GBH

[denise ippolito]

Canon 40D
500mm
ISO 200
1/3200 SEC. AT F/5.6
Tripod
Taken before tips on higher ISO
cropped a little for composition

[Doug Brown]

Nice composition and exposure. I like the inclusion of slightly pink clouds. I wish the bird's head were pointing slightly towards you.

[Randy Stout]

Denise:

Like Doug, I like the composition, this wing position and cropping works well for me.

My concern is the head merging with the wing, which is tough to avoid in this pose, depending on the neck position. I would prefer it all the way in the clear, or completely overlapping the underwing, to act as a clean backdrop for it. The head is so well lit, it would pop out from the dark underwing just fine.

With your current image, I might try lightening the shadow areas a bit with s/h to see how that plays. It might make the merge even more objectionable, but might be worth a very quick peek.

The cloud really does help balance the bird.

thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Dave Phillips]

nice Denise....can you elaborate on this
Taken before tips on higher ISO

with 1/3200 sec why would you want higher ISO?
What were the tips?

[denise ippolito]

Randy, I opened it up in S/H but was unhappy w/ the results-it looked like noise? So basically you're saying that the head cannot be touching wing or it has to be completely overlapping the wing? Is that correct? Thanks again for your help.:)

Doug, Thankyou-will try to get bird to look at me!:)

Dave, I was told by several moderators that my ISO should be at least 400 for birds in flight. I didn't want them to think I hadn't taken their advice.

[David Smith]

I too like the wing position and exposure. As far as the ISO goes, it appears that ISO200 got you plenty of shutter speed for this image. Don't think you needed ISO400, however in a different light situation the higher ISO might have been benefical..

Dave

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Denise,
This may be my favorite BIF pose and they don't always stick their neck out. Sometimes it's just a case of the bird needing to fly lower...and there we have minimal control.......or lower sun angle.....which we can control....but the birds don't always cooperate there either.

You may want to try and use a screen blend layer on the shadow area......may open it just a touch. You may also try a reverse S-curve first......to tone down some of the high contrast and this may also bring up some of the shadow area.

Aaaahh...the ISO debate.....this was plenty for the GBH.....but some of the smaller/faster birds.....need more. You never know when one of those is going to fly by....so I always chose faster SS's and thus....higher ISO's. You can also boost the f-stop by raising the ISO....to allow for more "wiggle room". (Thanks James...for that term)say going to f8...at iso 400 with the same speed. This allows a greater margin for DOF error.

I think the PP tweaks will help the image reach it's full potential....nicely done!

[denise ippolito]

Thanks for the tips -will try to apply!

[Joe Senzatimore]

All good advise so I won't say the samre things. Aside from that , I love the comp and the cloud on the lower rigt adds to it. It does seem soft. Just a bit smaller f stop might be in order.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!
Roman, I don't know if this is better or not-my eyes are going buggy working on this!:p

[Doug Brown]

I think the shadow detail in the original was fine Denise. I'm not bothered by the overlap between the neck and the wing. Everything from the eye forward is clear of the wing, and the neck stands out nicely against the wing. It's when the head gets lost in the wing that I have a problem.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Denise,
Might have to look at these side by side..so it's not just your eyes......but it does appear the 2nd one brought out a hair in the shadow area.....you can see the feather seperation....but also the wings (probably the reverse s-curve). I think that's it!

[Desmond Chan]

I think this is very good! I don't find the head/neck "merging" with the left wing a problem because both the head and the neck are of lighter colors and lit while the underpart of the wing is in the shadow. The viewers can easily see and separate the head/neck from the wing. If this is a black bird or birds of darker colors, I think that would be a problem.

As for ISO, I'd say use the one that gives you the shutter speed given the f-stop you're using.

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou guys- I value your opinions!

[Randy Stout]

Denise:

I have been out for a while, or would have elaborated on my head merge comment earlier. My preference is to not have a merge if possible. However, as Doug pointed out, there is still good seperation in this image because of the lighting.

Cheers

Randy

[denise ippolito]

Randy, Once again thankyou for your helpful critiques!:)