Black Grouse (Lyrurus tetrix)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hand held image taken from the car window (forgot my bean bag!!)
Here's a 3:2, OK I get the message... yes I do think it looks better!
I have obviously cropped - no added canvas though. I have used the Remove tool in a couple of places to eliminate some grasses. The left wing had a significant green ghost (grasses) on it, I think I have done a reasonable job (for me anyway) on minimising it. Have a look at his head I think he has a few ticks.
Hope you like this one.
Model Name : OM-1
Focal Length (35 mm conversion) : 1002.0mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO : 1600
Exposure compensation : +0.3 EV
Shutter : 1/640 sec
Aperture : F5.6

ACR/PSCC

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, framing is certainly better and I like the POV/eye level, but the choice in tool to manipulate the issues you mentioned, I personally think is wrong, but...

Overall the image looks flat, nice detail in the subject and great BKG, no distracting elements, FG is typical of the habitat. Sharp where it needs to be and I like very much the calling pose.

TFS
Steve

PS the left leg needs addressing ASAP

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... subject looks very good in terms of detail and posing is ok , the HA and calling helps to add interest .
Better comp in terms of more balance between bottom and top .
Super smooth BG which does make the subject pop nicely .

For me the image is too dark overall and colors do look kind of flat , IMHO.
Interesting to see 3 different exposures with 3 different postings of the same scene ??? Unless the subject is tied up at the spot ....

Nevertheless cool that you got the opportunity to see and photograph them .

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andreas, the bird location was very similar for each image, the lighting conditions were changing constantly. I was varying exposure to see if I got much difference in terms of image quality. I also do it to vary the SS, at setting 50fps raw I feel it's worth a chance to go for slow as well as more practical speeds, that way I have a choice of ISO too.
Steve the image is flatter than the previous, I was in two minds over posting as is or giving it a boost, then I thought why not gauge opinion see what others think.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Jon, I like this more than the previous image - I like the position of the bird and the calling over the shoulder pose. Plenty of clarity or we wouldn't see those ticks!

I like the richness that you get from having a slightly darker image and I think it works very nicely here. To me it is reminiscent of rich oil paintings in the hunting lodge.

Thanks for sharing.

Gerald

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Gerald, I am pleased you liked it.