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Thread: Soft landing

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Default Soft landing

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    Hey all, started photographing last December but I've got the itch... and lots to learn. With trepidation, my first post here.

    I know I caught a shadow on the right wing - hard light.

    D500
    Sigma 500mm f4
    ISO 100
    1/1250
    f4
    Handheld
    Heavy crop
    Post in Lightroom

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    Beautiful bird and pose. The harsh light (as you mentioned) was not your friend and you handled it as well as you could (great job with EXP). Seems tight all around. Welcome and no need for trepidation.

    ps
    Love the primaries and tail feathers.

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    BPN Member Dorian Anderson's Avatar
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    You captured some nice action and handled the harsh light well, but the shadows really hurt this image. My camera doesn't come out in light like this since the results are always compromised. Lack of catchlight in eye is notable as well.

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Roach View Post
    Beautiful bird and pose. The harsh light (as you mentioned) was not your friend and you handled it as well as you could (great job with EXP). Seems tight all around. Welcome and no need for trepidation.

    ps
    Love the primaries and tail feathers.
    David, thank you for being gracious and honest! Standards for myself are high and looking at the photos here are admittedly a little daunting

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dorian Anderson View Post
    You captured some nice action and handled the harsh light well, but the shadows really hurt this image. My camera doesn't come out in light like this since the results are always compromised. Lack of catchlight in eye is notable as well.
    Dorian, understood. At this point in my journey I felt blessed to get the capture despite the lighting challenges.

    When you say lack of catchlight, do you mean being able to see the whole eye with the sun illuminating it?

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    You handled the light very well. Detail in the whites is nice. Little tight on the framing.

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Mack View Post
    You handled the light very well. Detail in the whites is nice. Little tight on the framing.
    John, thank you. I did not frame very well, honestly; the left edge of the frame shown is the actual left edge of the frame, which left me little optoin. When I tried to leave more room to the right, it did not feel right.

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Brian:

    Welcome to BPN. Good comments from the guys. Considering the harshness of the light, you handled it as well as could be expected. re: cropping. Generally we like some space to fly into for our subject, so a bit more on the right and below would be fine from a compositional standpoint, assuming there aren't any major distractions in those areas. The fine horizontal lines in the grays behind the feet are a bit distracting, and you could consider softening them a bit .

    Bird photography means getting up early to catch the good light, being constantly aware of the angle of the sun in relation to the subject, moving around a lot to maximize the angle and your background in many cases. And lots and lots of practice . Esp. for birds in flight.

    Cheers

    Randy
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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Stout View Post
    Brian:

    Welcome to BPN. Good comments from the guys. Considering the harshness of the light, you handled it as well as could be expected. re: cropping. Generally we like some space to fly into for our subject, so a bit more on the right and below would be fine from a compositional standpoint, assuming there aren't any major distractions in those areas. The fine horizontal lines in the grays behind the feet are a bit distracting, and you could consider softening them a bit .

    Bird photography means getting up early to catch the good light, being constantly aware of the angle of the sun in relation to the subject, moving around a lot to maximize the angle and your background in many cases. And lots and lots of practice . Esp. for birds in flight.

    Cheers

    Randy
    Randy, thank you for the welcome and the feedback!

    Best recommendation for tools to soften the gray area mentioned? I am fairly well-versed in LR and PS, and recently got C1P but will heed your advice.

    If I make the crop adjustments, best way to repost? Should I just replace the first image in the thread?

    PS - I was up at sunrise but I spent about 5 hours shooting. This was about 11am

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    You got some good critiques and advice, so I will not elaborate on those. The striations are odd, wonder what caused that. You can try a gaussian blur on them, but that will require careful masking of the subject to be sure it does not look artificial, and too much gaussian blur also looks "fake" to the trained eye (e.g. BPN members, ha!), so it's a fine line. My honest opinion though is that it is not worth it in this case except to try again in the field. That's what keeps us out and about trying photos of the same subjects again and again...plus it's fun!

    Reposts are encouraged within the same thread while keeping the original there, just go to "Go Advanced" and you will have the option to upload.

  11. #11
    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel Cadieux View Post
    You got some good critiques and advice, so I will not elaborate on those. The striations are odd, wonder what caused that. You can try a gaussian blur on them, but that will require careful masking of the subject to be sure it does not look artificial, and too much gaussian blur also looks "fake" to the trained eye (e.g. BPN members, ha!), so it's a fine line. My honest opinion though is that it is not worth it in this case except to try again in the field. That's what keeps us out and about trying photos of the same subjects again and again...plus it's fun!

    Reposts are encouraged within the same thread while keeping the original there, just go to "Go Advanced" and you will have the option to upload.
    Daniel, thank you for addressing my repost question. Also, thank you for the feedback.

    I suppose I could take a blur pen in PS, lighten the flow and apply to see if I could smooth and still not have to mask the bird?

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