bosque_02

[Christopher Marek]

Camera Model: Canon EOS 30D
Date/Time: 2010:11:19 17:08:14
Shutter speed: 1/800 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Spot
ISO: 800
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal length: 700mm

[Doug Brown]

The silhouette works well, and all 3 birds have good wing positions. I like that you can see through the hole in the bill of each bird. I'd like a bit more canvas on the right, and in an ideal world, the leading bird would have slightly better separation from the other two.

[Stu Bowie]

Christopher, good wing positions from all three, and I like the colourful sky BG. I would maybe run another round of NR on the BG.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Great getting all three with their wings up or down. Agree with Doug that separation between first and second bird is a bit slim. I am wondering actually if the image would improve by taking out the middle bird completely... Great background too and you could make the silhouettes a bit blacker. JR

[Pieter de Waal]

Nice silhouette flight shot Chris, love the layered sky background. Also agree with NR on background and darker silhouettes.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Christopher, as others have siad, terrific wing positions and DOF to get all three sharp. They are perfectly parallel too. I think this can be improved quite a bit by some extra processing...darkening the birds and lightening the Bg and tad more color sat.

[Christopher Marek]

Christopher, as others have siad, terrific wing positions and DOF to get all three sharp. They are perfectly parallel too. I think this can be improved quite a bit by some extra processing...darkening the birds and lightening the Bg and tad more color sat.
I have tried to do everything everyone has said to do. I was able to add more canvas to the right. I was able to separate the leading bird further to the right. I was not able to lighten the bg and darken the birds without losing the 'see through' nostril that both Doug and I like. I also was having trouble with the gap of light that is seen between the legs of the birds also being lost by my manipulations. My attempts at pumping up the color looked like I was creating a cartoon, so I gave up on that. I hope I have not introduced any tell tale manipulation artifacts?

I was concerned about the horizon because a freind of mine who is a great photographer (but who does not do nature photos) did not like it. He said he did not know what it was and that I should get rid of it. Now that I have stretched the photo, I fear he may be right about it looking odd.

Thanks to everyone for their sugestions.

Thanks to everyone for their sugestions!

[Joerg Rockenberger]

I think the repost is an incredible improvement especially regarding the seperation between the first two birds. How did you do it? Congrats, JR

[Doug Brown]

Repost looks good!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Agree. repost is much better.

[Christopher Marek]

I think the repost is an incredible improvement especially regarding the seperation between the first two birds. How did you do it? Congrats, JR

To separate the birds a little, I first added some canvas to the right....

[Christopher Marek]

To separate the birds a little, I first added some canvas to the right....

Then I selected the portion of the image I want to be moved to the right (in the next step). To do this I did a COPY of the selection and followed that with a PASTE. The result appears to have no effect....but....

[Christopher Marek]

Then I selected the portion of the image I want to be moved to the right (in the next step). To do this I did a COPY of the selection and followed that with a PASTE. The result appears to have no effect....but....
Because you did a paste of the copy, you can use the MOVE tool to scoot the pasted piece over into the canvas you added in the first step. You get this result. Now you can use the PATCH tool to select the left over crane head and feet, and remove them just as you would if you were doing spot removal clean up.

[Christopher Marek]

Because you did a paste of the copy, you can use the MOVE tool to scoot the pasted piece over into the canvas you added in the first step. You get this result. Now you can use the PATCH tool to select the left over crane head and feet, and remove them just as you would if you were doing spot removal clean up.
Lastly you need to clean up the ugly seam down the middle. The clone tool seems to be the best way. The biggest problem with all this is you have to be real careful to not leave teltale smudges behind.