Wooly necked stork (Ciconia episcopus)

[Jonathan Ashton]

A fascinating bird to watch, he was clearly watching me too. Image taken from a boat on the Chambal River. I managed to take a umber of images some with the legs crooked but I liked the eye in this one.

Hand held

Olympus E-M1X
Lens focal length : 420 mm
Focal length in 35 mm film : 841.0mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO : 1250
Exposure bias : 0 EV
Exposure time : 1/1600 sec
F number : F5.6
Flash : OFF

LR & PSCC 2020

All comments most welcome.

[gail bisson]

I love the soft muted light and the great BG.
Great look at the eye.
The bottom of the frame feels a bit tight. I would add a sliver more canvas if you have it.
I would love to see a version with exposure increased by 0.2-0.3 in LR and a bit of contrast added.
A really nice image of a special bird,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

I love the soft muted light and the great BG.
Great look at the eye.
The bottom of the frame feels a bit tight. I would add a sliver more canvas if you have it.
I would love to see a version with exposure increased by 0.2-0.3 in LR and a bit of contrast added.
A really nice image of a special bird,
Gail

Gail - just for you exposure +0.28 contrast 25 (I don't like it, I feel detail is lost in both highlights and shadows ....contrast is a bit of a no no for me!)

[Bill Dix]

Great bird with a beautiful background. (And nice eye.) Well exposed. The RP does seem to lose just a tad of detail in the woolly neck, but I'd be happy with either one.

[Steve Kaluski]

Prefer the OP Jon, but it needs a Curves mid tone tweak at least to add more depth. Seems you have overcome the noise & sharpness and you have some good detail overall. Is that some cloning in the LHS corner, looks a bit messy, but does need more content at the foot, even overall to give the subject room to breathe. Killer BKG.

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

[QUOTE=Steve Kaluski;1227527]Prefer the OP Jon, but it needs a Curves mid tone tweak at least to add more depth. Seems you have overcome the noise & sharpness and you have some good detail overall. Is that some cloning in the LHS corner, looks a bit messy, but does need more content at the foot, even overall to give the subject room to breathe. Killer BKG.

TFS
Steve[/QUOTE

I haven't done anything different regarding noise/sharpness Steve, as I mentioned previously my difficulties have been primarily with non bird images. I think the primary problem was poor image capture technique - rubbish in rubbish out. .... and the single most likely error there was insufficient SS.
Yes messy cloning at base, I do have other images with a little more base but it was the eye I liked.

[Steve Kaluski]

the single most likely error there was insufficient SS.

I wouldn't say 1/1600 is 'insufficient', may have gone to f/11 in old money, it worked for the Marabou.


Yes messy cloning at base, I do have other images with a little more base but it was the eye I liked.

Messy - wrong tool used. Your call, but lift the base from another image if you don't have the content, but with a zoom you shouldn't be so tight in framing I feel Jon.

[John Mack]

Neat looking bird. Like the framing. Detail looks pretty nice. Background is great.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I wouldn't say 1/1600 is 'insufficient', may have gone to f/11 in old money, it worked for the Marabou.



Messy - wrong tool used. Your call, but lift the base from another image if you don't have the content, but with a zoom you shouldn't be so tight in framing I feel Jon.
I very nearly did use the base from another image, but I was too lazy .....no excuses I'm afraid!

[gail bisson]

I agree that the increase in exposure is not a good idea but I would play with curves if you don't like adding contrast.

[Dorian Anderson]

Cool bird. It really pops against that super-smooth BG! There are some fairly minor technical issue which others have mentioned, but my biggest props are the too-tight crop and disinterested gaze. Static shots like this
really need more eye contact to land. Details across the bird look great though.

[Steve Kaluski]

I very nearly did use the base from another image, but I was too lazy .....no excuses I'm afraid!

That's what Pam said :bg3: - I think 15 minutes in Curves Jon would be fitting, but in German. :w3

Now back at the main residence if you need to talk, just trying to review Kevin's files.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice frame most technical issues covered above but no one mentioned the head is slightly angled away from us which is the main issue with this image IMO
TFS