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I captured this image earlier this year at Ft. Desoto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF, Handheld
1/3200 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 450 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500nn (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped for composition and presentation
Joe, a pretty sweet flight shot. Always loved white against blue and this is no exception. Nicely exposed.
Looks sharp from tip to tip, good work @ f5.6. Feels just a bit tight at the right edge and would love a bit of room to fly into. Do you have room at both ends? Perhaps move it down just a sliver too.
Hi Brian, sure more room. I'll work on it and re post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Sump
pretty frame Joe, wings just a touch higher would have been perfect
TFS
Ditto the comp suggestions. Sweet flight pose against a nice "ocean blue" backdrop.
Hi Joe overall good looking BIF shot .
Can only jump on others suggestions regarding the composition .
One of your better ones in terms of processing and output quality , asking myself why are you having such changing in the output quality , well this is just my personal thinking that you and others might not share :w3
TFS Andreas
Beautiful image, Joe. Your blue BG really makes that orange bill pop. Loving the eye contact as well. Yeah, it would have been nice to have the wings a bit higher, but the underwing detail you did get looks great in terms of detail and exposure. I agree you could use a bit more room at left - but not much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andreas Liedmann
Hi Andreas, thank you for commenting and viewing. In response to your question regarding image output quality I answer. Some images as this one just fall into place, the light is perfect, the camera autofocus grabbed the bird with the phase detect operating perfectly, not much had to be done to the image in post processing. Other image are more difficult, the light was not as good, the autofocus may have been a bit off, the image may require more work in post processing. I am not sure if others do but I do not post only my really good images. If I am struggling with a image I would post it for the comments and a direction to move to improve the post processing. So some images may not be up to the standard I can produce but with those images it is a learning process. I'll give you an example. I recently posted a image of a Cormorant with the bill open and both eyes visible. I thought it was pretty good. Jonathan Ashton commented that the sky appeared too saturated (too blue). You commented on the tones in the image, from that I am guessing the the bill area was too yellow or the browns too brown. Arash recently commented that the blue of the sky looked fine and that in Europe the skies are not as blue as in Florida. Arash also commented that he would back off the sharpening. I think the comment of backing off the sharpening goes hand in hand with your comment regarding the tones. Sharpening adds contrast, added contrast saturates tones/colors. I learned... I will re visit the original/master file, leave the blues alone and back off the sharpening. I think this forum is a wonderful place to learn and to receive critiques from some of the best photographers. If I only posted images that I knew were top shelf I believe I would miss the learning opportunity. Thanks again Andreas...
Classic desoto royal tern frame. Nice job on the framing and the pose.
Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated. Here is a repost with more room all around as promised.
Joe, the RP is better, well done in going back.
Joe as you know, I feel getting your WB right before anything is key, as you eradicated any casts, however I think on your Cormorant image, if you hit the white in the throat it had a cast, balance that out and it looks very striking and the rich blue very appealing. The issue folk have I feel is knowing is it a Global adjustment or a selective adjustment and which tool to use as they all have various effects, so knowing what you want to achieve will base on which tool to use.Quote:
I recently posted a image of a Cormorant with the bill open and both eyes visible. I thought it was pretty good. Jonathan Ashton commented that the sky appeared too saturated (too blue). You (Andreas) commented on the tones in the image, from that I am guessing the the bill area was too yellow or the browns too brown
Hi Steve, here is a edit and repost removing the color cast on the throat. Maybe you could chime back in and answer a question I struggle with. Should a image be technically perfect or should the image reflect conditions at the time it was captured? I am thinking of incidents such as the color of the water reflecting on the bottom feathers of a bird flying close to the water or is some cases green vegetation causing a yellowing or greening of the birds feathers. Thank you for commenting and viewing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski
Ooh, that’s a question and a half Joe :bg3:, let me have a ponder, I’ll be back, but I need to think on that one.
OK Joe, now this is just my take and it will obviously have a bias to it, as I have spent all of my life in Design, Advertising & Print, however someone like Dan C might also be a good bet to ask, he's well rounded in his POV's and has no real slant in any direction, pretty neutral with a level head.Quote:
Maybe you could chime back in and answer a question I struggle with. Should a image be technically perfect or should the image reflect conditions at the time it was captured? I am thinking of incidents such as the color of the water reflecting on the bottom feathers of a bird flying close to the water or is some cases green vegetation causing a yellowing or greening of the birds feathers. Thank you for commenting and viewing.
For me there are two camps, those who shoot make colour/exposure changes within camera to make the image, or the majority I would say, who shoot and the use PP to define the look & feel of an image within PP and endeavour to replicate the capture to the best of their abilities. Now for me there are a few issues with the later and this is why a few of us choose to shoot the way we do in terms of what the camera captures so to speak, as we want flat, dull raw images. However folk who shoot Canon and use DPP may have 'picture styles' set which will boost contrast, saturation etc... so already the images are taking on a slightly different interpretation. In addition those who use Lr will also have the added bonus of the crap Lr adds into the image behind the scenes such as Contrast and Sharpening before you even start on any manipulation.
Lr a few years back did a big update with Pre-sets, Profiles making images 'pop' and far easier for folk to quickly process an image, but in doing so the image doesn't reflect what you captured but might look great on screen. Therefore colours such as reflections or casts from water/vegetation might be enhanced without the 'artist' noticing unless you have a keen eye, this is why I have said so many times, there are only really two 'Profiles' within the WB module you should use and avoidinging Contrast. Sharpening even at the default setting has been tweaked depending on you camera, so you may think the amount is 40, but it could be 32 or 55 in reality and so using high values can/may cause halos later, especially radius.
Personally I endeavour to get as close to the capture from recollection as possible, this often leads to comments such as more contrast, or saturation but in reality subjects are not always in glorious Walt Disney Technicolour and they rejected by photo libraries over here, also there are variants as we know depending on which side of the pond you sit in in terms of look, but also light makes a huge difference when viewing an image too.
So, basically just be mindful of when you adjust colour Joe, what effect it has on other colours, is it a Global adjustment, or a Selective adjustment required, the best test is that no one can see the adjustments made and the image looks good & natural. We are taking a 2D image and trying to make a 3D version, but ultimately we should I feel, make the subject look as good as we possibly can within our skillset, we owe it to ourselves, but primarily to the subject for allowing us the time with it.
And finally... always have fun. :wave:
