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These two ravens were huddling close in an arctic storm today. Temp @ capture -27C w/ wind. These are the only birds who stay in Resolute Bay for the entire dark/cold season.
Olympus E3
300/2.8+EC14 (425mm FL)
ISO320
1/250
F4 (wide open)
+1.7eV
FL36 flash + Beamer
supported on truck door
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c153/lowa2/crows6.jpg
Hi Charles- Nice low angle here and great detail in the blacks. Incredible conditions but pretty normal for Resolute this time of year I guess!
I also like the duo-tone colour scheme of the image and I'm warming to the negative space above the birds. I think this would work better though if you had more room to the left to give the lefthand bird some breathing space. Do you have any with two good head angles? As it stands the right bird is good but the left bird could a CCW head turn so he/she is looking more towards you but not too much. I wonder also if you could try to coax a bit more brightness and detail out of the face of the righthand bird. Well done! PS the three strands of grass on the right are a nice touch.
Thanks John,
I do not have any with both HA's being like the righthand bird, unfortunately. I did crop a little bit of negative space from the top, and a little bit of breathing room on the left. I also dodged and applied some selective sharpening to the head of the right hand bird. I also uploaded the wrong size, so here's a bigger version.
Better?
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c153/lowa2/crows7.jpg
I like the repost very much. I'm sure it is not a popular thing to say, but it's not bothersome to me that the bird on the left is looking away. I actually think I'd prefer this to having both birds with a "correct" HA.
This is a very interesting shot. I've enjoyed seeing it.
The main thing I would like to see is more room on the left. I also think a wider shot may have been better. But, it's just me :)
I like the uniqueness of this image. I think that adding canvas to the left would be relatively simple if you are good at Photoshop. I think I would also try more contrast to the eyes to make them stand out more.
For the longest time, I didn't understand peoples' comments about the raven on the right having a better head angle. To me, they were both looking the same way. I thought that bright spot at the end of the beak was the eye! (Yes, I have calibrated my monitor lately. must be my glasses). But that area of the end of the beak up to the eye just doesn't look right to me. Whether it is the switch from beak to feathers, or that bright spot of snow, I don't know.
I might even try a little bit of adjusting to make the feathers look blacker and shinier, at least around here the crows (I know they are not the same as ravens) are a very deep shiny black. I don't know how intense the black is on ravens.
also like that you used slow enough shutter to show the wind blowing the snow. very effective image. brrrrrrrr.
love this, really interesting photo, composition makes you think about the picture, with beautiful detail in the feathers, I really like the browns and blues there. (I saw those colors in pictures of ravens from Yellowstone, so i think they may be colored differently than crows are.)
the browns and blues also give a feeling of a sepia toned photo which is cool.
I find myself wishing for a little more space at the bottom for some reason....
Thanks everyone for the great critique. I still have some room to make a wide image, so once I process it, I will post it here.
I am glad it has made you all think, just think about the silly photographer in the blowing blizzard taking pictures of ravens! I am truly bored, so this was a great time killer.
Charles, the repost really made some big improvements to the image IMO. Nice work on bringing out the details on the black heads of the birds. I also don't mind that the one's head is turned but if you had caught both with good HA's it really would have taken this up another notch.
