hawk

[Celeste Painter]

5dm2 w/ 100-400 L, handheld, no flash
365mm, ISO 200, 1/800 @ f5.6
post processing in lightroom -- crop, cloned out branches and leaves in foreground, very slight sharpening



this is what happens when you are shooting small birds in the light and stumble across something interesting in the shadows overhead. I rather liked the result.


http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Yple6S30k4A/T-p1hpp4buI/AAAAAAAAA08/iW9nyClOwUA/s800/IMG_1475-Edit.jpg

[John Chardine]

Hi Celeste- As an art-piece I like this- the lines and curves, splash of filtered light and the eye. As a bird portrait, well it isn't, but you knew this already! I would try to make the eye sharper.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Celeste, I'm afraid this one doesn't work for me. It is walking the line between bird picture and artistic silhouette but doesn't really work either way due to the mixed light. I can't stress it enough (apparently) on this forum, but you just can't make much of anything out of mixed light. The camera simply can't deal with it and the eye doesn't know how to process it.

As for the image critique, I see a lot of noise in the sky (seems to be a Canon signature) and I find the left part of the frame to be too busy. I would crop away all of it and make this a vertical. It has possibilities...

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Not trying to pile on here but remember you are shooting the light not the subject. As an abstract it does have a unique look but the whites are hot and you need that detail to make the image work IMO. I actually like what you are trying to do here remember to set the exposure for the detail. Reminds me of the zone system, setting the exposure for the detail all else falls into place. Composition can be creative but exposure should be correct if possible.

Again - I like the different perspective - stay with it!