Calling AMOY +REPOST
by Brian Gatlin
Canon 7D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4x TC. Handheld, kneeling and braced on knee.
1/800, f/9, ISO 400. Full Frame.
Taken at Puerto Penasco, Mexico.
Oystercatchers are among my favorites and I took many frames of them while I was in Mexico. The calling pose makes the shot for me--I can almost hear that high sharp call looking at the photo--otherwise, it has some issues. The reds in the bill are blocked up, the legs are pretty bright, and the vivid greens of the background seem to clash with the colors of the bird. I think the detail in the bird and the good pose make it a worthwhile shot though.
I have a second version where I cropped in tighter (which reduces the amount of vivid greens), but I prefer giving the bird room in the frame and keeping head of the other oystercatcher in the bg. Let me know what you think.
All comments and critiques are appreciated. Please view larger version if possible.
Comments
18 commentslstván
I love the great calling pose you have caught here, the setting and the great look at this amoy's eye.
The red bill is a touch too saturated. You might be able to reduce that some though in ACR, by desaturating the red channel some, which I think would be well worth the effort. You could also tone down the background after opening the image in PS.
This is a lovely image and with a few tweaks it could be much stronger.
For this repost, I have cropped out the oof bird at right, desaturated the red channel (-11 in ACR), reduced the brightness on the legs (-42 in PS), and desaturated the bg (-11 in PS). (Did I overdo the desaturation on the reds?)
I like the less saturated red in the repost, I did not mind the bird out of focus if he had not had his beak cut off. Great detail, light and pose. Really nice image!
I really like what you did for the repost. The key factors for me were the desaturation of the reds and the reduction of brightness on the legs. I was ambivalent about the OOF bird, but now that I see the repost, I like the image better without it. The DOF is terrific. I really enjoy seeing the detail in the "perch". The calling pose is a strong positive too.
I like the colors of the repost much better, I also think that not having the red bill in the background of the OOF bird put more emphasis on the oystercatcher too.
Jagdeep Rajput