Osprey at Blue Cypress Lake

[andresleon]

Took this one at Blue Cypress Lake west of Vero Beach, Florida a few days ago. It was a really wonderful day with great light and calm winds. There were dozens of nests with many chicks, though the parents weren't all that active that morning.

Canon EOS 1D-X with 600mm L II lens and 1.4x III extender
Focal length: 840mm
1/2500 sec at f/8
ISO 800
no flash
manual mode
spot metering

[Randy Stout]

Nice raised wing pose, soft background.

Too bad the wing was clipped, but better to have it as shown than just the tips of the feathers missing.

On my monitor, the image is oversaturated, based on eye color, vegetation, and the browns in the plumage.

Sounds like a great day for you. Always fun!

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

You had lovely light, Andre, and you have very nice details in this image. The greenery in the front looks a tad oversaturated. Agree that I'd rather have seen the full wing span but that's why we keep on getting up and going out there.

[andresleon]

Thank you Randy and Marina for your comments and notes. I do think it may a bit more saturated than I would like. I will try to bring that down a bit and see how it looks. As far as the wing goes, I really hated not having being able to capture the whole wing, but as you said, Marina, we just keep trying.

I have a few more from that trip which I will post as I have time. Thanks again!

[William Dickson]

Hi Andresleon, I agree with the above comments, and I think the details and pose on the bird are lovely. I would take some of the bottom and try a pano crop. Thanks for sharing.

Will

[andresleon]

I've reduced the overall saturation a bit. I have also reduced it a bit further around the left wing underside. Let me know if this is what you were all thinking...

[Randy Stout]

This def. looks more realistic to me. I would have not made any comments about the saturation on this image, as opposed to the original

One other smaller item to consider. Using a clone stamp to soften the trunk in the left upper corner of the frame. It wouldn't take much.

Cheers

Randy

[andresleon]

This def. looks more realistic to me. I would have not made any comments about the saturation on this image, as opposed to the original

One other smaller item to consider. Using a clone stamp to soften the trunk in the left upper corner of the frame. It wouldn't take much.

Cheers

Randy

Thanks Randy. In fact, and I forgot to mention this in my original post, I did clone out a few branches that were sticking out specially on the right side of the Osprey. I didn't want to remove them all because I thought it would look "too clean", if there is such a thing. :) But yes, now that you mention it it is bothering me. I'll have to removed it when I get home tonight. Thanks!

[Bill Dix]

Nice lighting and pose. I wonder if you might go a bit further in reducing the saturation of just the green channel on the foreground, and cropping out a sliver off the bottom to lessen the impact of the oof greenery.