Osprey in Flight

[Peter Farrell]

Sony A700, 70-400G @400mm, f8, 1/2000, is0640, ev +1.7, HH, PP in PSE8, darken sky, levels and USM on bird.

[Bill Dix]

Great flight capture, with perfect double eye contact and full wingspread. Most osprey images I've seen are exposure-challenged. This one seems spot-on in my opinion - might even brighten the bird just a tad without blowing the whites. I'd be interested in what others say. Lovely shot.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Peter - nice job adding the light for bright BG. Doing so kept histogram honest, distributed thru all stops and preserved detail. Note how the range of color is visible in bottom of wings - sweet.

Maybe a bit tight for me, might add canvas on sides. Might consider a pano or moving subject down in frame - well done.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Peter,Nice wing position and good eye contact as stated. Image is sharp and agree with more room on left and right. Lighting is a key component and in this image due to flat lighting it appears a bit flat to me. Good job with what you had to work with....

[Peter Farrell]

Bill, Jeff, Dave,
Thanks a lot for the comments. Here is a re-post; more of a pano with canvas added on either side and I added some blue to the sky.
Peter

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Nice repost, sky is better and room to fly.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Peter - looking good - repost looks good.
Techs are solid - don't be afraid to use that + exposure compensation - just check your histogram and move it as far right as possible.
Like the wing position and eye contact. Not crazy about the blue sky - looks a little purpleish on my screen.
Good show :)

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Peter. My evaluation. Sharpening halo, underexposed, consider manual exposure for flight captures, histogram; expose to the far right with a bit of clipping OK, use recovery in ACR to deal with it, use curves in ACR (levels in PSE or PS causes problems). Also in ACR increase contrast; needed in soft light images due to loss of contrast. Actually, with proper exposure the sky should end up white(high-key). Personally I would never add a blue sky, but thats just me! regards~Bill

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Peter

The base exposure is close but could have compensated a bit more, with bright overcast skies have gone to + 2 2/3 and as noted the entire sky will be blown but the bird will look mighty fine !!! Adding color to the sky is a personal choice, I like the high key look !! Just played around with the image moving the levels slider to the left and looked might nice !!!

[Peter Farrell]

Thank you everyone for your comments and critique. I am really enjoying the improved results in my images and thank you all for your help.
Peter