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Thread: African Black Oystercatchers

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Default African Black Oystercatchers

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    This was taken along the coast in Cape Town. Although against a dark BG, I feel I have exposed these guys well enough.

    Canon 50D.
    100-400 L IS USM @ 400mm
    1/400
    F/8
    ISO 400

    Exp comp +0.33

  2. #2
    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Stuart:

    I think the exposure is pretty darn close, maybe just a bit hot in the reds, esp. on the bill of the back bird. Nice head angles on both, sharp.

    The dark background is my main concern. It swallows up the birds a bit. I think the foreground would work ok, esp. with their bright pink legs, but would prefer a lighter background to show them off a bit more.

    I don't know if you had any options about lower, or to one side or the other to get some separation from the background.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Randy

  3. #3
    Ken Watkins
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    Quite remarkable, one of the rarest birds in the world. The fact that the rocks are slightly shiny helps a lot.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Very nice capture with these two and yes the blacks look exposed nicely, but I have the same concerns as Randy re:BG. The yellow patch directly behind the back bird's bill is distracting, and both birds get somewhat lost in the top half of the BG. Perhaps very carefully selecting the BG (QM would work well) and applying a small dose of gaussian blur would help with that - but it's easy to overdo it so be careful.

  5. #5
    Axel Hildebrandt
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    Exposure control and details look good on my monitor. I agree regarding the BG, Daniel made good suggestions.

  6. #6
    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Thank you all so much for the positive crits. I agree the BG was difficult to enhance the OC's, but will have a go. Much appreciated.

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