Hovering

[wendell westfall]

D70s 70-200VR+2X@140 1/1600 f/10 ISO800 0EV handheld

With the friendly cooperation of this brown pelican, I practiced my in-flight skills this morning. The big, slow guy gave me plenty of chances, and this is the one I've chosen to post -- it was that moment before his dive and plunge into the water. I'm not sure I have enough contrast . . . I tried to brighten the eye without much success . . . the sky is untouched, by the way, except that I ran NR on it twice in PS Elements . . . I did not need the 2X. All in all, I'm not too happy with the image (or am I being too critical?), although I think it has potential to be very good. My PP skills and judgments still need work. Please help. C&C welcomed and appreciated on this.

Wendell

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Wendell,
I like the composition and capture with the open wings. The color rendition is good, but it appears a tad over sharpened in the wings, also I see a small amount of noise in the brown areas of the under wings. There is also a dust bunny in the sky to the right of this young fellow...love the blue tone of the sky...aside from these minor details, you did well...I like it...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

I think you over sharpen the bird here, I can see halo around the stomach and the feather detail looks a bit funny (although this could be from down sizing). Agree about noise on the brown wing tip, might selective run NR on that. Love the wing span, the head angle and you got the whole bird equally sharp. Just wish the far wing separate from the head more and clean up the dust in front. I guess the white droplet at the bottom is water.

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with comments ... can add it would have been better capturing the bird with wings in the full up or down position .. seem to look more appealing than bent !!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Wendell - Gus has it pretty much covered.
Doing well though - have improved a whole bunch.
Congrats :)

[wendell westfall]

Thanks to all for those helpful critiques. I seem to have trouble "seeing" deficiencies in my images (even after they are pointed out) that others see rather clearly. But I'm learning, thanks to you. Bring on the criticism -- I like it and profit from it . . .