Raven at Yellowstone

[kevin Hice]

Took this Raven a couple weeks back at Yellowstone. Processed with Dpp 4,Photoshop,Topaz sharpen. Removed the shadow from the Raven behind right side. Wish that the gray background wasn't intersecting the head. Comments and critiques appreciated.
Canon 1DX 111
100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L Is
328mm
Av 7.1
1/1600
Iso 400

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the processing, colour looks spot on, texture in the feathers and snow is well shown, the eye and lores are really well detailed, and I like the crop too!

[David Roach]

Everything Jonathan said. EXP is soooo awesome. TFS

ps
Sublime canvas...

[Arthur Morris]

Killer pose, EPX, BLACKs, sharpness, and I even love the boxy crop. Great choice of perspective and great little snow mounds too. It was 30 degrees here iii FL yesterday morning but no snow :)

with love, a

ps: how cold was it when you made this image?

a

[kevin Hice]

Twenty degrees Artie very warm for the most part and not much snow pack. Here in Nd finally getting cold for the next week below zero but we have maybe a inch of snow. We have been in a drought.

[Dorian Anderson]

Killer exposure and setting! You held onto the snow detail nicely. I don't mind the gray BG through the head at all; I didn't even notice it until you mentioned it.

My only issue - and it's 100% personal preference - is that these birds appear darker than this in the field. You've revealed more detail in the blacks than our eyes can see,
whereas I'd go the other way and surrender some detail for a more contrasty, natural view (see my the scoter shot I'm going to post in a few minutes). Again, all
personal preference.

[Brian Sump]

Kevin, I love the setting and the layers with the snow. And you're a great photographer to make even a Raven look good :-)

However, I am going against the grain here and saying the subject looks really washed out to me. I can appreciate trying to retain some detail and it looks like you exposed it well to get the snow in check and not mask blacks. Also reduced blues a bit.

While I hate reposting, here is another version with a dirty edit on the jpg. Of course with the raw you can do much more...

189988

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Brian and I knew after I posted I could see some blues. I probably went overboard on getting details out of the blacks.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Kevin ... a really nice and cool overall image .
The subject is great in posing , framing does work well .
Really love the rendered snow :5:5

The subject needs some more depth , IMHO , and a tiny bit more neutrality in the colors . The darks looking like recovered in DPP .... resulting in tonal flatness , I might be well wrong .
Brian´s RP is going in the right direction ... but think can be pushed further .

TFS Andreas

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Kevin ... a really nice and cool overall image .

... and a tiny bit more neutrality in the colors .

TFS Andreas

Hi Andreas, I agree that Brian's repost is an improvement.

In many of your comments use phrases like the one above. Considering that we are all using different monitors and all viewing in different conditions it often seems that you are making suggestions that are nor very solidly grounded in reality ...

with love, a

[Andreas Liedmann]

In many of your comments use phrases like the one above. Considering that we are all using different monitors and all viewing in different conditions it often seems that you are making suggestions that are nor very solidly grounded in reality ...

with love, a

Hi Artie ... thanks for your feedback .

I kindly say , I am not sharing your thoughts ....

Cheers Andreas