My First Post - Crane in Flight

[adambaca]

http://files.me.com/adambaca/s622eb

This is from about two weeks ago on a frigid Saturday morning. Watching the cranes skate around on the ice was fantastic! I sure hope this image posts correctly...fingers crossed. I'd love constructive criticism.

Bosque Del Apache
Canon 50d, ISO 640, Canon 300mm 2.8 w/ 1.4TC, F/5.6, 1/1000

[Harshad Barve]

Welcome to BPN and nice first post to start with
Lovely compo , shooting angle , wing & head position and BG
If mine I may tone down overall image by few points, Overall One beautifl image for sure
TFS

[Kim Rollins]

I have not been here much as of late but it was a treat to see your post. Wonderful image IMHO, well exposed, well composed.


Speaking Adobe here I would suggest some slight adjustments using Contrast and Brightness Layer. Upping contrast about 12-13 and bringing down Brightness (about -6). A bit of sharpening for size and subject may be beneficial too.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Welcome Adam, nice first post..Keep them coming..

[Paul Lagasi]

Welcome Adam..good suggestions above re contrast and brightness, if it were mine I might remove some of the debris from water surface...flight shots are some of my favourites, sharp...thanks for sharing

[Mital Patel]

just loved the image with such beautiful light and the angle. rest everything mentioned above.

[Lorant Voros]

Warm welcome. Can you please post your real full name; this is one of the requirements to participate in this best forum on the net. (Sorry, Adam...I am editing this again; I thought you put your nickname. My apologies again.)

Nice first post. Like the pose and the wings almost touching the water surface. Agree with the above mentioned suggestions including the clean up of the water. Looking forward to see other posts from you.

[Randy Stout]

Adam:

A big welcome to BPN.

Excellent wing position. Do agree that a little selective PS work might help the bird pop off from the background just a bit more.

From a comp. standpoint, I might position the bird just a bit more to the right in the frame. Not much. If you have it, I would add a sliver more canvas to the left, and I think that would do it.

Look forward to more.

Cheers

Randy

[Joe Senzatimore]

A very warm welcome. Fine first post which collected some very valid points. This is a great place to learn. Keep em coming.

[Randy Stout]

Adam:

I had a second so did a couple of quick tweaks.

In PS I quick masked the bird and then did a curve adjustments on the background only, to help him pop a bit more.
Added a bit of canvas to the left, and sharpened just a bit for web.

Lots of other little things could be done, but very nice image as is, just wanted to show you some options.

Cheers

Randy

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Adam, welcome to BPN. Awesome first post. And with you being in Albuquerque, we expect to see a lot from Bosque. This is the best place to learn bird photography.

Liked the wing position a lot in this one.

[adambaca]

All, I really appreciate the kind words and constructive criticism. I really had not thought much about adding more contrast but I really like what Randy did. It definitely makes the image pop a bit more. I'm going to see if I can recreate that a bit tonight and maybe clean up the water debris a bit. It's really nice to have a place to look at photos and post photos for criticism where you genuinely feel like people are taking an interest in helping you. Thanks again.

[Danny Laredo]

Adam, welcome to BPN. Sweet image to get things started. Love the light and colors.

[Doug Brown]

Welcome to BPN Adam! Excellent advice above. I'm from Albuquerque too; we'll have to get together and photograph one of these days. If you're interested, PM me with your contact info.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN, Adam! Very nice first post. I like the light, wing position and eye contact. If it were mine, I would remove the floating feathers and crop a bit off the right. Keep them coming!

[Tony Whitehead]

Welcome, Adam. Very good first post. Some good advice above with a nice demo by Randy. Looking forward to more.

[Randy Stout]

Adam:

I glanced back at your original post and my repost, and was bothered by the brown colorcast. I went back and reworked by repost to try and reduce the cast. I used Robert O'tooles average color blur tech.

Let me know how this compares with your memory of the original scene if you would.

Cheers

Randy

[Kim Rollins]

Randy -
I suspect you are closer to "real". ;)