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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 40 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Andrew, you honor me by allowing me to commnet on your image. I think I noticed somewhere that you have quite a few chops in nature yourself. You are indeed fotunate to have a nature reserve near your home. I love photogrpahing herons and egrets and other large birds.
I believe your choice of shutter speed was good, because the sugject ws not moving fast and the light was flat. The f/8 aperture renders the image sharp right up to the subject, then the focus falls off - that is always my personal preference for wildlife shots. I hope you get to spend a lot of time there. If you can capture a similar shot when the wind is still making the water surface smooth it might inmprove the image. Also, in framing it up, if you could recrop to allow a bit more space in front of the bird than behind it, it would in my opinon give more of a sense of forward motion.
My first thought when I looked at this image is that it appers to me to be nearly monochrome as it is. I wonder if you have considered a monochrome conversion? In Silver Efext Pro 3 you can amplify the balck and whites so that you maximize the tonal range.
Are you shooting one of the mirrorless cameras with animal eye focus? I am shooting with the Canon R5 and the autofoucs and animal eye tracking are amazing! |
Aug 12th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 40
|
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Yes, I cloned out those tiny spots. I would not have seen then if you hadn't called my attention to them, so thanks. I also gave a lot of thought to what to do about the spent brown bloom. I finally decided that it does not bother me - to me, it is just a natural part of nature - not all flowers on any plant bloom at the same time, and the butterflies are not on the spent bloom - so I decided to leave it alone. I like the cool tones in this image which seem authentic to me as the capture was made in deep shade. The butterflies are naturally a deep purple-black with blue spots, so for me, it seems to work. Just a matter of personal preference, I think. |
Aug 13th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Those are definitely "Florida Clouds." For me the line of dark clouds at the top does not help the image; nor does the dark vegetation at the bottom.In my opinion, the "party" is between the two lines I have drawn on my visual feedback.I know you lots and lots of pixesl so I would suggest that crop. |
Aug 12th |
 |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
When I first saw this I thought it was a flower below glass on which you sprayed "Rain-X" and dropped water. (I haven't tried that for a long time so you may have inspired me!) Then I read that you came upon this subject naturally. Good eye!
I like the shapes and colors in this image. I don't see it working in monochrome as there will not be sharp edges between the darks and lights - just my guess for what it is worth. However, it may be an image that would be interesting with one of the treatnents in Topaz Impression. I'll be there are a lot of differnet things you cna do with it. |
Aug 12th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Nice catch. Both eyes are sharp. I love that he is standing on one foot. I wonder what he was thinking? I'll bet there was a smorgasbord below him on the ground.
My only suggestion would be to brighten up the head a bit so that the eyes are more noticeable. |
Aug 12th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
I really like the color palette in your image. However, it appears to me that the blooms are all on different planes which makes for a foucs challenge. The wide open aperture gave you a very shallow depth of field, and the result is that only one bloom is sharp.
I Iike Pam's crop as it eliminates a lot of the out of focus area, and the arrangment is more visually pleasing to my eye. If you have Topaz Studio 2 yout might want to consier adding a watercolor treatment or perhaps one of the impressionistic ones such as Monet. You may be able to use this image to create a real work of art. |
Aug 12th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
I couldn't resist playing with your image. Turkeys are wiley, and since I have do not any good images of them myself you will have to evaluate my ideas, and see if you think they have any merit. First, I cropped to get less space behind the bird. I know you lose the reflection, but I did not think it was a strong enough element to warrant keeping it if it resulted in a less interesting crop for me. I tweaked the WB to warm the image up, added a tiny bit of clarity and vibrance. Finally in the HSL panel I played with the green to make it a little more saturated and luminous - not enough to detract from the subject, I hope. Check my visual feedback and see what you think. |
Aug 12th |
 |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
This image brings back memories of my maternal grandmother who grew beautiful poppies. I love the way the long zoom lens compresses the background and creates bokeh. The Art Morris/BIRDS AS ART blog is full of wonderful ideas for this kind of flower photography. I think there is also a YouTube video that he did on flowrs with a younger woman photographer, whose name currently escapes me. Google it if you are interested.
The stamen and pistel are very sharp as are the petals toward the back - the focus falls off after the flower, which in my opinion is perfect. My only suggestion would be to desaturate and reduce the green luminance. They say green is the easiest color for the human eye to detect. I think if it is too bright and saturated it detract sfrom the bloom. Try it and see what you think. |
Aug 12th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks, Pam. What is protruding from the mouthof the butterfly on the left is the proboscis, a tubular structure the butterfly uses to suck up the nectar. I am pulling together a porfolio of butterfly images to submit to the Portfolio Assessment Committee in September and this is one of the images I will include. So your feedback is very encouraging! |
Aug 12th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks for your comments Lisa. I am submitting a portfolio o f butterfly images for the Bronze Distinction in September, and this is one of the images I will use. Not sure what to do about the button bush though - actually, from your comment it sounds like your eye is traveling through the image, but you did not say that is where it comes to rest - unless I am misunderstanding.
As for the purple, I do not see a purple cast, and the others have not mentioned it, so I am wondering if our monitors are calibrated differently. I use the Spyder 5 Pro and regularly check the calibration. I also pulled the image into Color Efest Pro 4 and applied the filter for "Remove Color Cast" and it did not seem to do anything noticeable. Based on your suggestion I moved the WB slider to the right a very tiny bit. The change was minimal with that also. |
Aug 12th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks for your comments, Mike. I am going to submit a group of my butterfly images to the Portfolio Asessment Committee in September. I am going to use this image as part of it. This is my first try - Bronze level. I have been wanteing to do this forever, but just haven't felt ready until now. |
Aug 12th |
| 52 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks, Ally. The animal eye tracking in both the Sony and Canon camers is outstanding! You will not be sorryif yu switch to the Canon R5 or one of the Sony cameras. |
Aug 12th |
6 comments - 5 replies for Group 52
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7 comments - 5 replies Total
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