osprey

[Ann Gray]

Location: Rappahannock River, Virginia

Canon 7D Mark II

Lens: Canon 100-400 mm with 1.4 extender

1/800 s @ f/ 22 ISO 1250

handheld from a boat

LR adjustments no crop

[Andrew Harrell]

Right where you'd expect to find one -- on top of some kind of tall object! How much higher was he than you? This looks a lot better than my osprey photos as I'm always angling the lens up so much (much more than this) to see them.

Looking right at you with those eyes, and I can see a lot of the claws which we sometimes don't get to see much of. I know the mechanical light/marker is not the prettiest, but the picture is true to where you found him/her. Wish we had a little better lighting to see those belly-whites. Would you have been able to crop a little closer without losing IQ? Maybe something to try .....

Please post more of these guys!


AP

[Adhika Lie]

Very sharp! The vantage point is also pleasing (not too low). I think it could use a slight CW rotation, clue would be the base of that marker. Did you apply some kind of brush adjustment on the bird? The masking doesn't look quite right, it seems to bleed a little bit to the sky immediate to the bird. I will suggest a little clean up on that and crop just a sliver of the bottom because there are some black stuff showing up on the right half of the image. Alternatively you can clean it using the clone tools in LR.

[Ann Gray]

thanks for comments! very helpful...

[Ann Gray]

Andrew,
I was on a boat, so I was about even with the bird. this photo is uncrossed.....thanks for comments.
I may post a cropped version later!
We see a lot of them on this River....he is on a light on a navigational mark....they are so used to boats coming and going, they are pretty calm as we go by.

[Ann Gray]

I cropped this...and changed white balance and it made the sky "bluer"...thanks for all comments

[Glennie Passier]

Ann, I like the repost and bigger crop. I still might be tempted to take a little more off the LHS. The stare and talons are wonderful. The bird looks to be a little "cut out" from the BG. As Adhika mentioned, maybe something in the masking of the bird?

[Ann Gray]

Thanks, Glennie,

I will take some more off the left...I don't know why it looks "cut out"...I really didn't brush except I lightened the eyes a bit....maybe it's my eyes! :-]
thanks for your suggestions
Ann Gray

[Doug West]

Ann...the repost is better, but something was lost in the exposure. The repost seems darker/greyer
than the first. When you changed the white balance, did you do it for the background only or was
the bird included? That might be the cause.

Doug

[Ann Gray]

Ann...the repost is better, but something was lost in the exposure. The repost seems darker/greyer
than the first. When you changed the white balance, did you do it for the background only or was
the bird included? That might be the cause.

Doug

I changed the white balance for entire photo.
Many thanks!
Ann Gray


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Diane Miller]

A nice catch and sharp, but the original horizontal format isn't right for this subject -- too much empty space. The RP is better but I'd take more off the left and include more of the light support as in the OP. But rotate it so the post is vertical.

Why were you at f/22?? That lens is sharp wide open, even with the TC. (If it is the older 100-400 and the TC II sharpness will be less that the newer ones. It helps critique to be specific about equipment.) With a wider aperture you could have a lower ISO (above 800 with that body is not good) and more SS. You might want f/13 for a closeup 3D subject, like a songbird. But a larger bird at some distance, DOF isn't such as issue. Other things aremuch more important.

Something is wrong with processing to have made a shadow around the bird. Can you show all the steps? Just do a screenshot of the Basic panel. Then describe what you did in PS if it went there.

Halos like that can occur by pulling down whites in LR/ACR. You can usually balance the other adjustments so you don't need to go that far. Start with Exposure and Contrast.