My First attempt....

[William Malacarne]

This is my first try so please don't go to hard. I know the BG is not what I want but the upper left third had blown out sky that I weakly tried to replace. The feet being cropped was because I was not able to get back further.

Thanks
Bill

Camera: Canon 1D MKII N
Lens: Canon 300mm f4 w/1.4 tc
Focal length: 420mm
Exposure Mode: AV
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/60's
F stop: f/9
Exposure Comp: matrix

[Nonda Surratt]

Wow Bill! So close to a RT that you cut the feet off? Cool! Nice eye and detail too! I'll let the pros tell you an easy way to go the sky besides cloning, I can't explain it:-) I keep thinking maybe and even tighter crop?? Not sure. Really neat first!!!

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bill !!!! Since you asked to go easy on you there wont be the customary twenty lashes !!! If you post the original will give it a try Just post here as an answer

You did the right thing regarding the legs We don't mind intentional cutting Clipping is what we are trying to avoid I like your selected crop bt is unusual (what is it) but nothing wrong with it Its not cluttered and can be smooth out !!!

A couple of things jump out at me here If you were so close why use the 1.4 X converter? Would also have sacrifice the aperture for speed 1/60 sec with all that focal length is dangerous Not generally conducive to sharp images On the same note would have bumped the ISO The Mk2 will be good for more !!!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Bill,
I like your BG choice! Sometimes........you have to make do with what you have. My 2Cents is.............if you had shot verticle and tight........you might have gotten something similar or better than this..........I rotated the canvas and cropped. Also sharpened a tad. Overall, you have the harder stuff in this picture as your exposure is VG. All the other stuff will come with practice!
Hope this helps,
Roman

[William Malacarne]

Alfred

Here is the org. The reason for the slow shutter and the 1.4 TC was....the bird landed on my garage and I grabbed the camera and went outside as fast as I could. As I was raising the camera he turned to look at me and right after I took the picture he was gone.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Alfred

Here is the org. The reason for the slow shutter and the 1.4 TC was....the bird landed on my garage and I grabbed the camera and went outside as fast as I could. As I was raising the camera he turned to look at me and right after I took the picture he was gone.


This was quite a bit of work! It's do able...but you wouldn't want to work this hard for every picture. Better to do it in the field.
Rotated canvas about 23 degrees...verticle crop and major cloning of BG. Noise reduction and Blurring applied to BG. Selective sharpening on eye and bill and then more sharpening after normal corrections. Whew! IMO This just makes a "normal" composition. Not perfect as I was trying to be pretty quick but let me know what you think,
Roman

[William Malacarne]

Roman

I like the vertical but I think I would like to see a little more room around the bird.
Thanks for the comments.

Bill