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Thread: I'm bored....here's a skimmer

  1. #1
    BPN Member Dorian Anderson's Avatar
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    Default I'm bored....here's a skimmer

    A left over from Nickerson Beach last August since I need something to do.

    Blue sky isn't ideal - and I'm not willing to add canvas to give that top wing space - but I love the aggressive banking pose, feathers on fully-extended wings, and direct stare.

    What say you.......?

    Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II on EOS 1DX2
    1/5000 at f/5.6, ISO 640
    Processed in LR CC without trickery

    Name:  black skimmer bank 080619.jpg
Views: 283
Size:  338.4 KB

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    Lifetime Member Colin Driscoll's Avatar
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    Excellent spread Dorian, and I have no problem with the crop because it shows the bird off nicely and minimizes the plain BG.
    Maybe a little more texture could be found in the whites, particularly the face?
    From comments on my own portrait format postings it would seem that 1400 px tall is preferable for a good monitor fit.
    I can just fit it in to my 27" monitor if I scroll back to fairly small print size.

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Dorian:

    Lovely dorsal view with good eye contact as mentioned. Well exposed. I am seeing whites on the face in the mid 240 range, and believe that you can probably tease out a bit more detail with some tinkering (as Colin mentioned)

    Since you have the time on your hands, I would add a sliver more canvas to the top, approx.. equal to the amount below.

    Cheers

    Randy
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    Hi Dorian, lovely dorsal view of a skimmer. I agree with Randy that the whites on the face are bright. In Lightroom I measure them at about 97 %, normally I would set them at 92 to 94 %. I also would add canvas to balance out the frame. Thank you for sharing.

    P.S. You have me wondering what is trickery in Lightroom?
    Joe Przybyla

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    Beautiful pose with spot on EXP. On my just calibrated screen, I can already see some detail in those face whites. The top view with tail spread and perfect HA works beautifully. TFS

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    BPN Member Dorian Anderson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joseph Przybyla View Post
    Hi Dorian, lovely dorsal view of a skimmer. I agree with Randy that the whites on the face are bright. In Lightroom I measure them at about 97 %, normally I would set them at 92 to 94 %. I also would add canvas to balance out the frame. Thank you for sharing.

    P.S. You have me wondering what is trickery in Lightroom?
    Hi Joseph

    My definition of 'trickery' is anything that changes the image versus how it was seen through the viewfinder at the moment of capture. Any cloning would fall into this category, as would adding canvas.

    I am willing to do some minor cloning to address specular highlights and remove distracting/unfortunate objects - like a bottle cap in the background - but I am not a huge fan of removing entire branches or adding canvas.

    What's the difference? Specular highlights and small distractions are expected and no fault of the photographer. They're going to happen at random, so I don't find it disingenuous to remove them. The highlight several noted on
    Brian Sump's most recent Burrowing Owl is the perfect example of this. I'd would totally clone that out as it is a great image with an unlucky highlight (and a minor one at that).

    A branch intersecting a subject, for example, is a failure of image design and execution and entirely the fault of the photographer; removing those in post strikes me as disingenuous because the photographer had the
    chance to get it right in the camera. Same goes for adding canvas. I wasn't good enough to get the skimmer perfectly centered in the frame in this instance, so I'm not willing to add canvas to present the frame
    as though I was.

    Everyone is willing to tolerate different amounts of manipulation, but I try to avoid involved cloning and such. The more heavy-handed manipulation we're willing to accept, the more we move the needle from photography to digital art.
    The challenge is to get it all right in the camera, not fix half-assed efforts it afterwards.

    I appreciate everyone has different views on this, but these are my general thoughts.

    Cheers!

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    Nice dorsal view and fanned out tail. Like the framing and detail on this one. Blue sky is not a problem for me.

  8. #8
    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Quite beautiful! Blacks and whites controlled nicely, although as mentioned there may be some additional details in some of those whites. What say me? "trickery" is only good to make an already good image even better. Any garbage image will not benefit from any processing as it will remain a garbage image. What you have here is a stunning flight image that is a perfect candidate from simple canvas extension. Lots of stuff done and used "in camera" nowadays (including AF, continuous frame rate, histograms, etc...) would be considered trickery by older generations, but we think nothing of them.

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    You're a stud Dorian. An envious shot from my perspective

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Beautiful topside view.
    Great exposure (whites on face already mentioned) and tack sharp with great HA.
    Very well done!
    Gail

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