A very interesting and action packed first post. Some good parts, and a few to think about for next time. The interaction between the pair is excellent, particularly the expression on the upper bird.
I fully appreciate this is easier to say than do in the thick of the action, but shooting in harsh light against the light angle has caused you issues here with the shadows and highlights. Its not always possible to get the light directly behind you but if you can it goes a long way to helping with the shadows. Likewise, early morning and late evening light will help rid you of some of the contrast.
The shot looks a little soft around the faces here, and I think there were 2 reasons- first the shutter speed is too low for this quick fire action - there are some superb flight photographers on here, and if you study their work, you tend to see shutter speeds of around 1/3200th for freezing the action. You had plenty of ISO available here, so maybe next time push the ISO up a bit to get the extra shutter speed. Secondly, adding some more sharpening in PP would help around the faces, but it can never recover for the slow shutter speed.
Im thinking you've lifted the shadows on the wings as well - there is a bit of a halo in places around the bird - just a simple masking issue which could easily be fixed in PP.
Finally, adding some more blue sky canvas to the right would help the balance of the shot.
Please don't be disheartened, comments on here should be regarded as critique as opposed to criticism. This is a very nice opening frame from you and I hope you'll sign on as a full member and show more shots. I've been here 3-4 years and the money spent on membership is worth every penny compared to buying magazines and the like.
Thank you and yes it does look soft on here. I had trouble getting it to upload and what you are seeing here is a smaller size blown up to fit this page. I set it at the 1200x1000 and for some reason it wouldn't take that size. This is my first post so I am sure I will eventually get it right.
Thank you for your thoughtful critique. Yes, the lighting was not optimal but I tried to to work with what I had. I had hoped to go back this year at a better time of year and alas they did not cooperate and show up this year.
As far as the softness of this, It is only showing soft on here. I won several major photo contests with this and it is sharp in the original. As I said to another critiquer here it was sharp until I tried resizing it for this forum. I am hoping I will get the hang of it.
I will try your suggestion on resizing the canvas. I always have trouble with knowing how to crop images.
Thank you so much again. I am not disheartened at all. That is why I joined. I want to learn and this helped immensely!
Little Tussle
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