Wish I could say the flies where down to skill. Had a lot of help and advice from Steve K with this one, thanks Steve.Would be very interested your views on the Reds still not sure about my monitor.
Thanks for taking a look and your comments on my Harvest Mice.
This works!
Love the comp, the flies add to image.
The reds look fine to me on my MAC, no channels clipped.
There is a bit of halo around ear tuffs and front feet- did you blur the mask?
The front and back feet are in same plane, but the front sharper- Selectively Sharpened for web?
See if you can get a bit more MT contrast on the back third of Squirrel, front part seems..sharper..?
With that hairdo on tail, looks like he jumped from the chair at the Hairdresser..
Hi Keith this works almost perfect to me , well almost too perfect somehow too sterile . You have done very well to get this shot , stunning timing and good field craft .
It might look different with a BG that is a bit more " detailed" or a stump where the squirrel "might " land ...... do not take this as a point of critique more a wish from my side as we see things sometimes differently . Again this is very nice and i would like to be able to create this kinda shot .The two flies are a nice addition
Overall i think you do a bot more with the tones and the contrast , image does look a bit flat for my taste . the reds .... well i do not know how this little guy looks in real life , from my POV he could be a bit redder !!!
You have sharpening side effects around the whole subject and you have some nasty blotching of color in the BG , might come from compression , but the blotches are quite large ?
I do see the image somehow along this lines .......
BTW how do you downsize ? i might try to use the full size that is available for BPN ( 1200px on the long side for landscape and 1000 px for portrait )
And try to use the full KB limit ( up to 400 kb ) maybe that is the reason for the blotches ?
Hi Keith - Great timing and action to get the leap. The flies take it up a notch. I agree with the comments that Andre and Andreas have made. Did you apply any blur or NR to the bg? I can't comment on the reds as we don't have these in the NY area but I do like the additional punch that Andreas has given.
Fantastic catch here Keith. Love the straight up tail, feet forward, hair catching the wind, and the flies. Just awesome mid-air capture and you should be proud of this one! Andreas' RP gives it the added "pop" necessary and takes it up a notch. Well done with this one though!
Thanks to you all,Andre now you point it out the front does look a bit sharper than the backbit, was that tail that makes the image for me,Andreas I have taken the reds down a bit and looks about right on my gear about the way the Squirrel was with it's coat at that time of the year, think the blotches on the Bg are natural, thanks for the repost, Rachel no NR on the Bg,I do like to try to portray my subjects as near to natural as I see them and did tone down the Reds a bit,get a bit paranoid about over processed things. Marc the flies where just there so not a lot of skill on my part. Thanks Mark have a few more of these to post at some other time.
Hi Keith with the" blotches " i mean some artifacts ( squarish ) not the natural color variations in the bg !! Depending on your downsizing method / quality settings and your PP work this artifacts can be created .
I am ok with the colors if you say the little guy is looking this way at the time of shooting , i also know they can vary on color , they do it too over here !!!
But where are the sharpening artifacts coming from ? I might suggest you should mask the BG to avoid that , just my thoughts .
Again this is some very nice work very cool image i would like to have in my collection
Hi Keith, I think you caught the subject in a great pose and the flies are just an added bonus, they really were there guys. Like the angle of the subject, raised tail and paws stretched out, well captured, you pulled it off.
Can't see the sharpening halos, the BKG is natural and in the original very smooth, pretty perfect for the D4, red of the coat was about right too in the original. Keith, personally I prefer the image more in a 3x2 format rather than a 10x8, personal choice. I think next year this will be another great project.
Steve no classy USM halo , just some weird artifacts around the whole squirrel mostly visible around the front feet and head .
I have the advantage or disadvantage to look at 4k or 5k screen , depending on ones POV , as i can see stuff that others will for sure not see because of hardware limitations .
Terrific work Keith -- You have captured a lovely frame , i like Andreas RP with some more punch and obviously those flies takes this image up a notch . TFS !
Thanks Guys,Andreas please do not think you are being too critical sometimes get a bit lost with the tec bits due to my lack of knowledge, and the old eyes are not so good, but your comments and suggestions much appreciated.
Sanjeev and Haseeb thanks much appreciated.
Love your squirrel, looks like he (or she) is busy to put on the breaks in mid-air...At 1/8000s you just had to freeze the action, superb work my friend! The D4 is awesome, isn't it?
Nice techs, if I were to nitpick I would say a tad more DOF would have been great, since you could afford it. The framing works for me and those little flies add even more interest to an already exciting frame.
In terms of colours, it is all up to you because I have no clue what those cuties look like in real life. I do see what looks like sharpening halos - or could it be the result of some work done on the BG? Not a big issue, just something to consider when doing PP work in the future. I adore this little red beauty, tufts and all, I really think you got a winner here, my friend!
A little jealous but at the same time very pleased for you, LOL - congratulations
Thanks for your kind words and advice Gabriela, agree(The D4 is awesome, isn't it? ) but still a lot for me to get my head around, usually get there but it takes time.
Gabriela thanks again, found some old shots today of those Striped Mice I found near Cape Town, would be interested to see if they are the same as the ones you posted, don't think they are up to standard for this forum but if you are interested let me have a contact.
Hi ,always like to see these fellows in action,i live and visit a area were there are a few pockets of these still around ,is this from Simons workshop (N Yorkshire)
Red Squirrel.
as we see things sometimes differently . Again this is very nice and i would like to be able to create this kinda shot
.The two flies are a nice addition
and you have some nasty blotching of color in the BG , might come from compression , but the blotches are quite large ?
very cool image i would like to have in my collection
because of hardware limitations .
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