Osprey at dinner

[Katie Rupp]

Late afternoon sun, on a pier, which means limited ability to manuever for sun angle and perspective, but I think I did about as good as possible. It's about a 50% crop with the usual levels, sh/h and smart sharpening. I wasn't sure about the crop, tried vertical but liked this better; and what do you think about pictures like this with "blood and guts?" Also, I'm wondering if my monitor is a little too dark; how does it look to you? thanks for looking and c&c appreciated!

Canon 40D; Av f5.6, eval -1/3; 1/2000; ISO 200 and 100-400L @400mm

[Harold Davis]

you handled the harsh light fairly well!! looks like a sanibel island osprey!! maybe would try to tone down the hotspots on his head. i dont mind the blood and guts at all! that's what they do!!

[Nonda Surratt]

No big deal B&G as Mr H said that is what they do. Did good with the not so good light, but looks a bit washed out? Maybe too much sh/h?

Great pose!

[Alberto Oria]

Love it Katie. I took the liberty to retouch it with PS. I had a wonderful class on it last week and I thought it would help. What do you think?

[Katie Rupp]

Thanks for the repost, Alberto. Yours looks too dark on my monitor which supports my suspicion that mine needs to be calibrated.

[Alberto Oria]

Katie, how does the calibration strip at the bottom of the window looks? If each block doesn't have a clear distinction from the others than it has to be calibrated.

[Katie Rupp]

I have good separation of the whites on the right but I'm not sure I can really see any separation at the other end, especially between the last two.

[Alberto Oria]

In my opinion, your brightness is too low. You need to raise it because it is crushing the blacks.

[Desmond Chan]

Love it Katie. I took the liberty to retouch it with PS. I had a wonderful class on it last week and I thought it would help. What do you think?

Hmmm...the contrast looks to be a bit much on my monitor. And I think the red on the fish could be tuned down a bit.

BTW, I noticed that some of you seem to be taking some kind of classes together. What classes you guys are taking?

[Alberto Oria]

We're taking some beginners and macro classes with Fabs at Miami-Dade college.

[Nonda Surratt]

I rather agree that the re-post looks a bit dark to me as well. Tried to split the difference:)

[Gail Spitler]

Nonda's repost looks like the right middle ground on my monitor. If your monitor is/was a bit too dark that might explain why your barn swallow image of about a week ago was also too light. The blue in the bird should have been almost to the purple, but instead was a bright blue. Maybe that was the effect you wanted, but it may be just monitor calibration??
Sharp image, love the eye on both the bird and the fish.

Gail

[Lance Peters]

Nonda's repost is good for me - LOVE the action you have caught- blood and guts doesn't bother.
Nice eye contact - you did really well for harsh light - CONGRATS.

[Alfred Forns]

Katie check at the bottom of the page .... we have a step tablet which will let you know if your monitor is in the ballpark !!! You should be separation on both ends if your monitor is properly calibrtated !!!!

As presented its a little light The reposts look good !!! Good view of the meal which they always start at the head !!!

[Julie Kenward]

Katie, great initial post. Nonda got the calibration right IMO (in my opinion.) You sure took some harsh lighting and made a nice image!

[Oscar Zangroniz]

I like Nonda's repost, Albert yours seems a bit too dark on my monitor as well. Excellent capture Katie. Love the eye contact.

[Katie Rupp]

Thank you all, I'm working on my monitor. There is just a tiny bit of flashing highlights on the head in the raw version but it sure shows up here.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Katie, like Nonda's repost but that's a great image!!