I realize light here not the greatest but like the pose and would like advice on improvement, especially the background which I find too intrusive. Any and all help will be appreciated. P.S. There is a little more stump that can show but I cropped as is to take out 2 more terns facing wrong way.
Hi Muriel, Really nice action shot and I can see why you like it. My 2c's worth would be to try some shadow/highlights to get some more light intot he photo. It also seems or feels like it either needs more space to the left or a crop on the right. Good luck and hopefully you get some good advice.
Dave
Hi Muriel When you go out next time try making sure the sun is at your back. With the light coming from the hard right you will have lots of shadows which are difficult to deal with !!
I like not having to do heroics is PS !!! here I do love the action and that you captured the interaction. Both are in the same plane so both are within the dof, great, Excellent position for both.
bg wise I did not see your tech info listed so its difficult to interpret If you used a mid tele lens and stopped down the background comes into play, wide open will look better. Using a longer focal length would give you less dof and a better bg !!! Crop wise if you haven't done a lot would tighten a little more taking some from the sides. Looking forward to the next one !!
Hi Muriel,
I like the composition and capture...the background is a little under exposed and has noise. you were shooting in very harsh light with the sun in front of you coming from the two o'clock position; this is why the right sides of both your birds are running hot.; and the left side has shadows...when composing in camera, before squeezing the shutter, you must make sure that the sun is at your back. This way the birds light up evenly. I need you to post all of the EXIF data from the image so that we can better help you in the future. I modified the base image to illustrate the points mentioned...I first added canvas on the top to give the bird more room for the wings. I cropped from the left side. Opened up the mid-tones or lightened the image up. ran noise reduction in the background. I blurred the waves with a 4 percent run. toned down the white hot spots on the birds, opened up the shadows and selective sharpened the wings and face to bring out the details...see if this presents well with you...:cool:
Thanks to all and especially Gus for all the good suggestions which I will endeavor to duplicate on my own. I am working with Photoshop Elements but understand I should be able to do so. I haven't posted anything for a long time and forgot to include the camera data which, for the record, is ISO 400, l/l500, f8, 285.mm.
Muriel
Feisty Terns
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