To be honest I've been on a mission, I have had the great pleasure to share a watering hole with a large number of birds, in turn can I share them with you? All on reflection.
After many hours,up at the crack of sparrows a terrible pun I know but worth every second to me.
Harsh light stopped play.
Canon 1DX Canon 70-200mm on tripod in a hide. RAW to lightroom then PS5 re-sized to post.200mm ISO1600 1/500sec f/2.8.
Your Comments, Critique,and Advice most welcomed and thank you for looking.
Thanks for the comments, just a couple of points it's not my set up, so I'm restricted as far as construction goes. Nevertheless I totally agree about the log it was my first observation too.
Reflection's now thats another discussion which has already been thrashed out on this forum a number of times. With respect to JR I beg to differ.
Thankfully we are all different and have our indiviual views on the subject, I'm in the like camp at the moment could be somewhat biased due to a high rate of success at this location. That said I'm still open to critique and the argument of others for and against in order to form a better understanding.
The only other point I would make is when the subject is standing in the water its somewhat difficult to allow for the feet and remaining virtual leg, without including a portion of reflection. This hide provides just above water level vision from what I have learnt on this forum the position to be. I do have other examples to illustrate the point in greater detail and will seek further comments if I may.
I think the softness is more to do with processing as the original isn't soft as far as I can tell. There seems to be a rogue pixel mid right of the birds head though which needs attention.
Personally, I prefer a full reflection - any image I have where the reflection is cut does not look complete to me, Whats the point of a reflection pool set up and then cutting the reflection ? (sorry JR).
I think the fact that someone has a bathing buzzard that you can photograph is the more important point Re composition, as the bird is looking left, I'd have composed accordingly.....
Posted by Barry Southon on June 27, 2013 at 12:19 PM
Graham
Only processing was to re-size to post plus the crop at Neil and Mikes suggestion. The rouge pixel is a bug in flight reduced by re sizing. All very helpful observations thanks Graham.
Posted by Nick Mckeown on June 27, 2013 at 2:46 PM
Second post is an improvement Barry but I would be tempted to take a little more off the RH side as the bird is too central. Again comp is very personal.
Looking forward to more from the pool of mirrors!
I hung off commenting on this whilst having a think Barry. My son and I had a set uplike this 20 years ago which we carried around . It was on four adjustable legs and after a while we burned it.! When this sort of pool stuff began it was rare and a novelty- now its become commercial and that does not sit well with me either.
Apart from the reflections, it never looked natural and thats the way I have looked at these setups done in Europe, and this country too, ever since. Its not an angle or viewpoint we would normally see a creature from and I just don;t feel right about it
.I don't like reflections because as Graham says - you have them all or nothing - they don't look right chopped.
So there we are, the Buzzard- fine although the second ids definately a little soft, but you know the rest. Every one has their own preferences and there are no rules laid down If you like it Barry - thats all that matters.
Cheers
JR
Barry I would be chuffed to bits with the first one maybe a tweak here and there with the tec bits, recon it's a very nice artistic image reflection and all! Keith.
Discussion
11 repliesAfter many hours,up at the crack of sparrows a terrible pun I know but worth every second to me.
Harsh light stopped play.
Canon 1DX Canon 70-200mm on tripod in a hide. RAW to lightroom then PS5 re-sized to post.200mm ISO1600 1/500sec f/2.8.
Your Comments, Critique,and Advice most welcomed and thank you for looking.
Great set up - if you've constructed I would definitely remove that log.
Thanks for the comments, just a couple of points it's not my set up, so I'm restricted as far as construction goes. Nevertheless I totally agree about the log it was my first observation too.
Reflection's now thats another discussion which has already been thrashed out on this forum a number of times. With respect to JR I beg to differ.
Thankfully we are all different and have our indiviual views on the subject, I'm in the like camp at the moment could be somewhat biased due to a high rate of success at this location. That said I'm still open to critique and the argument of others for and against in order to form a better understanding.
The only other point I would make is when the subject is standing in the water its somewhat difficult to allow for the feet and remaining virtual leg, without including a portion of reflection. This hide provides just above water level vision from what I have learnt on this forum the position to be. I do have other examples to illustrate the point in greater detail and will seek further comments if I may.
Bob
Could be my eyes, aren't what they were, distance not a problem but close up I question what I'm seeing. Perhaps more water with it?
I'll post couple more for the test.
Personally, I prefer a full reflection - any image I have where the reflection is cut does not look complete to me, Whats the point of a reflection pool set up and then cutting the reflection ? (sorry JR).
I think the fact that someone has a bathing buzzard that you can photograph is the more important point
Only processing was to re-size to post plus the crop at Neil and Mikes suggestion. The rouge pixel is a bug in flight reduced by re sizing. All very helpful observations thanks Graham.
Looking forward to more from the pool of mirrors!
Nick.
Apart from the reflections, it never looked natural and thats the way I have looked at these setups done in Europe, and this country too, ever since. Its not an angle or viewpoint we would normally see a creature from and I just don;t feel right about it
.I don't like reflections because as Graham says - you have them all or nothing - they don't look right chopped.
So there we are, the Buzzard- fine although the second ids definately a little soft, but you know the rest. Every one has their own preferences and there are no rules laid down If you like it Barry - thats all that matters.
Cheers
JR