Osprey Chicks

[Jerry amEnde]

Brand new here. As a matter of fact, I've just renewed an interest in still photography after a 35 year absense.

The following is probably my favorite shot in the three months I've been taking bird photos. Caption: "Mom warned us about those photographers - I think that might be one. And boy is he ugly"

Taken in Lewes, Delaware, USA on July 18th, 2012
Panasonic GH2; Lumix G Vario 100-300mm @ 300mm (2.0 crop factor -> 600mm equivalent)
ISO 200, 1/500, F5.6
Slight enhancement in LR4, slight sharpening to make sure the eyes are sharp.

I'd like to get opinions about the crop. Should it be left as is? Possibly as square crop on just the two chicks on the right? Of course other suggestions are welcome.



Thanks in advance,
...Jerry

[Karen Forderer]

Nice photo. I would probably try a crop with just the 2 chicks on the right because of the wooden piece hiding the 3rd chick. My eyes are drawn right to the wood. I also like taking photos of osprey during the summer.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Jerry, welcome to BPN and the Eager To Learn forum! I like your first image very much. I do believe you are on the right track with your thoughts regarding the crop. As Karen mentions, the chick on the left is obscured by the piece of wood and the image would be stronger without that one. You did a good job on the exposure, although there are some hot pixels that are clipped in the red channel on the necks of the birds. I would have chosen ISO 400 here to get a faster shutter speed of 1/1000 and maybe stopped down 1/3 stop. Might have helped the chick on the right in the sharpness department. You might consider a little bit of added saturation to bring out the color of the sky also. Nice job on the capture, look forward to more!

[Jerry amEnde]

Okay, cropped to the two chicks on the right, increased the saturuation of the sky, reduced the luminance of the highlights. Obviously couldn't do anthing about the original camera settings. Whadaya think?



btw, Thanks,
...Jerry

PS: I just paid my membership fee & uploaded the image to my profile. If I screw this post up, I may have to try again.
PPS: The "Manage Attachements" didn't seem to work, so I just inserted the BB Code.
PPPS: In retrospect, I think I probably want the chicks lower in the image. i.e. less nest, more sky.

[Jerry amEnde]

Pardon me for my ineptness. I deleted and replaced my image, and now I don't see how to fix my previous post. I'll learn this board's idiosyncracies in time. In any case, here's the new image:



...Jerry

[Bob Miller]

Hi Jerry!........Wonderful expressions and I like the saturation in the sky. Too bad about the chick on the right being oof. I like your crop of just the two . You might consider darkening the wood rail underneath of the birds just a bit! do you ever get down to Bombay Hook De? I do alot of bird photography there. Right now there are lots of egrets

[Jerry amEnde]

...do you ever get down to Bombay Hook De? I do alot of bird photography there. Right now there are lots of egrets

Bob, I probably make it down to Bombay Hook once or twice a week. It's a wonderours place. Yes, there's lots of egrets and herons now. There's also a couple of Bald Eagles that are finding a perch at the far end of Bear Swamp Pool. If you ever see a gold Honda with an old guy behind a peashooter of a Panasonic GH2 - stop me.

Here's an egret from Bombay Hook taken last week:

...Jerry