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Thread: Sacred Kingfisher

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Default Sacred Kingfisher

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    Taken on Lord Howe Island, NSW,Australia on a very dark, cloudy, dreary day.
    Canon 1 dx, 600mm v.II
    ISO 1600 F5.6 SS 1/1250
    Cropped to vertical, cloned out small branch near KF's head
    Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
    Gail

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    Like the placement of the bird within the habitat,a beautiful image Gail.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Super shot Gail, but why did you not shoot vertical as well, by cropping you are just throwing away lovely IQ? Great colour palette and I do like the framing.

    Based on the OP I think you can up the exposure by almost 2/3rds of a stop and reducing the Black & Contrast, as the nice chest detail comes through, likewise the detail in eye & beak. darkening the BKG will add greater standout.

    TFS
    Steve

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Super shot Gail, but why did you not shoot vertical as well, by cropping you are just throwing away lovely IQ? Great colour palette and I do like the framing.

    Based on the OP I think you can up the exposure by almost 2/3rds of a stop and reducing the Black & Contrast, as the nice chest detail comes through, likewise the detail in eye & beak. darkening the BKG will add greater standout.

    TFS
    Steve
    Hi Steve, Thanks for the comment. I did not shoot vertical because I was hand holding while precariously perched on a big boulder on the beach! I climbed up on the boulder to get at eye level with the KF . I got "my safety shot" as a horizontal and I fully intended on trying for a vertical but he took off before I had a chance.
    I did debate about upping the exposure but image was taken about 10 minutes before a huge rainstorm (and I am talking torrential rain) with lightning and thunder as well so it was really dark. I decided to leave the image as I saw it through the viewfinder but I do like your brighter version.
    Gail

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Thanks for the background history gail, it helps.

    Brightening an image isn't an issue as such, but always better to darken if required. The 1DX has around a stop of latitude to play with, but in it's nature the exposure in PP is often changed, albeit the Histogram in camera is not the same as you see within ACR or LR, but never be worried to do so. If you see any clipping in PP then that is only that it cannot render things (unless there were blown HL's in the original) and if you took the Raw into a third party you will probably find the true exposure was nearer -1, or more!!!

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    Just a lovely canvas overall (big surprise). Great job not falling off the rock. It's a matter of personal preference, but I like both posts. TFS

    On second look, I prefer OP rock and sky with Steve's edit to the bird.
    Last edited by David Roach; 04-30-2019 at 06:45 AM.

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Gail:

    I was struck by the composition and placement of bird (as mentioned by Debapratim.). The diagonal mound, color harmony, works well.
    I am also thinking a combo between OP and Steve's would be a nice balance.


    Cheers

    Randy
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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Great bird. I particularly like the way the breast plumage matches the texture of the rock. I might take a bit off the bottom, but maybe that's too much crop.

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    I like the mound it is perching on a lot...
    I would clone ou the vegetation, should be easy and I think it would give it a cleaner
    look and emphasize the bird more...
    Dan Kearl

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    Lifetime Member Mike Poole's Avatar
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    As ever, I like to have some environment i the shot, so I like the framing. Unless you had quick access to a TC or able to get closer then I'm not sure how shooting this vertically would have helped with the IQ - I'm fine with it as it is

    Mike

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I'm not sure how shooting this vertically would have helped with the IQ
    Mike, shall we say a horizontal file size is say 20MB from a 1DX, cut it by 50% 10.5MB to work with, shoot vertical 20MB with a minimal crop more IQ, better file to use in PP.

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    Lifetime Member Mike Poole's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Mike, shall we say a horizontal file size is say 20MB from a 1DX, cut it by 50% 10.5MB to work with, shoot vertical 20MB with a minimal crop more IQ, better file to use in PP.
    Unless there are some maths that I'm not aware of, surely the surface area of the sensor used for this frame is the same regardless of which way the camera was held - so the same number of pixels are being used.

    If there is some science I'm not aware of I'd love to know

    Mike

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    Geez, less is more, more or less... How bout exact numbers for pixel counters? Gail, I was struck at the uniqueness of your image and your choice of composition. Carry on as this is a beautiful kingfisher perched on a beautiful perch! I like the original post bc it is true to what you saw. I have noticed an evolving appreciation of flat light bc i'm shootin everyday for the last few weeks in low flat light. Terrific color palette of buffs and turquoise, and showing the habitat and capturing the pre storm light, all while leaving the KF small and mighty in your frame.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Like you Mike, I'm not a scientist, however I would always preferred/advise anyone to shoot the way they intend the usage to be and avoid any hefty cropping. For web images it is less of an issue because of the size posted, but try and print the cropped file to say a 20 x 16 or larger and see what happens, but anyone who supplies their files to Stock library's know that they do not accept cropped files, so always best to shoot in the right format at the end of the day for whatever end use that might be.

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    Works well with the bird small in the frame. Like the earth tones on the rock and in the background. Pose is nice.

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    I just like everything about this frame, Gail. What a great looking Kingfisher. I'm also glad you added the back story which lends so much to exactly what you were dealing with to get this beautiful image. Love the grains of sand on the beak.

    Geoffrey




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    Really nice image, the color of the perch and background complement the KF, I like the vegetation you left. I think the plumage is too dark (see your other recent SKF), but it is probably the result of the light.

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    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    This is really nice Gail!! I would have loved to have seen one of these beauties on my trip! The scene looks fantastic and the perch and BG look great. Only thing I would do is to selectively paint on some more exposure on the face, otherwise a beautiful find and image. See ya soon
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