A little late for Haloween...

[Diane Miller]

Not exactly an uplifting New Year's theme, but I looked out the window a couple of days ago and saw several Turkey Vultures hanging out in a tree. Grabbed the 300 + 1.4 just to see if I could sneak up on them, handholding. They are skittish but I got this one that I rather liked. It was in shadow and against a grayish sky, so I just went with it that way. Then did a little enhancing.

Wish I could have gotten a better silhouette of the body, but I liked the way it was framed by the branches and lichen. It took off before I could try to change my position to see what else I might be able to do with it.

So in spite of the gloom, cheery New Year's wishes to everyone!!

[Dennis Bishop]

Very nicely done. Everything about this, from the silhouette to the background, says vulture. It's good that you were able to get a clean silhouette of the vulture from a position that allowed the background to show through the perforated nostril. From what you wrote, I'm assuming you added the background, later. If some of the black lines were part of it, you did a great job of aligning them with the tree.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Dennis -- here's the original, straight shot, just some slight cropping. I rather like it because it shows the OOF branches and the lichen a little better. The BG is two layers -- cobwebs on our garage window and an old stone structure, flipped and layered so the vertical dark line occurs on both sides.

I love the pinpoint AF capability of the 5D3. I was able to select the center sensor and put it right on the face.

[Dennis Bishop]

Now, I'm even more impressed. Cobwebs . . . What a creative idea!!!

[Diane Miller]

Yeah -- a creative excuse not to clean the window!!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Diane, I LOVE the background and the silhouette. Very spooky but the background makes it not quite as ominous. My excuse for not cleaning the windows is that I don't want birds to fly into them

[Nancy Bell]

Oh, this is just crying to be used at Halloween! The added bkgd is spectacular and I really like how the rough edges of the tree and lichen fit so naturally into it.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone! Cheryl, that's a better excuse than mine -- I'm remembering it.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

SPOOKY! Well executed from capture to edit!

[Judy Howle]

You captured a super base image and the background textures are perfect! I love it all around. Very spooky!

[Anita Bower]

The textures you used are just right for this image. I, too, like the position of the bird--no mistaking that it is a turkey vulture. The bird is nicely framed. I wonder what it would look like if the tree trunk and branches looked more like silhouettes, like the bird.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone! I did think about going to a full silhouette on the trunk, especially, as the bark isn't completely in focus, but decided I liked the tease of detail. It might do with some toning down, though, especially the area to the left of the bird.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks, everyone! I did think about going to a full silhouette on the trunk, especially, as the bark isn't completely in focus, but decided I liked the tease of detail. It might do with some toning down, though, especially the area to the left of the bird.

I, too, like the detail in the tree and moss. The reason for my suggestion is that the vulture looks flat in contrast to the tree, and I think the vulture is the main subject of the image.

[Diane Miller]

Very true, but the vulture was in shadow and there was just no detail to bring out, so I was playing with letting the slight detail in the tree make the vulture stand out by being a little different. That's turning the usual method for emphasis on its head -- normally I'd want the detail in the bird -- but it was the only choice I had to differentiate them. And I liked the lichen draping around the trunk LL, which seemed to want a little more detail in the bark above that area.

It's fun to try and work out what one can do with the limitations in an image, but rarely a pat decision. There is almost always a "state 2" image lurking somewhere.

[Anita Bower]

Very true, but the vulture was in shadow and there was just no detail to bring out, so I was playing with letting the slight detail in the tree make the vulture stand out by being a little different. That's turning the usual method for emphasis on its head -- normally I'd want the detail in the bird -- but it was the only choice I had to differentiate them. And I liked the lichen draping around the trunk LL, which seemed to want a little more detail in the bark above that area.

It's fun to try and work out what one can do with the limitations in an image, but rarely a pat decision. There is almost always a "state 2" image lurking somewhere.

I understand your reasons. And, the vulture does stand out!