Swamp hen in black..

[Don Railton]

Hi Guys,

Don't often post here, mainly hang out in landscapes although its been some time since I posted there also..:e3. I have been trawling through my archives cleaning up stuff as you do and thought this might look OK in B&W, but feel free tell me what you think... It's not your usual photo you see in this forum so be a tough as you like.

1D4 & 500F4 series 1 on tripod (5 series gitzo & wimberly 2)
1/3200, F5 ISo 1600.
Cropped to square from Portrait format, Converted in ACR and then Silver effects conversion & exposure adjustment layer...

Don

[Marina Scarr]

Thanks for taking the time to post in Avian, Don. I really like what you were going for here. Love the hint of back lighting. THis is truly quite artistic. The only thing that isn't working for me is the crop but without the entire image to compare, I really can't envision how I might crop it differently. Please keep sharing with us over here in avian!

[Don Railton]

Hi Marina

Thanks so much for commenting.. the image was the usual 1D4's 4 x 6 ratio in Portrait format. So all I did was crop the top and bottom to make it square. I know square is not popular with many, but I wanted the image to fade to black without having too much black (if that makes sense..). I am glad you like the back lighting, its what appealed to me also..

regards

DON

[Marina Scarr]

You may wish to consider a crop like this. I added a little canvas on the right. I could have maybe left a tad more at the bottom.

[Don Railton]

Ah Yes.. more space for the bird to move into..and a bit more separation for the reflection from the border. Like what you have Done Marina.. thanks heaps..!!

DON

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the moody effect you achieved here...my favorite loon image I took has a similar feel to this (silhouette on black with some rim lighting). Very artsy. The only thing I had reservations with is the crop, and Marina's version addresses that. My ideal preference would have been similar to Marina's, but with a looser comp to include the full reflection. Way to go in seeing the opportunity.

[Don Railton]

Thanks Dan...

[Don Railton]

reprocessed from scratch, added canvas +15% RHS and 5% LHS.. Much prefer this, Many thanks Marina & Dan

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hmm, at first I was thrown off by the central comp in your last repost...but the more I really looked at it the more I liked it. It works for me, although I think you could trade about 10-15% left to right. Highly subjective of course! Fun to play with images eh!

[Don Railton]

Thanks Dan... Again..! Yep, nice to play. Looking for the 'core' of an image..

[Randy Stout]

Don:

The last repost shows significantly more detail and works much better for me because of that. Somewhere between Marina's repost and your last one, with a bit more to the right, I don't really mind square crops for certain content shapes, but feel this one works better in a more horizontal format.

Randy

[Don Railton]

Thanks Randy...appreciate your input..