The Three Amigos

[David Salem]

These are American Coots. They migrate into my area in large numbers every winter. Even though they are a normally overlooked subject, they can make for a nice picture in the right situation.
I saw this shot as I drove past and looked over to see these guys/gals lined up on the same focal plane and with a nice colorful FG and BG created by the reeds.
I didnt punch up the colors here, they are pretty much as seen in our early morning light. I took this last spring. Hope you like it.

1DMkIV---700mm---f7.1---ss1/2000---ISO500---HH@ 8:15am---30% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Mike Tracy]

Nice light on the coots. I like the gradient of colors from foreground up through the reeds. I think it needs some ccw rotation.

[Grace Scalzo]

Glad you didn't pass this up, David. I think sometimes common birds make great subjects as is the case here. I've looked at this for a bit and keep thinking that the colors of the bg, even tho they are true to life as you state, compete with the birds. I find that the real interest lies in the interesting poses, bright red eyes and nice sharpness of the amigos. So to help me focus on that, I did a browser scroll and pano'd it and my eye is more comfortable. Just my 2 cents!

[eddyswan]

Hi David, beautiful poses of the coots, sweet light, and the reflection adds very well to this fine image.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment.

Grace, I see what you are talking about so I did a pano to see how it looked. It obviously removed the reflections but also removed the green at the bottom that may be to vivid for you. I like both versions. See what others think.
Thanks for your help.

[Satish Ranadive]

David, Magnificent image with beautiful poses and their reflections.I like the red eyes, details in blacks and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Grace Scalzo]

David, I should have been more clear, i would trim from the top, def not the bottom as the reflections are great. Trimming from the top mitigates the brightness of the bg, I think.

[David Salem]

Ok, here is a pano with the top removed. Three verions to chose from. What do you like best?

Thanks Grace

[Diane Miller]

I was just about to complain about your first crop (pane 5) -- yes -- this is the one for me!!

You didn't embed a profile, but it appears that you did convert to sRGB. Without the profile, though, some browsers won't display it correctly. I'd try a very slight desaturation of the yellows (and possibly a slight hue tweak) just for comparison. I do love the colors, but they do compete with the birds a bit.

[gail bisson]

Hi David,
When I saw the OP I really felt the BG yellows and greens were overpowering. I try not to read other people's critique but when I saw your reposts I had to read the comments and agree with Grace's comments.
I think the last repost is best but would desaturate the greens a little bit.
The poses are terrific and I have this thing about 3 birds in a frame- love it when I see three sharp birds.
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

you got three with perfect HA and in sweet light, I love the warm saturated colors but I wish BG was further away, it is a bit competing with the subject

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments.