Fall Balancing Act - Trumpeter against the orange

[Randy Stout]

One of the interesting balances that you have to strike in bird photography is between the subject and the environment. I tend to lean towards strong subject isolation against an OOF BG, but it is helpful to try different styes too!

This juvi trumpeter was doing the color tour yesterday. Very dark morning, with occ. glimpses of light (this was not one of those moments however :S3:)

D4 f/4 1/1000s ISO 1600 handheld

Post: Minor crop from left and below for comp, selective sharpening, detail extractor under wings, smoothed out a few random highlights.

Juvis tend to be much grayer than the adults, so the birds colors are pretty accurate here

I am particularly interested in how the subject/background balance works.

Cheers

Randy


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[Miguel Palaviccini]

I do like that background, although I wish it were a bit more uniform. Either way, the colors really compliment the rest of the image. Glad you mentioned the gray color on the juvis, as that was going to be one of my first comments. I would like to see a brighter version of this shot, just to help it pop a bit more. Great capture and timing none-the-less.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Miguel:

I had tried a couple different versions, with different degrees of luminosity. Was concerned that the BG became more dominant as the image was brighter. Here is one of the versions.

Cheers

Randy

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Randy - I kept going back and forth and both look great to me. I do think I would lean more toward the re-post.

[Jon Rista]

I think I like the repost a bit better. The bird still feels quite nicely isolated against the background, although the amount of detail in the background does kind of change the relationship a bit. Great fall capture, though. Thanks for noting that it was a juvi.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Ok, I came back to this and had one more input. What if you got rid of the dark patch on the top right? I'm not sure if I keep looking at it because I want it to be gone or because it balances the rest of the image well (two very different ideas, for sure!). Just a thought :)

[Ivan Ellison]

I prefer the orig shot, for me the bird pops out more.I quite like how the bird is between the split in the BG . Good under wing detail .It does give a nice feel of autumn-fall- and I look forward to more.

[Gary Esman]

I know this bird! The original post is better. The re-post looks over exposed to me. The bright white area on the top of the back keeps drawing my eye to it. The background looks just the way it is in the original also. Like the droplets off the feet here. very cool.

Gary.

[gail bisson]

Hi Randy,
I think i like the OP best. I like the fall colors.
I am not a fan of this wing position but that is a personal preference.
Nice to get it tack sharp-always hard to do on an incoming bird!
Gail

[Andrew Merwin]

I also like the OP best as the swan stands out more from the BG. Although I do find the tree trunks a bit distracting, I think the subject/BG works best in the OP. The swan is wonderfully sharp. I really like the falling water droplets.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for your comments and thoughts. Much appreciated.

Cheers

Randy