|
| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
Nice capture of the bird with the full colors of the gorget displayed. You did well on the post processing, especially the enlarging part, keeping some good detail.
I like all the plant and the bokeh of the background. I do like what flipping the image did, putting the main subject on the right instead of the left. |
Dec 16th |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
You really captured the energy and drama of a crossing with this shot. It's a great surge of animals with interesting lines as they push their way to the river. But that blowing dust is the "icing on the cake" here, because it really heightens the sense of energy and motion in the scene. Top-notch image. |
Dec 16th |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
I don't think you could've gotten a better pose of this interaction! Having her just peeking over his outstretched wings, with her tail visible below, is perfect. Great story. I like having the space for him to move in to. Since it's dark, to me that area receeds and gives him even more space to move in to. Her "angry" expression with the open bill just completes the story. |
Dec 16th |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
Jenny, I love the story you've captured. The hole is so freshly cut that you know exactly what's going on. The bare sticks and blowing snowflakes tell you about the season, which for me really adds to the story and image. I also was thinking maybe a bit off of the left, but I wouldn't touch the right. Those bare sticks are in good diagonals that make a sort of frame on the right, bringing you right back to the trunk and bird.
|
Dec 16th |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
Hi Scott, you did a nice job processing this to bring out the best of the detail in the bird. I particularly like what you did with the head details, bringing out the colors of the beak and lores.
Cropping this from the top helps to take away some of the feeling of the high angle- the amount of water on top in Bud's crop looks good to me. I like the whole rock and water to the left of it in your crop. The ripples create a triangle shape against the rock and to me that adds interest to the image.
Nice work exposing this in challenging light conditions. |
Dec 16th |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
I love the simplicity of this, and the colors are so pretty together. The backlight really set that pink grass to glowing. Good idea to put in the one sharp seed head to give a focal point. I agree with Bud's suggestion for smoothing out the transition.
I tend to like a bit brighter images so I'd try this with a slightly increased exposure to see how that looks. But that's the nice thing about backlight, you get to choose the brightness and mood of the image. But overall this is a very nice image.
|
Dec 16th |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Reply |
Yeah I wish it'd been in a better setting- the feet were hidden in many of the frames of the series. |
Dec 13th |
| 67 |
Dec 25 |
Reply |
Thanks Butch. I like the brighter eye and darker foreground and will play with that some more. |
Dec 13th |
6 comments - 2 replies for Group 67
|
| 91 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
Hi Jerry, I agree that the mud makes a nice background for this white bird. I like the bit of texture in the mud too so that it's got some character, not just a brown mass. The direction of the light is key for that creating the shadows in the mud- and also that wonderful shadow of the bird. All the ruffled feathers on the bird give it some extra character too.
I like the square crop and flipping the image. It "reads" well.
You didn't mention applying a vignette, but it looks to me like one's been added as the edges are all darker. Personally, I'd back off of that a bit so that it isn't so pronounced. But that's a matter of taste.
Nice job with the exposure- white birds are tricky! |
Dec 13th |
| 91 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
I love these birds with the snowy, wintry background. Although it's messy, the fact that the background is "dark-ish" helps to keep it as, well, background. But I do agree that the bird would benefit from being a little brighter against that darker background. Not a whole lot, to where it looks out of place for being so different. I did a subject mask for the bird and used brightness and shadow sliders at very small amounts to make her stand out more.
I also tried increasing the overall exposure and then bringing back the highlights, which gave a different feeling version due to the overall brighter image.
Another wintry notecard candidate I'm sure!
|
Dec 13th |
 |
| 91 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
Hi Adrian, Yes the lines on Tropicbirds are wonderful with that long streamer-tail floating behind. The crop emphasizes those lines perfectly. Given the distance, you did a nice job with the processing on this one. We also see these on pelagic trips out of southern California, maybe about as far north as they go. And they rarely seem to get close to the boat.
My technique for exposure with white birds in bright sun is to use fully manual exposure including fixed ISO- dial in the exposure on some test images and then leave it alone. Sometimes then if the next bird isn't white it's a bit under exposed, but that's easier to fix.
I like what you did with the water color. Perfect for a tropical sea. |
Dec 13th |
| 91 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
Maria,
You did a great job on the exposure of this to retain all the feather detail so well. Not easy on a white bird in any situation. The pose is really nice with the fanned out tail and outstretched wings. The way it's looking right at you with the trail of water coming off the bill takes this to another level of interest and engagement. Nice choice on the crop as well, to my eye. Well done- you had some good success on that trip! |
Dec 13th |
| 91 |
Dec 25 |
Reply |
Hi Adrian, thanks for your comments. I've played with the blacks a few different ways trying to extract the detail while not losing the "richness" on the series of images of this pair. Increasing shadows more didn't have a good result so I tried increasing the black point. It's a subtle difference, not sure it'll show up here. This is something I'm sure I'll keep fiddling with!
As for the centering, I did it intentionally because of the interaction and poses of the birds. There's no sense of movement in their activity, it's static and relatively symmetrical. Centering emphasizes that. I did try the crop but it felt very unbalanced to me with too much empty sky on the left. |
Dec 13th |
 |
| 91 |
Dec 25 |
Comment |
Here's the original image. |
Dec 13th |
 |
5 comments - 1 reply for Group 91
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11 comments - 3 replies Total
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