Inspiration gleaned from UKNP and the guy's that share their knowledge I tried to emulate ideas. Not so sure it works as I expected and I seem to have introduced some odd processing atefacts.
Critique, Comments and Advice most welcomed and thanks for looking.
Canon 1D3 Canon 800mm gimbal/tripod from hide.
1/3200 sec ISO 800 f/5.6 Subject distance 350ft.
RAW to lightroom then re-sized in PS6 a trial version saved to web (a new feature for me) Processing like mad before trial ends.
Either a large crop or alot of noise reduction? Either way you have lost too much detail. Position is great, processing sucks.
Posted by Andy Shepherd on June 19, 2012 at 10:03 AM
Hi Barry,
With the wing position of the Heron I would have composed with the bird on the righthand side, as for the processing I'm not sure what has happened and my skills are limited, so maybe someone else can help with that side of things.
Andy...
Posted by Barry Southon on June 19, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Hi Barry,
I do like the dancing pose and i agree with Andy re the the positioning of the bird, the light looks a bit harsh making the right wing of the bird looking very hot.Cs 6 sounds like fun can,t help much on that subject but your image has a lot going for it imho.
Keith.
The image looks a tad front focussed, the "artefacts" seem to be lenses natural OOF bokah running close to the back of the bird, the front lily pad may be a touch sharper but it is hard to tell as its so small. Wing softness/lack of detail may be down to a large crop but without details of image crop difficult to advise here.
Re crop positioning, the wing shape of the subject is making a natural bowl shape pointing left, which is acting as a leading line for the eye to follow despite the subject looking dead straight at you. Placing the image to the left results in a lot of wasted image on RHS as the eye is being lead out of frame to the left, ie subject should be placed on RH third, not LH third.
HTH
Mike
Posted by Craig Jones on June 19, 2012 at 12:45 PM
I love the pose/compostion and action captured Barry, well done
I find the comp difficult as the wings and head are pointing in difficult directions so I can not decide .... great action captured though i think you have posted a difficult shot to get the subject position right and will draw many differant responses, but if you like it thats good enough for me
Posted by Nick Mckeown on June 19, 2012 at 3:36 PM
Barry, as the bird appears to be running straight at the lens a vertical crop could work here, try experimenting with different ones until you feel it works. Crop notwithstanding it is a cracking image!
I think the composition works OK. Although the movement of the bird is towards camera left, the head turn to camera right just about brings it back into balance. What would have worked better though is the position of the bird after one more step. As presented, the body position is closed to the camera; after one more step the body position would have been open to the camera and this usually has more visual appeal and a better dynamic balance.
I can't say what's going on in terms of visual artefacts without more information, but the posted image doesn't have an embedded colour profile. If you send me an email, I'll send you a copy of a forum image preparation protocol that I posted some years back, which will work in any flavour of Photoshop.
Posted by Andy Astbury on June 20, 2012 at 7:22 AM
Barry - the comp is beginning to work, but if it was looking a little more to the right it would work even better.
But as Phil so eloquently puts it, one more step from the bird - right leg forward - would have naturally turned the body of the bird to the viewers right and perhaps even swung the head slightly further right - then the comp would be just perfect.
Discussion
10 repliesCritique, Comments and Advice most welcomed and thanks for looking.
Canon 1D3 Canon 800mm gimbal/tripod from hide.
1/3200 sec ISO 800 f/5.6 Subject distance 350ft.
RAW to lightroom then re-sized in PS6 a trial version saved to web (a new feature for me) Processing like mad before trial ends.
Hi Barry,
With the wing position of the Heron I would have composed with the bird on the righthand side, as for the processing I'm not sure what has happened and my skills are limited, so maybe someone else can help with that side of things.
Andy...
Just why I asked the question.
I do like the dancing pose and i agree with Andy re the the positioning of the bird, the light looks a bit harsh making the right wing of the bird looking very hot.Cs 6 sounds like fun can,t help much on that subject but your image has a lot going for it imho.
Keith.
The image looks a tad front focussed, the "artefacts" seem to be lenses natural OOF bokah running close to the back of the bird, the front lily pad may be a touch sharper but it is hard to tell as its so small. Wing softness/lack of detail may be down to a large crop but without details of image crop difficult to advise here.
Re crop positioning, the wing shape of the subject is making a natural bowl shape pointing left, which is acting as a leading line for the eye to follow despite the subject looking dead straight at you. Placing the image to the left results in a lot of wasted image on RHS as the eye is being lead out of frame to the left, ie subject should be placed on RH third, not LH third.
HTH
Mike
Nick.
I can't say what's going on in terms of visual artefacts without more information, but the posted image doesn't have an embedded colour profile. If you send me an email, I'll send you a copy of a forum image preparation protocol that I posted some years back, which will work in any flavour of Photoshop.
But as Phil so eloquently puts it, one more step from the bird - right leg forward - would have naturally turned the body of the bird to the viewers right and perhaps even swung the head slightly further right - then the comp would be just perfect.