I captured this image at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S ED, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/1000 F/8 Matrix Metering EV +2/3 ISO 900 Auto WB, image captured at 400mm (600mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2023 and Topaz Sharpen AI, added canvas in Photoshop
Cropped for composition and presentation
12-26-2022, 05:35 PM
Brian Sump
Joe, love the pose on this one! Cool look at the veins inside the mouth.
Nice details in the plumage. I wonder if you played with the luminosity and sat of the iris, it could help it connect even more.
The crop feels just a touch awkward to me. Not sure why, but maybe it feels like the subject could come left a little more. I do see why you place him where you did, for the sake of looking into open space.
Need to fix those two brush marks above the head :-)
12-26-2022, 05:46 PM
Joseph Przybyla
Hi Brian, thank you for viewing, commenting and suggesting improvements. I like the bird's pose, when they do this they make the most interesting gurgle. I struggled with the crop and how to display the bird. The brush marks are from masking the eye as you suggested that has moved because I added canvas in photoshop and changed the crop trying to find what felt right. Thank you for another set of eyes seeing what I missed, cannot see the forest for the trees. I was so fixed on cropping/displaying the image I missed seeing that. I will fix that and repost, actually I think a square crop works best.
12-26-2022, 05:58 PM
Joseph Przybyla
1 Attachment(s)
This edit corrects the masking and is cropped to a 1x1.
12-26-2022, 06:50 PM
Daniel Cadieux
Nice details here Joe! The wide mouth gape is interest with the visible veins inside. Thanks for reposting with masking marks removed. Either crop works well for me.
12-27-2022, 02:52 AM
Colin Driscoll
Notoriously difficult birds to frame and you did OK with this one.
Good colors and detail. Sometimes simple solutions are the best and a bit of dodging would give the eye a bit more personality.
12-27-2022, 09:50 AM
Kurt Bowman
Nice pose Joe. Love the open beak! I saw you fixed the brush marks above the head and repost looks much better IMO. I quit like the framing
12-28-2022, 10:23 PM
Dorian Anderson
A very nice frame, Joe. Others have covered my critiques, but I'd like to see a touch more of the black back if you have it. The open beak demands tons of attention, so going a bit wider if you have it won't hurt.
12-29-2022, 11:35 AM
Andreas Liedmann
Hi Joe ... OP does look great to me .
Love the open beak and the ruffled feather look .
NIce one and TFS Andreas