Egyptian vulture

[Tiago Caravana]

Hello,

Today I bring you a photo of an Egyptian vulture, the only species of vulture that lives in Portugal that I haven't been able to photograph before. The juveniles are dark brown and they become white with age, this was the nicer one in the feeding station.

All C&C is welcomed and appreciated :)

EXIF: Nikon D4 + 500mm f4 VR | f8 | 1/1000 | ISO1600

140583

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Tiago, good HA captured here, and love the spikey 'hairdo'. The feather detail shows up well, and you have exposed this fellow nicely. Comp wise, maybe a bit off the top.

[Diane Miller]

Nice detail in the bird, and I love that hairdo! I would take a little off the top and right, and lighten the darkest tones in the vegetation on the right. My eye jumps between the light area above the bird and that dark area, with both having about equal weight in the composition.

[Tiago Caravana]

Thanks Stuart and Diane!

I've done the cropping you both suggested. I have a fascination with the flight, thus I tend to leave more space for the bird to fly in my pictures.

Concerning the lighten of the darker green tones, I don't know the best way to do it just in the tree. I've lightened all the BG and FG

140605

[Binu John]

Beautiful shot! I like the crop in the RP. I would try to add catchlight in the eye.

[Diane Miller]

I think this crop presents the very interesting subject better, and still shows enough environment.

The dark tree isn't so much of an issue in the repost, with everything lighter. And I think I like this lighter BG, aside from the issue with the tree.

The tree alone could be easily lightened with a soft quick mask selection (not extending out into the BG) and an adjustment layer that will be masked to that selection. Check the tutorial at the top of the ETL forum (the stickies) titled Making Local Adjustments... That may not be necessary now, but worth looking at for comparison. One of the advantages of an adjustment layer is that it can be toggled on and off to judge whether you like it. Sometimes it's 50-50 and I'll leave it in the layer stack but turned off, in case I change my mind later, such as after printing or submitting somewhere.

There's a tutorial there on layers, too, if you're new to them.

Look forward to seeing more from you!