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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Reply |
Thanks David. I think the blurred wing is more a depth-of-field issue than motion blur.
The point of the story was that the birds were running circles around the bushes chasing each other. But I understand about it being a distraction. |
Nov 27th |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
I can see what you're drawn to here, the colors are really nice. I do like the lighter tone of the original as it has a bit more punch. And I like your idea for a panoramic crop but for me the birds are too centered top-to-bottom, they should be lower with less water.
Here's my interpretation with just a bit of clarity and small levels adjustments from the original. I did upscale it with Topaz as well just to have a bigger file to work with. |
Nov 27th |
 |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
These birds can be pretty aggressive when they're defending territory and you captured a very nice pose with him mid-song. Nice and sharp. I like your crop.
I don't find the background all that distracting, but another easy thing that might "soften" it a little bit is warming up the white balance. Move the blue-yellow slider a bit to yellow, or select "cloudy", and see what that does. My thinking is it would blend more with the green and be less attention-grabbing than white is. |
Nov 27th |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
Richard, your treatment really kicked this up a notch. Now the grasses serve as a lovely background for a lovely bird. Really nice work. |
Nov 27th |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
I am more and more drawn to different types of images, I love the backlight in this. All the elements really came together for you. Thank you for the detail description of the preparations! |
Nov 27th |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Reply |
Susan,
Wow this is a terrific image! Nice action, looks plenty sharp to me. You really nailed it.
I just did a workshop in "high key" photography, which I know isn't everyone's taste but that has me wanting to turn this in to a completely white sky. Here's my version with that done, a slight amount of saturation and clarity, and a bit of crop. I do like David's suggestion of space at the top which I didn't try.
And- aw, shucks! Thanks for the nice words. And glad you are feeling better, we missed you! |
Nov 27th |
 |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
That situation is a tough one for many reasons- any time you're in a moving platform it's a challenge to get sharp images focused where you want them.
The "plastic-y" area is all in the darkest black of the bird, so maybe it was simply underexposed enough to not register detail. Not much you can do if the detail isn't there.
I like your crop and that you were able to recover a lot of the blown part of the log. To me the bird is too bright though- the wings should be black, not gray. if you could selectively correct that I think it would help a lot.
I've seen this species in the Pantanal but haven't had an opportunity for a behavior shot like this, so nice job capturing something different. I love the Kingfisher shot!
|
Nov 27th |
| 67 |
Nov 24 |
Reply |
Meep Meep!! |
Nov 5th |
5 comments - 3 replies for Group 67
|
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Reply |
Thanks Bruce. Good to see some alternative edits. |
Nov 19th |
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Reply |
Steve, Here's my method in a bit more detail. The first image is your original. Note that there are some natural highlights, although quite dim. So I took a really small brush and made a mask following those highlights (red mask in the next capture). Then increased the exposure for the mask.
In general, what I've found is if there are some natural highlights already existing, I can get decent results by making them more visible. If there aren't any and I try to create some, I rarely am happy with the results. |
Nov 19th |
 |
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
Bruce, I love the simplicity and colors in this image. Great pose mid-call with the wings and tail spread out.
I'm seeing halos around the bird. Not sure if that is from the slow shutter speed or an artifact of the work on the background? |
Nov 14th |
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Reply |
Thanks Jerry for the suggestion and motivation to work on the background. Since I already had a subject mask, I made another layer and inverted it, then brought down the exposure and contrast in that background layer. Also brightened the overall image a little more. I like it better and may keep tweaking along this line. I have a number of images of these birds in this setting that I can play with. I wish flash wasn't such a pain to use, it would've helped here for sure. |
Nov 14th |
 |
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
What a beautiful image. I like the dark gray background with the criss-crossing snow-laden branches for the setting. All makes Mr. Redbird pop even more.
The one thing I might play with here is to try to make the eye stand out more, it gets lost in the black mask. I used a really tiny brush and brushed along the highlight lines that are present for a mask, and increased the exposure of those lines about 1 stop (maybe that was a bit much but it shows the effect). I think it helps define the eye. While I was at it I tried increasing the overall exposure about 1/3 stop as well.
I love this image. What a great card it made. We have cardinals here in AZ but my Christmas Cardinal would be on a cactus... not quite the same. |
Nov 14th |
 |
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
A very sweet capture of the interaction of the pair. Love the poses and closeness of the pair.
In the original image, all the leaves are a similar tonality, but in the edited version the ones on the right are much brighter than on the left. This makes them stand out more and to me compete somewhat for attention, away from the birds. I'd try to have them all the darker tonality of the left side leaves so they make a good base without attracting attention.
Regarding the 2nd branch, I'd leave it. I think it contributes to the story. Plus, the wing feathers are draped over it so removing it would be rather a challenge. Although perhaps with all the new AI tools not so much?
I do like the removal of the top branch to open up that part of the frame.
Overall quite a nice story-telling image. |
Nov 14th |
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Comment |
A fish-feeding frenzy is such an exciting thing to watch, and tough to capture images due to the sheer number of birds around! Nice to capture the Frigatebird with his bright red pouch alone like this, and at a peak of action.
I like the idea of keeping the other elements in the frame for the story. I felt the image was unbalanced though, with the bird at the bottom of the frame, looking down- it rendered the other elements more of a distraction because your eye was directed away from them. So I tried a different crop, keeping the reflection so that focal point is more central in the image. I kept the boat and rope but you could also elminiate those and just have the bird and reflection.
Just a couple of options. I do also like the alternate image, it has a good story. |
Nov 14th |
 |
| 91 |
Nov 24 |
Reply |
I've used Better Beamers in the past, particularly in film days, but flash wasn't an option here. And I don't really like to use it, one extra thing to deal with. I would rather work on it in post.
I hadn't thought about trying to darken the background, will give that a try. Thanks. |
Nov 12th |
4 comments - 4 replies for Group 91
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9 comments - 7 replies Total
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