The image was taken from a boat at 50' from subject. It has been puposely cropped tight (150%) and square because of all the other birds in the picture which is a whole differant image. Here I wanted to feature the nest with the two chicks and the adult standing guard. Created with a Canon EOS20D, Canon 100-400L IS ISO 400, f/8 1/800 @ EFL 640mm Partial Meter AWB / CS3. Critiques requested please.
Last edited by Bill McCrystyn; 01-23-2008 at 02:30 PM.
This is a much better version, Bill.
See my comment on the one before, it may help you with PS.
Nice frame, except for the branch behind the parent's bill. If you were in land, maybe moving some to the right would have avoided that, but I know by boat it isn't so easy. The plumage on the parent seems a bit hot, maybe selecting in color range, duplicating the layer and using multiply as blending mode, reducing the opacity to taste, it may help, is not, try at conversion.
Interesting and well exposed and sharp. I know it's hard to get a clean shot without background clutter. I'm distracted by the branch running in front of the adult and it would be a stronger image if both chicks had their heads up. Nevertheless it is still a nice photo.
Good work getting the nest with all the important stuff. Exposure is darned good for such a dark bg and there is quite a bit of noise from the crop, still a good one worth keeping.
Thanks for the helpful comments you guys. Of course your right about the heads Ivan but it wasn't gonna happen. He was very intent on watching another chick climbing up to the nest just below him. I generally (with exception) try to leave the image as natural as I can. I struggled with the back branch myself. It helps frame the chicks but can be an eye sore. Do I saw it down or leave it? Can we have a poll? :)
Last edited by Bill McCrystyn; 01-17-2008 at 10:37 PM.