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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
then one final pass where I split the difference and backed all the edits off just a skoosh.
One thing to keep in mind if you're submitting to Nature and not Nature PID is that you can't remove anything from the image: I primarily only work to the Nature rules so I didn't remove the foreground leaves or mess with the bird in the background and instead used the crop to lessen the distraction they present. After seeing the original I saw that you had removed quite a bit and the results were what I remarked on in my first comment.
A bit of selective mask work could add in even more depth but I think you get the idea. |
Jul 20th |
 |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
I did two other quick edits to show how subtle changes can be and thus it becomes up to personal preference.
Here is the same "recipe" only then I adjusted the curves and dropped down both the highlights and shadows.
|
Jul 20th |
 |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
First I cropped then I pushed the image through Topaz Gigapixel to enhance the image. Doing that usually introduces extra noise and since the image already had some, I pushed it through Topaz DeNoise. Then I took that and pushed it through Topaz Sharpen: I made sure it only sharpened the primary subject. Then back in CaptureOne I pulled down the exposure by 3/4 of a stop but pulled up the brightness (midtones) while also puling up the saturation and contrast. Then a final crop to really tighten things up and remove as much of the heron in the background as possible.
That's the first image here: |
Jul 20th |
 |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
If you are submitting to Nature and not PID, then yes, the heron should definitely go as it a distraction. Considering both eagles are nice and sharp and your levels are well done, no reason not dump the heron as doing so will really focus the viewer's attention to the eagle drama which is the story. Sure a spare out-of-focus heron is interesting, but….Cropping it successfully could be a bit difficult: couple of options crop in close on the eagles staying true to the existing landscape aspect ratio and then try a horizontal flip: then if you still can't remove all of the heron, cloning that area might be of help.
Also I am a total dork: wrote out all my reviews last week and then totally forgot to cut/paste and submit some of them.
|
Jul 20th |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Reply |
ignore the above. I mis-pasted what was for Ginny.
|
Jul 20th |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
I agree with Jack's comments and then my extra two cents would be to perhaps simply crop to a square. While I'm not always a fan of the square crop, in this case it would solve the twig issues without having to do lots of extra post work.
Also the resolution is super slim and the file is only 96KB so you might want to try for a bigger image next month and thus show off a bit more detail.
Plus anyone else wonder where half of July has gone already?? Also I am a total dork: wrote out all my reviews last week and then didn't paste this one here...pasted it elsewhere. duh! |
Jul 20th |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
I agree with Jack's comments and then my extra two cents would be to perhaps simply crop to a square. While I'm not always a fan of the square crop, in this case it would solve the twig issues without having to do lots of extra post work.
Also the resolution is super slim and the file is only 96KB so you might want to try for a bigger image next month and thus show off a bit more detail.
Plus anyone else wonder where half of July has gone already?? |
Jul 16th |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
A very interesting shot: great for PID. At the current res it is a bit hard to see clear detail: you didn't mention your technique for processing and while the below water is portion is nice and clear there's quite a bit of noise in the above water background: you thus might want to see what your tools can do there or alternatively try cropping in even closer to remove much of it (and thus some of the bottom plants as well) |
Jul 16th |
| 90 |
Jul 23 |
Comment |
My thoughts on why it doesn't do well - keep in mind I don't submit to competitions but I have been part of the Nature Study Group for three or so years now.
I doubt the leg band is an issue: my biggest hurdle when first viewing the image was figuring out the body orientation of the primary subject because the lighting is quite flat. There is not a lot of contrast to delineate between body, tail and primary wing feathers. If you have done mask/layer work to shift things consider starting back with the original image and first just bringing up the midtone brightness and contrast levels, perhaps also shift your WB. Coupled with that is the a lack of sharp focus on the subject: especially at the eye and snail.
Two other areas to check are the foreground clutter and background: without know your post work it's hard to comment coherently but both show evidence of significant post-work.
If you have a virginal copy of your original post it in the comments and I can mess about with it later in the week once my house guests have departed. |
Jul 16th |
8 comments - 1 reply for Group 90
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8 comments - 1 reply Total
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