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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
Yes I agree about the leaves, and have removed them in the current version.
I prefer to leave my WB set to a fixed value- typically sunny unless a compelling reason to change. I get annoyed when AWB "corrects" the golden hour color that I got out of bed early for, or the beautiful sunrise/sunset colors. Also, every shot in a sequence will be slightly different WB. If you want to combine frames (focus stack, pano) or even just use a sequence of shots, you have to go change the WB on each image to make them the same. I often hit the auto button in my post processing to see what it does as a first step. Guess it's about six of one... |
Aug 12th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
A lot of good lessons here... |
Aug 10th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
Interesting info about the differences between Eastern and Western art. I personally prefer that the subject have more breathing room, like this, especially when the surrounding space is attractive and not distracting. IMO the mantra about filling the frame has a time and a place but shouldn't be universally applied. |
Aug 10th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
Yes Broad-billed, probably an immature but maybe a female.
Very nice wing and head position captured and I like the tiny feet!
Since you aren't going to stop the wings without flash, you could have used a slightly slower shutter speed and a little better ISO- but at the end of the day this cleaned up nicely and the result is what matters.
Compositionally, I'd prefer to have the bird just a bit higher in the frame. It looks like there's enough room under it to do that crop.
This is a very pretty image, nice soft colors with the low light level. Well done!!
Did you see some of the specialty birds there like the White-eared? Did you go to Ash Canyon too- they're seeing like 13 species of hummers there right now! I need to get myself down there.
|
Aug 9th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
I really like your choice of composition here. The lines in the foreground take you on a nice journey through to the jagged peaks. I do agree it's tipped a bit- but perhaps that's as it really is. I know the layers in the Grand Canyon aren't horizontal exactly, and it's always a dilemma as to whether to straighten them or not in images! I also like what you've done to bring out the colors and subtleties of the light.
I also think this has some good b/w potential but it'll take some work to bring it out given the low contrast. Here's something I played with, using dehaze and clarity mainly to increase the contrast. |
Aug 9th |
 |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
I have faced this dilemma many times, wanting to keep the splash in the frame for the story but then the bird (or animal) is too close to the edge of the frame. I think the key is that the distance to the splash has to be small so that the resulting frame is more balanced. You could crop this and leave just the arc of the drops going up behind the bird and keep at least some of the story that way, as one alternative.
In terms of processing, I do like that you've got detail in the bird, but it's lacking appropriate contrast and seems hazy. The darks should be darker than they are, imo.
But, always great to get a shot of a bird nabbing a fish like this! |
Aug 9th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
That makes sense, I figured there must've been some obstacle or other. Leave the sides as is, that's such a pretty setting, more is better. |
Aug 9th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
It is interesting that we all tend to ignore these common birds- yet they are stately make nice images. You captured a good story here. I rather like the pose showing the backside, as the patterns and details of the wings are really attractive. I'm impressed with what you were able to do to make that sky more attractive- I'm going to have to try your techniques on some similar hazy-sky images I have. |
Aug 9th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
I absolutely love the colors in this, all the cool tones and the clover adding a nice pop. I think this look-back pose is probably the most attractive you could get in this situation, especially with the eye contact that just draws you in. My only question is why you didn't leave more space at the bottom for her virtual legs? I'd think that more of the pink flowers would be attractive, but perhaps it wasn't? |
Aug 9th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
Wow this is really special to get a full-body breach like this. You caught a nice moment of the action as well, good reaction to catch it before it was splashing back in the water. The edited image looks pretty good considering the crop and original exposure, nice job recovering as much detail as you did. Although a faster shutter would've been nice, I find that the streaming water and softness of the splash area add interest to the image. Glad you were rewarded for the patience and time on the trip- it's always a gamble with marine animals. |
Aug 9th |
| 67 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
Thank you Michael and Larry for your feedback about the colors. I've done another edit and increased the saturation on the oranges and decreased the greens. Also healed out the white leaves. I didn't know that about the greens on the sensor, but have certainly seen the effect of it.
Michael, I saw a repost from you this afternoon and when I went to reply to it, it disappeared. I don't know if I did something that caused that or not. Thank you for making the edits!
|
Aug 6th |
 |
7 comments - 4 replies for Group 67
|
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
For me, yes, although it's something that doesn't seem to be for everyone. I find it particularly useful for birds in flight, or other rapid motion, where you want to focus and track and then shoot. I can jam my thumb on the focus button and leave it there, as opposed to trying to half-press the shutter and then full press it. Less finesse/ fine muscle coordination required, and hence a bit less fatiguing, so I do better at continuing to track the movement. |
Aug 12th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
I also use back button focus which I find much easier on active subjects. But, it does take time to train yourself with it. Figure on 2 or 3 outings with lots of shooting before it starts to feel natural. When I switched over, I took the camera to my local park and took lots of shots to practice, on "don't care" type subjects so I wasn't bummed about the misses! |
Aug 11th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
Thanks for the suggestion. I like the way the bird's body points to the corner. |
Aug 10th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Reply |
Although the AWB in camera works well a lot of the time, it is not perfect. Just look at what it can do correcting out the brilliant sunset colors, or the golden hour light that you got up at 5AM for! And if you do any exposure blending- such as for focus stacking or stitching images to make a pano- AWB means every frame has a slightly different White Balance and so you have to adjust each image before you do the combining. Even if you just want a sequence of images, such as for a presentation, they have to be individually modified so they're all exactly the same. My default in camera is Sunny most of the time, occasionally another fixed mode if the light calls for it. I tweak the WB as one of the first steps in post as needed. |
Aug 10th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
Birds high up in trees are certainly a challenge. Too bad it wouldn't accept your efforts to gain some elevation. The other choice (if it was possible given the location) is get back further and use a longer lens to get a lower apparent angle. I think the angle you captured works pretty nicely.
You certainly captured the iridescent colors of this Starling. I also like the pose with the beak open. You did a nice job of evening out the tonality of the background and making it less of a factor.
I'm seeing a lot of noise in the bird's belly that I don't notice as much in the original, perhaps the sharpening has introduced some artifacts? Personally I'd not crop this quite as closely-leaving in more of the bird and a bit more of the background- but that's largely a matter of taste.
|
Aug 9th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
I love the head-on perspective and symmetry of the head in the shot. I like the implied movement of the raised foot. That orange dirt color is so different for a shorebird, and since it's characteristic of that ranch gives a hint about the location.
I like this as presented, with the water on the left edge. I think there's an alternative composition here with a vertical crop that might be worth exploring as well.
The birder in me has to comment that this is not a Dunlin- bill is too short and the legs too bright yellow. I believe it's a Pectoral Sandpiper. |
Aug 9th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
Lovely alert pose of this owl. You managed to frame it nicely against the background vegetation, in spite of being confined to the vehicle. The colors and contrast in your edited image look very nice, and those yellow eyes really stand out. |
Aug 9th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
Such a nice moment captured, with the food transfer from the parent to the young. I like the positions and poses of both birds to see well this behavior. Agree the crop is just right.
My nit with this image is that the background grasses are "crunchy"- meaning highlights mostly. You could soften this up with negative clarity (and probably other tools as well) brushed selectively in the background.
I love your alternate image too- great timing with the parent calling. The background on that image is much softer looking and more pleasing. |
Aug 9th |
| 91 |
Aug 23 |
Comment |
I like the story captured and the pose of the kite with the wings and tail spread. I don't mind the grackle in the shot, as it's part of the story, but do agree that it would be better without it.
Your settings look good to me, although I might've chosen a stop or 2 less DoF and thus lower ISO- f/10 is more than you really need here. Having more focal length, getting the bird bigger in the frame, would help, but I know well how that goes.
Here's my edit. Apart from the crop, I changed the white balance using the white dropper on the kite's wing patch. I liked the resulting bluer sky. I increased saturation, and very slightly increased the black point.
The snail is a problem in that it's essentially the same color and tone as the bird's body. The only thing I can see to do is targeted adjustment to just the snail. I significantly increased its exposure and the shadows to brighten it up- and did a rather sloppy job of it...
There's some weird artifacts in the grass because I also increased the image size using Topaz so that I could work on it. |
Aug 9th |
 |
5 comments - 4 replies for Group 91
|
12 comments - 8 replies Total
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