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Thread: Merlin

  1. #1
    Wilson Hum
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    Default Merlin

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    I like the pose and intense stare but its "eyes" were on a Mourning Dove which it eventually would chase off in the distance.

    This is an almost full-frame horizontal image cropped to a vertical. Caught without a flash I had to use EC to adjust for the overcast skies. Running back to the car to retrieve the flash was not an option. Photographed with a Canon 40D and 100-400L IS lens handheld.

  2. #2
    Fabs Forns
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    Love the high key sky and the way it blends with our background color.

    Very nice, I would only take a bit off the left side. Great eye contact, even if he was looking past you :)

  3. #3
    Steve Foss
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    Wilson, I'm not a critique assassin. I frequently like images others do not, and there may be some here who have negatives to say about this image.

    That being said, let me just say this is a great job. The high key background isolates the subject. Because it's an even field of white it gives a minimalist feel that does not pull the eye away from the merlin. Great pose (love the tail flare), great drama, tremendously focused eye contact, excellent understanding of EC and what it needed to do for you to accomplish your goal. It looks almost like a Robert Bateman painting (that's a compliment, by the way.)

    I have been a birder for 35 years, with raptors being my favorite group. It's rare that I'd buy an avian photograph, because I vastly prefer avian paintings to avian photographs. From the work in both fields I've seen, paintings do a much better job in general of turning birds into art than even the finely executed bird-on-a-stick shots prevalent in the avian photography community.

    However, this is one I'd place on my wall and love a little more every time I looked at it. Uh, gee, I rarely gush. Do you get the idea I like this one a little bit? :D

  4. #4
    Wilson Hum
    Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fabs Forns View Post
    Love the high key sky and the way it blends with our background color.

    Very nice, I would only take a bit off the left side. Great eye contact, even if he was looking past you :)
    Thanks Fabs. In this image it was looking at me and the other lucky photographers who happened to be there. What I meant to say was that its heart was on a Mourning Dove. I took a photo of it chasing it.

    Regarding the background colour.......I was hoping for a black background to give it some containment or strong border.

  5. #5
    Wilson Hum
    Guest

    Default

    Thanks again Steve. I'm quite happy with how things worked out on the pose and exposure. I could always slap a blue sky behind it I suppose:D

  6. #6
    Steve Foss
    Guest

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    You could also slap a black background behind it. But why do either? It is what it is, and what it is is fine.

  7. #7
    Maxis Gamez
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    This is very nice, I really like the contrast between your subject and the sky? Very nice!

  8. #8
    Axel Hildebrandt
    Guest

    Default

    Very nice high key image, Wilson. I like the pose. Maybe a frame would make the composition even stronger.

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