Theme: Ma.... where's the Meatloaf!?

[Brian Sump]

189385

Actually, this juvenile male was calling for dad just before sunset. Apparently the Gray Ghost flew right over me, as told by a friend, while I was engrossed in shooting this action.

I went back and forth too many times on the contrast and settled here. Love to know how you feel..

Also, PLEASE do not mistake the iris of the eye (thank you Randy) as the IQ being poor. As mentioned before, the outside rim of the iris in the juvenile's eye is not fully developed and it throws me off when I assess my own frames.

Canon R5
600mm + 1.4x
Handheld
ISO 1600
1/2500
f5.6

LR and PS, DN. 20% crop. Evicted a couple small grasses coming into the frame.

[David Roach]

Love the environment, love the expression, love the light, heck, what's not to love... TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Brian, nice to get so close, you couldn't get this close over here too easily, was it on a kill? Techs look good and good move to keep the SS high for the px's, DoF works nicely also. I like the open beak and fixed glare, was it feeling threatened to cause it to display? You had some lovely light and I think your position was about right here, perhaps a sliver more at the foot if you have it?


I went back and forth too many times on the contrast and settled here. Love to know how you feel..

OK this is just my take, I know folk will disagree and love it as presented, but it's just an alternative POV.

I tend to feel the FG should be darker so you get a transition as light will get lighter as it reseeds back IMHO and this also helps the FG foliage adding depth. In addition it creates more of a layering rather than a complete immerse of colour. The blacks are heavily clipped in the Blue channel and so I feel that stems from Contrast, which in turn is also masking some of the detail, ie in the face and top part of the wing plumage, did you lighten/lift the face. I would also evict the grass stems to the LHS. Is it water that is peeking through the grasses at the foot.

TFS
Steve

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the details, view down the throat, complimentary BG and composition. I can't believe how close you get to these birds. Excellent image Brian.

[Dorian Anderson]

"I rode my bike to a cemetery yesterday......"

Looks great! Lucky to get so close. Envious as I've never managed anything of this species. Calling pose is great, and I think the bird's presence is sufficient to overcome the semi-busy but completely representative habitat. I like Steve's suggestion of darkening the foreground, and I think the bird looks super sharp in his rework. He's given up a bit of contrast, but I don't think its too much.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Nice one , Brian .
Good suggestion from Steve and the RP looks about perfect to me .
The expression is great and the story behind it , as well !!

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dorian, it’s all about using mode blends, curves/levels with adjustments as an adjustment layer and avoiding adding additional contrast and exposure, therefore retaining original fine detail. Ramping up blacks is never the answer, this also avoids chocking dark areas of high contrast. :w3

[Brian Sump]

Thank you for chiming in with your thoughts all.

Steve, it looks like you primarily WB adj for yellows to me (w/ perhaps some selective darkening at bottom as mentioned), maybe a little sat/vib. This was close to last light and I hoped to retain that feel but the yellows concealed detail obviously.

Dorian, the rp looks crunchy to me, which you might expect just doing a quick jpg edit. I had pushed it as far as it seemed to hold up before compromising IQ on the TIF.

[Steve Kaluski]

No Brian, all I did was as described in my reply. There is a lot more detail in the plumage, but did you lighten the face in the OP?

[Brian Sump]

No Brian, all I did was as described in my reply. There is a lot more detail in the plumage, but did you lighten the face in the OP?

No. I thought you did in the RP. I mask the whole bird and changes are made on the entire subject usually.

[John Mack]

Very nice frame here. Not the ususal setting we see these birds in. The calling pose is great. Steve's repost takes it up a couple notches.