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Thread: Art of Preening

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    Default Art of Preening

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Got this Juvenile Male Montagu's Harrier on a fine winter morning in Bangalore.
    Made with a Canon 450D + Sigma 150-500 mm. Beanbag on car window.
    Exif : F6.3 / ISO 400 / SS 1/800 @ 340mm. Manual / Eval.
    Crop / USM / Contrast / NR on BG.

    Comments & critiques most welcome.

    PS : Image has been digitally manipulated. Can anybody make it out?
    Should be fairly obvious for most.

  2. #2
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    The bird's shape and pose fit the framing in a most righteous way! Gorgeous image taken in great light. I feel inadequate, as I'm unable to spot the digital manipulation. Lucky you to be able to pull this one off at 340mm!

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    Great looking image. My initial thoughts were that the background is not the original one and has been completely or partially replaced but then the head angle does not look natural to me

    I may be wrong but have you added the head from a separate shot?

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    Wondering how close you were. Did you do much cropping? If you were very close, I would think you would need a greater depth of field for this to look real. I guess I would say head has been replaced too, something looks a bit off. But it is still a very appealing image, great IQ, detail, sharpness, and pose.

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    Beautiful portrait, great details and eye contact.

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    Wonderful shot.
    Excellent feather detail, very nice light, teriffic head angle, and very nice background.
    Well done.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Girish, firstly, good DOF, great light, which in turn has shown up the feather detail so well. The BG is a killer too.

    With regards to any manipulation, I feel you couldnt have achieved such good DOF at such close range, but cant detect what, if anything, you managed.

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    Great light in this one Girish, pose detail & BG all very good, did you swap in an open eye from a closed one?

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    The head has been replaced I think.
    Striking pose and IQ.
    Maybe a bit looser crop?
    Dan Kearl

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    The nice light brings out the great detail and beautiful colours of the feathers, nice looking eye as well. The tail position and preening action make this an outstanding image Girish. I'm not sure what has been digitally manipulated though.

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    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    Wow, this is an awesome photo. The feather detail is beautiful and the color is very nice. Very nice job with the exposure also.
    Great job on the manipulation, not sure what you did but my guess is that you added a new eye as most birds that are preening in that posture have their eyes closed or squinted.
    Very well done.

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    Whatever you did, the pose and detail are just wonderful! I love the color palette, too, with the BG and rock matching the bird.

    Should it be rotated a little so the legs are vertical, or is that stance natural?

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    good capture,well sharp with great detail,nice light,love the eye.

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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Thanks all for your feedback & comments. Here is the unedited full frame image.
    Joe & David got it right, but, additional credit to David for giving the exact reason.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    The open eye is quite striking in the OP and I like it, but I think that you should also process a version with the closed eye as I find it very appealing too (not to mention a natural behaviour). Nicely photographed!

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    The open eye is striking if not entirely normal. It looks as though it was alerted to something in the middle of a preen and just froze its position to have a look.

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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Love the image as posted! You did a nice job with processing. A real stunner!
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    BPN Member vishaljadhav's Avatar
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    A sure stunning image GIrish, the eye work was impressive
    i love the details on the bird and the sweet BG

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    Art of preening as well as Art of processing too...

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    excellent Girish, all has been said
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    I just love the unedited FF. A few tweaks and it would be a winner in my eyes!!

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