THEME: Wild Turkey Poult with Egg Tooth

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 7D
500mm f/4 + 1.4
Lying on belly in road.

1/200 sec
f/8.0
ISO 800

Driving through a state forest in upstate NY the other day I saw something flopping around in the dirt road. Got out with my big lens and laid on the ground to photograph it. Wasn't sure what it was till suddenly a hen turkey ran squawking across my path. I fired off a few shots, and then got a shirt from my car and gently picked up the poult and placed it a few yards off the road.
Though I had a few shots with the head angled more towards me (as well as directly at me) I chose this, more of a profile shot, as it felt it shows off the egg tooth to best advantage. From looking it up online, it seems the egg tooth falls off after about two days, so this young one was pretty freshly hatched.
Maybe a 30% crop, noise removal, sharpening, and some cloning of lighter vegetation on right side.
All C and C greatly welcome and appreciate! thanks for looking, I hope you like it.

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Melissa,

This is a capture of a lifetime, in my opinion, and you should be very proud! Oh, and your composition is stunning, by the way.

DB

[Dan Brown]

Awesome! Love the eye and the tooth!

[Grace Scalzo]

Melissa, Congrats on a fine capture and a save! Good thing you came along when you did. I would rotate it just a bit clockwise. I believe you may have had some issues with selection as around the little one's head I see some places that look missed and others that look included. Maybe some of the experts could weigh in on how to do this better, I struggle with it too. Also the greens look really saturated on my calibrated monitor, but I wasn't there. Love this, have never seen an image like this before. You have something really special here.

[Randy Stout]

Melissa:

Fine capture, pays to keep your eyes open and your gear in the car:bg3:

Great angle, good choice on head angle to show off the tooth, sharp, well exposed.

Agree on CW rotation.

I had the same initial reaction of Grace about the lighter areas around the head, but after looking at it for a while, I am not sure if there isn't something lighter in the background giving this effect.

Did you do any selections on the head area?

Lovely!

Cheers

Randy

[Danny J Brown]

Grace is dead on regarding the selection artifacts. I suppose you were smoothing out the bokeh from the 7D at ISO 800. Well worth a second try because the capture is so amazing. Good luck!

DB

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks so much to all for your kind words and suggestions. Grace and Randy, I made no selections on the head area. Randy, you are right, there was something lighter in the BG giving that effect. I toyed with trying to get rid of it but thought I'd make it look worse. Below the neck area on the right were more light areas that I cloned out. But did nothing to the head area. Let me know if you think I should do something. I think you're both right as to the slight CW rotation. As for the greens, it was pretty green and lush there, I didn't boost saturation at all. But I could desaturate if others agree it needs it.
Thanks again! I was pretty happy to have found this little one.

[Danny J Brown]

Thanks so much to all for your kind words and suggestions. Grace and Randy, I made no selections on the head area. Randy, you are right, there was something lighter in the BG giving that effect. I toyed with trying to get rid of it but thought I'd make it look worse. Below the neck area on the right were more light areas that I cloned out. But did nothing to the head area. Let me know if you think I should do something. I think you're both right as to the slight CW rotation. As for the greens, it was pretty green and lush there, I didn't boost saturation at all. But I could desaturate if others agree it needs it.
Thanks again! I was pretty happy to have found this little one.

I knew I should have kept my mouth shut about that selection. Sorry.

DB

[Melissa Groo]

no worries Danny! It certainly looks like it! I appreciate your taking the time...

[Randy Stout]

Randy, you are right, there was something lighter in the BG giving that effect. I toyed with trying to get rid of it but thought I'd make it look worse. Below the neck area on the right were more light areas that I cloned out. But did nothing to the head area. Let me know if you think I should do something.

Melissa - I have had the same issue many times with lighter objects in the background looking like I made a processing mistake. I would try a version with a color selection on BG very close to the area, but in the slightly darker green, like most of the background, and then with a very low opacity brush, try to paint in a bit of green over the lighter area. Won't take much.

Of course, you could do what I usually do, and leave it as nature presented it, but it obviously got several peoples attention, so worth a try.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Amazing opportunity, and you did very well with it! I never would have guessed a wild turkey. Way to go getting low...but I think you could have gone a wee bit higher just to get the OOF FG to clear the precious little chick's belly.

I'm sure a bit of selective burning will get those lighter patches out (try it with a soft brush, range set to midtones, 8-10% exposure...repeat if necessary)...worth a try.

Quite a memorable image!!:S3:

edit: I see Randy has given you another option that is worth trying, lots of ways to do it! :-)

[Charles Scheffold]

Very cute. What a fantastic opportunity! I'm glad you got a photo out of it as well as a story to tell :)

I agree with Daniel that slightly higher would have been better, but I think just a little rotation/crop would probably do the trick for that blurry bottom bit.

thanks for sharing!
Charles

[Ofer Levy]

I like this a lot Melissa! I feel the low shooting angle is what makes this one so special. Have you applied noise reduction and or blur tothe image? FG and BG look a bit too smooth to me.

[gail bisson]

Wow! What a wonderful opportunity you had. I agree about a bit of rotation clockwise. Love the fluffyness of the chick and the good look at the eyetooth.
Gail

[Wynand van Wyk]

O, a fantastic capture! I agree that the angle really makes it very special and adds a lot to the image. I really like the colours and detail on the chick.

A super portrait, very well captured!:S3:

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks for the comments.
I sure did apply NR, Ofer. Maybe even a couple times, in my quest to combat the noise of the 7D at 800. I did not realize things could look too smoothed out though! But now I see what you mean, and will have another go at that on the original. Thanks so much. (I love this forum, I learn so much each and every time I post!)

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Also want to add my Well Done, a superb image and agree that the low angle make this. Very cute, love the colours congrates:S3:

[Dumay de Boulle]

Man this is lovely, love the BG and the soft textures. IQ looks good and it really pops from the BG. Lovely stuff Meliss:cheers:a

[Melissa Groo]

Thank you Dumay and Vivaldo!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Melissa, getting down and dirty has certainly paid off here. Super pose from the little guy, and I like DOF effect. I dont mind the OOF FG, but as Dan mentioned shooting a little higher would have worked nicely too. I also agree with a bit of CW rotation. Congrats on a fine image.:w3

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks much, Stuart!

[Nico Steenberg]

Great sharp detail and IQ. Like the low angle. Subject is well exposed with good natural colours against a killer bg. Well done !