You Choose!

[Harold Davis]

taken at boynton inlet last week. i have two pretty similar images here processed totally differently. the first one is full out processed including establishing a b&w control point. the second one is just cropped and sharpened. which one do like the best? i will say why i ask later. i dont want to put any thoughts in your mind now.

D300, Bigma at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/500s, +0.3EV, ISO 200, flash fill no beamer at +2.0EV

thanks for looking and i appreciate your comments and critiques.

[Harold Davis]

the second one

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Vote for the second Harold, I love the buffs and beiges going together with the sand. I guess you will'fess up with the type of bird later. Nice shot! Just a wee mark on the second shot top/middle area that may be a little distracting. (lens flare??)

[Julie Kenward]

I like the top one. I like the beige tones in the sky and lighting but not on the bird. That could be because I've never seen the actual bird but my mind believes the first bird is in its natural setting.

Does that help?

[William Malacarne]

When people say the second one or the top one, it really has no meaning. You can set up your page so that the newest post is on top or the oldest post is on top. Myself I have the newest on top for the reason that when you get a thread with lots of posts I do not have to scroll all the way down to find to most recent.

My bad as I see the one is titled second post. Now after seeing that I would say I like the second one, as to me it looks more natural.

Bill

[Phil Ertel]

I also like the first one the best for the same reasons Julie mentioned. If it were mine I might try and remove or tone down the brown OOF spot (bottom center). I also would darken or remove the light spot between the birds head and the sand.

Regards,

Phil

[Nonda Surratt]

Well I can't make up my mind, how's that?

[Harold Davis]

Well I can't make up my mind, how's that?

Ppp....lease (i wish there were a smilie that rolls it's eyes!!) insert here!!:D

[Gus Cobos]

Doctor Davis,
The human mind is a funny thing; once you have freedom of choice. Thats why we are the most dangerous animals on earth, because we can choose at random...:eek: well; I like both of them...hows that...depending on the mood that you want to convey....both has its merits. a garden is full of many different color flowers; so is mother nature and her birds...good show my good Doctor...now I ask you....which one do you like???:D:cool:

[denise ippolito]

Harold. I like the first post -the darks are stonger and the blues are bluer-I also agree w/ Phil about the 2 spots-BTW,LOVELY SHOT.Adorable little guy w/ nice pose-well done

[Harold Davis]

thanks for the comments everyone! i like the second one. when i did the color balance on the first one i thought it erased all the feel/mood that the light from the setting sun had cast on it. i can see why some like the first. it is the actual color of the bird. just no mood.

i have had images before where there were complaints about too much warmth (which would come from an early sunrise or sunset. i like the warmth. it just seems unacceptable and curious as to what everyone else thought.

thanks again for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. feel free to discuss away at this. will be interesting to hear what you think now.

[Mark Schack]

I like the fist one, it might be an illusion but it looks sharper. Either one is good though because the subject is adorable. I know me, if it were mine I'd try to PS out the leg bands.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

I second Nonda. I can't make up my mind either. So I like them both.

[Alfred Forns]

I'll go for the first one Harold Sort of like the cool tones since it appears sharper !!!

..... btw the choosing thing did not distract me enough not to notice the head angle ..... twenty lashes :D:):)

[Gail Spitler]

Thanks for raising the thought provoking question.
Gail

[Lance Peters]

hi MR H - another vote for the first one - nice job:)

[Richard Waas]

Can I have a third choice? hehehe My vote is the first minus the two spots. Although I do agree that the second has a warmer feel, but the first appears sharper. Come on, give me a third choice...... Congrats!!!