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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 24 |
Jun 21 |
Reply |
Hi Jim. As you noticed I didn't do any post-processing on the image. I was interested to see what others would do with it. I love using 16:9 and it looks great with this image. I'll run it through LR in a few days and post it. We can compare notes on how we approached the image.
As for getting the "S" line, really just luck. It was so bright that I couldn't see the phone screen. It just looked black. There was so much hope going on at the moment that one of the images would contain the entire scene. The goal was to capture the expanse of the environment. I think that goal was met. |
Jun 1st |
0 comments - 1 reply for Group 24
|
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Reply |
Hi Rich. Apparently I should have seen these terns as they are listed as common and frequent to the wetlands of southern Oman, but that hasn't been the case. I even told an Omani wildlife photographer friend about these uniquely cool small terns and he rushed out to get some photographs hahaha.
There were about two dozen hanging out for about two weeks. Three of them had fully matured into their breeding adult markings. The others were in various stages of molting. It was this group that initially confused me. Was able to get some shots of the group, but it was only when I was able to isolate the mature adult that I was able to ID the bird. |
Jun 26th |
 |
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Reply |
Hi Stanley, That is a good question. Quick research says that there are only 3 native swan species in North America. The black swan is not on that list. |
Jun 26th |
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Reply |
Hi Stan. No problem stickin' to your guns on how you would like to present the image :). What I like about both approaches is I see a different narrative in each photo. The way you have focused on the eye contact as being central to the meaning of the image is oddly intimate but yet tragic at the same time. |
Jun 2nd |
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Comment |
Hi Stan. My feeling was similar to Jeffrey's, and I think that keeping the entire bird in frame might be the way to go. So, I went ahead and did a bit of post-processing of your original.
First thing, I noticed it is a bit under-exposed (which I always try to do on bright days with water and white birds) with some cross section shadows and bright spots. The majority of the colors are in the shadows according to the histogram. Not a bad place to be to draw out color or mute color. First step exposure +.5, contrast -20 and presence clarity +55 (I do this to add texture/definition to the feathers). Step two, highlights -42 and blue saturation -75. We talked about this before, I attack the blue first. Now blue luminosity is the key that will set the direction I want to go with the gull. If I drop it(-65), it will look like there is more shadow. If I raise it (+80), it will act like a highlight (that is why I took highlights out in the beginning). I decided to use blue luminosity as a highlight. Lastly, -12 black for a bit of depth, +6 vibrance and saturation for a bit of color in the rocks and +35 sharpening to give the feathers a final touch. What do you think? |
Jun 2nd |
 |
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Comment |
Hi Sophia. First thing I wonder about is if 7.1 or 8 aperture might have brought the face of the mother into better focus. The reason I notice this is because the chick is the main subject, but the mother's head is directly behind. The disparity in the focus sort of pushes the mother farther back into the frame and disrupts the intimacy a bit.
The position of the mother taking up the majority of the top of the frame creates a very nurturing, tender and protective feeling. As does your positioning when taking the image.
I kind of wish I didn't know the mother's eye is from the baby because I don't know if it is the knowledge that makes the eye look small and out of place or if it really is awkwardly noticeable. I know we have different ways of going about it, but for me this image would be sent to the trash. The only way to fix is to go back and try again :) (if possible)
I like the colors but do you think that there is a touch too much green in the eggs and the chick feathers? Asking because I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen swan eggs or new-born chicks. |
Jun 2nd |
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Comment |
Hi Jeffery. Nice photo and nice work getting both birds in focus. I don't know if it because of the downsizing of resolution needed for posting here, but the image looks a bit saturated on my end. I took your original and did some processing work on it. I like the challenge of this one. I see the original as being over-exposed, so I hope you don't mind me using your photo to practice my skills.
One of the biggest challenges of processing an over-exposed image is that is that the colors ended up in the highlight area of the histogram, whereas a slightly under-exposed image would have the colors in the exposure area of the histogram. The latter allows for more flexibly and control in color depth and texture while highlights and shadows can be manipulated in the tone curve. What I did was:
exposure -4, contrast -35, highlights -55, shadows +24, whites -32, blacks -16, presence clarity +9, vibrance +9, saturation +9, sharpness +25, noise reduction +28. Colors: red saturation +16, luminance +26, orange saturation +28, luminance -26, yellow luminance -40 (this also helps reduce hotspots), blue saturation +24 luminance -34. I then cropped to a 1:1 ratio.
Personally, I like the three branches. As you said, I also find the need for some symmetry in the image. |
Jun 2nd |
 |
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Reply |
Hi Jeffery. Yup, totally agree with those problems. The heatwaves have killed many a great photo. This photo actually wasn't one of the keepers from that day out. I took a series of photos of this group just with the intention of keeping a few to experiment with (check out my reply to Sophia). I want to add to my toolkit when it comes to post-processing. I want to maybe change my habits a bit. 8-9 months ago, I realized that approaching post-processing was becoming a habitual series of adjustments, and this was creating a similar series of images. In order to break free from that, I dedicate some of my photos to my experiment bin. These are images where I might experiment with exposure, aperture, ISO, speed and almost always with multiple subjects (how deep and broad is the focal range at Xmm). Maybe not the approach for everyone, but I have found it incredibly enlightening so far. |
Jun 1st |
| 97 |
Jun 21 |
Reply |
Hi Sophia.I see what you are saying about the crop and the faces, but the intention was not to fully focus on the birds so much but to focus on the impact that a high-contrast blown out image creates. If I lighten up their faces, I think that it would become evident and possibly ruin the balance. I took advantage of all the blacks around a turnstone's face to try to create a heavy and strong opposing force against the silvery canvas of the background. The end goal here really wasn't about sharpness, detail and clarity. The goal is to experiment and dive deeper into understanding the extremes of manipulating an image. What I have learned so far with these types of experiments is that the farther I push the boundaries the better I begin to understand the subtle nuances I can apply to a "keeper" image. |
Jun 1st |
3 comments - 5 replies for Group 97
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3 comments - 6 replies Total
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