I took this one last fall on my way in to work. This bird was perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific with the morning light strongly backlighting. A gust of wind picked up the feathers. I'm wondering if I should lighten or darken the bird more as I couldn't decide which looked best. This is a crop from the full frame. I have all of the body in the original but the feet were blocked by the weeds it was standing in so I choose a portrait crop instead. Your thoughts are most appreciated on this. Thanks
Technical info:
Nikon D80
Nikon 80-200 1:2.8 (at 125mm)
1/200 sec f/6.3
spot metering, on camera flash used, +2/3 eV exposure compensation.
05-26-2008, 06:19 AM
Axel Hildebrandt
Nice backlit portrait and BG. I might tone down the whites on the edges that look a bit overexposed.
05-26-2008, 08:24 AM
Arthur Morris
Looks pretty good to me. Was the flash a pop-up flash or simply "on the camera." I suspect the latter. The image stood up well to a huge crop.
05-26-2008, 09:51 AM
Leroy Laverman
This was the pop-up flash as the bigger flash (SB-50DX) is not compatible with the i-TTL standard (thanks Nikon).
05-26-2008, 10:07 AM
Maxis Gamez
Very nice back light. You did well with the flash technique. I would like to see a little more room in front of the bird.
05-26-2008, 10:42 AM
Arthur Morris
Hey Leroy, Pretty good with the pop-up flash. I need to try using the pop-up flash on the 40D at close range. It's been so long for me without a pop-up flash that I forgot it was even there!
05-26-2008, 01:03 PM
Judy Lynn Malloch
Lovely image with very nice backlighting and composition. Neat to hear about the pop-up flash !! Thankls for sharing.
05-26-2008, 05:48 PM
Paul Pagano
This looks good as is, Leroy. I wouldn't make it any darker.
05-27-2008, 09:52 PM
Dieter Schaefer
1 Attachment(s)
Have been looking at this for quite a while - like the composition and don't think any additional space is needed in front of the bird. Image really held up well after the huge crop. I am tempted to go a little lighter.
