Still going strong

[Steve Kaluski]

Well, with the shooting season well underway, these little guys are still managing to out maneuver the Top Guns of the shooting brigade and still provide some photographic interest.

Steve
Subject: Red Grouse in heather, early morning (Lagopus lagopus)
Location: UK
Camera: Canon MKIV
Lens: 500f/4 -HH
Exposure: 1/400s at f/4 ISO200 0 stop compensation
Crop: Slight crop for presentation (original capture horizontal)

[Mital Patel]

Extremely beautiful Bird and great POV.

IQ is superb and so the exposure.

I feel few points here can be done to put this on fire.

Chopping off sliver left and add bit on right as the bird become too centered ..
Toning down the reflection in eye would give it better feel.

Adding sharpness is required though the soft feel is what i liked here as is but adding a bit of USM might not hurt IMHO.

[yogesh_puranik]

amazing image i liked the colors and environment..do agree with mital bhai's comments..TFS

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Dan. I'd be fine with a half inch off the right to lose the two and a half tiny bright white flowers. BKGR is way-sweet!

[Alan Murphy]

Such a sweet setting. I'm picking up a slight light halo around the bird on my monitor.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Great bg and setting. I only wish the oof flowers in front had a purple tone to them

[Craig Brelsford]

Very autumnal. I'm glad you had the confidence to post this image, even with its partly hidden grouse and distracting OOF flowers in foreground.

[Steve Kaluski]

I'm glad you had the confidence to post this image,

Why would I not craig? :S3:

[Craig Brelsford]

Why would I not craig? :S3:

Simply because of what I consider to be its defects--i.e., the incompleteness of the bird and the distracting OOF flowers. What I'm saying is that despite those defects, the image is still strong and worthy of appreciation.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Love the image here , the angle is superb . Agree with the compo suggestions .

[Ofer Levy]

I love this as presented. The incompleteness of the bird is what makes this image. I am fine with the composition as presented.

[Arthur Morris]

I love this as presented. The incompleteness of the bird is what makes this image. I am fine with the composition as presented.

Check out the link to the early-announced BBC commended images. There are some way-out "incomplete compositions" in the slide program including lots of killer creative stuff. You can see the images here (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/competition/preview.jsp).

[Steve Kaluski]

OK guys, just trying to get to grips on the feedback, however here is the repost taking into account:
- Darkening the eye
- Another round of USM
- Crop, although I now think it is too tight above, I always like the 3:2 ratio

Like Ofer, I prefer the original crop, but am always open to suggestions.

Cheers Artie for the above.

Steve :wave:

[Arthur Morris]

Like you Steve, I am a big fan of 3X2. The trick here would have been to recompose to the right in the field :S3:. I like both. I did not even notice the big group of OOF foreground stuff as it was uniformly soft and in a nice spot. In retrospect a bit more room above would not have hurt either.

[Karl Egressy]

Great setting and a beauty bird, Steve.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Steve, I like your OP...I am a big fan of FG blur....I think it brings a very unique 'snail's eye view' perspective. All your shots of this species have been awesome. Very well done here as well.

[Austin Thomas]

Glad to see this one Steve. Nice tones and the darker eye is an improvement.

Once again a great angle.

I am viewing on an iPad on a train so I won't comment on any sharpening or halo issues.

Cheers

Austin

[Steve Kaluski]

Train, I thought you only flew? :bg3:

Could you not have got a pristine cover to shoot and then post for Country Life, looks like it came from a Dr's surgery. Nice one Austin :bg3:

BTW, only have this weekend if you want a chat, next 2 weeks totally hammered and you will soon know why, before the trip.

All the best.
Steve