Pied Crow

[Glenn Pure]

Photographed near a waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. I liked this for the OOF zebras in the background... but thought the perch and plumage on the bird looked nice too. Oh, I haven't attempted to rescue the underside tail area: black OOF feathers and nothing of interest to recover there. Thanks for looking and any comments you provide.

Capture details: Canon 80D with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/3200 sec, f5.6, ISO 500. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements with Neat Image NR plugin. Very light NR applied to bird and stronger NR to background. Sharpened in PSE (Sharpness tool, remove Gaussian blur) after final size reduction.

[William Dickson]

Interesting image Glenn. You controlled the blacks/whites well and a nice pose on the bird along with the HA. I also like the perch. The OOF zebras in the BG give a sense of habitat. I was wondering, if you added some contrast to the BG in would show the zebras in slightly more detail. Just my take on it, as it is nice as is.

Will

[Graham Wilkes]

Another good image Glenn, never easy black & white in bright conditions but you have done well here, no point really lifting the under tail.
Like the head turn, distinctive perch and what a background.

Graham.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The first thing I noticed was the BG, and in a good way...fantastic! Wonderful gnarly perch too. One thing that would have strengthened the image is a better head angle (a bit more towards us). Maybe a bit warmer WB too, or a saturation boost. Very nice image overall.

[Glenn Pure]

Thanks Will, Graham and Daniel - I very much appreciate your insights. While I won't always agree on every suggestion, a different view is a great learning experience.

[Tim Foltz]

Glenn, interesting crow and what a beak, nice details, HA could have been better but that's nature… also wish it was higher in the frame IMO or a vertical comp.

-Tim

[Glenn Pure]

Glenn, interesting crow and what a beak, nice details, HA could have been better but that's nature… also wish it was higher in the frame IMO or a vertical comp.

-Tim

Thanks Tim. Daniel isn't keen on the head angle either but I don't mind it and it shows off the beak shape well. Higher in the frame would be possible: I forgot to mention that I did crop a little of the top, more off the bottom and left. I wouldn't go for a vertical comp as I would lose a lot of the zebras which are half the shot for me anyway. Appreciate your thoughts all the same! As mentioned, a different perspective especially from a skilled photographer like yourself is always informative.