species. Nice catch. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
Nice job of capturing this very hard to catch species. Getting close to these guys is a real challenge but you did well. On one hand I applaud your "comical" pose but on the other hand the poor bird looks to be a bit deformed. Being a purist I think I'd opt for a more traditional pose, even if is a bit dull. But that choice is really up to you, the maker. I note that while you handled the reds quite nicely, the whites on the bird are a bit blown out. Additionally there is a bright spot on the top of the fence post that I feel you could eliminate just by cropping a bit more off the top. You might try to add some contrast and some selective sharpening to obtain better detail in the bird's black feathers. They appear to be quite soft, probably due to the heavy crop. You still have a nice shot of a hard to capture bird. You additionally did well to keep that eye in sharp focus. According to the EXIF info I got from the download you shot this at ISO 400 and 1/2500. You could have dropped that shutter to about 1/1500 and that would have allowed a lost ISO which in turn may have provided additional resolution quality to the image and hopefully to the black feathers of the bird's breast. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
This is certainly one of your better effort thus far. I checked your EXIF data and learned that you shot this at ISO 320 which accounts for the clarity and resolution of this heavily cropped version. I feel it is the makers choice as to making this a horizontal or vertical image. The horizontal will create more of a feeling of space and environment while the vertical ends feel more portrait like. Since you have the room, I would leave a little bit more space on the right of the bird in the vertical mode as I feel it is a little cramped. Although the bird's breast is a bit soft of focus it is not greatly objectionable. My suggestion for improvement would have been to move yourself slightly. While the background has a nice soft focus there are several things you might change. If you want to leave it more or less as is, then just crop the green to the left of the tree trunk. It is only a small thing. The big suggest would be for you to have chosen EITHER the tree trunk or the blurred trees to the right to be the background. The split background does not compliment the bird as well. I do not feel it would make a great deal of difference as to whether you use the tree trunk or the leaves, but pick one or the other. With the winter snow seen i think I would have chosen the greenery but that is my choice. This is a very nice photo. |
Jun 13th |
| 67 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
This is certainly what wild bird photography is supposed to look like. The first thing that jumps out is the flawless background. Shooting at f5.6 and having a monotone background to start with is s recipe for success. I saw in your reply to Michael that this is a mug pit so you really had a great background to start with. Still you handled it perfectly and as has been stated the color is a perfect match to compliment the bird. While this is a extremely deep crop the bird looks quite sharp. Your 1/800 shutter speed work quite well and with the bright light you had you were able to keep the ISO low to retain resolution.
You certainly made a rather ordinary bird look spectacular. Well done!!
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Jun 13th |
7 comments - 9 replies for Group 67
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| 89 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
Very dynamic image of a rare bird. While I really like the image, I wish there was a bit more space to the right as, in my opinion, it feels crowded.
Like the way you isolated the bird against the background. |
Jun 18th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 89
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| 90 |
Jun 19 |
Comment |
I just visiting but I would almost certainly crop from the right. That little patch of blue in the upper right corner needs to go.
I do like the sunburst. |
Jun 18th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 90
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10 comments - 9 replies Total
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