BCNH and Snowy Silhouette

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L
1/1600 sec f/5.6 ISO 250

Sharpening in CS5

[Julie Kenward]

Ian, this is beautiful. I think a few tweaks could help it and something to remember for next time:

First, when we do a silhouette, I like to see the black areas BLACK and CRISP. I'd take the two birds even darker and then add a good round of sharpening around them. I also see a bit of what looks like chromatic aberation (that's the red line between the orange BG and the black birds) so you might try to bring that down as well.

I like the position of the birds in the frame but I would have loved to have seen some separation between the bird on the right and the black area that intersects it. In this instance, you would have had to have moved to the right and that would have blown the HA's and the comp so I think you did the best you could...but separating it from its BG would have been a real advantage here.

Love the weeds in the water...and a beautiful sunset color...it's a good image overall.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Jules. I'm following most of that. I frankly don't see the CA on my monitor even when I blow things up. I agree that I need some sharpening and will go work that over again.

I have a couple more images from the same shoot ... The egret walked forward, but I don't think the heron budged. I'll have to see if one separates the heron from the shadow some more.

[John Chardine]

This image has a lot of interesting components Ian. well done. Although the habitat is a bit messy I think it works. I would crop some of the OOF stuff from the bottom, which would give the image a better balance IMO.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for the suggestions, John! I guess this is as close as I'm going to get to visiting the Antarctic for a while ...