I took a number of shots of this darter, but settled on this pose. Would have liked to get lower, but I was on a pier looking slightly down.
D500/500PF, 1/1000th sec, f5.6, iso800. Cheers.
I took a number of shots of this darter, but settled on this pose. Would have liked to get lower, but I was on a pier looking slightly down.
D500/500PF, 1/1000th sec, f5.6, iso800. Cheers.
Hi Paul, looks well exposed with some lovely detail. I like the light tweak of the head and ruffled neck feathers.
For me I think/feel you could push the darker areas more before clipping, to get a slightly richer/clarity look to the plumage. Running a luminosity layer over the post will help the brighter parts of the natural post, albeit I would drop the blue and slight sharpening on it, but that's my take. Just watch the singing on that neck where it's going a bit purple.
I might have gone a tad higher otherwise some folk may feel the angle is too steep if you went lower???Would have liked to get lower, but I was on a pier looking slightly down.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Steve. Good points, thanks. Yes, a tad higher makes sense. The purple colouring you refer to should be more of a brown...it's natural colour at the top of the head and neck area. It's in the raw file, so maybe due to the light? I'll go back and take a look at the "natural" post. I was quite happy with the blacks, but will review that as well. I appreciate your suggestions and keen eye. Cheers.
That's fine Paul, but with any 'Global' or changes in the Colour management of the file, you may have changed it slightly, perhaps a layer mask just to target that area? Again, re Blacks you can easily see where you start to clip so easy fix, try Levels via the Black & Gamma slider.The purple colouring you refer to should be more of a brown...it's natural colour at the top of the head and neck area. It's in the raw file, so maybe due to the light? I'll go back and take a look at the "natural" post. I was quite happy with the blacks, but will review that as well. I appreciate your suggestions and keen eye. Cheers.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
This is very nice.
Love the pose and the look back. The ruffled neck feathers are great.
Lots of DOF so good details throughout the image.
The BG blue is lovely. The blue transition line on left of bird seems to suggest the image needs to be rotated CW a degree or two but but then the perch might look crooked.
Worth a try to see how it looks.
Love that single toenail sticking out.
Gail
Thanks Gail...your feedback is always appreciated.
Quite the whimsical look here!! Good vertical comp, sharpness, colours. I think you were at the perfect height here, and resulting in the transition line behind the subject being at a good spot. The most has some nice weathering to it, especially the mossy greens. I could see the head going a touch darker, especially the very top where there seems to be a bit of "bleeding" from the BG onto it (perhaps an illusion). A very pleasant and fun image!!
Paul, congrats this is a really nice frame overall! That combo is creating some super detail for you - a drastic improvement in IQ from before fairly consistently.
The perch isn't all world but the moss on the side really helps IMO.
I like the subject position in frame and the sky/bkg is nice as well. Keep up the good work!
Paul a beautiful bird and shot. Love all the detail and sharp . Don't have much else to add guess if you could bring out some more in the blacks it would even be that much greater.Background colors are super. I just really love it the more I look. TFS
Thanks so much Brian and Kevin...your feedback is much appreciated.
Daniel: You have a keen eye...I did darken down the top of the head a bit, but yes, it needs more. It is in fact a combination of the "bleeding" and the fact that I did some cloning above the head and BG due to distracting shades. Thanks as always for your constructive criticism.
Image quality looks great. Love that stare and the patterns on the feathers.
Thanks so much John.