Warning: Wrong head angle & overexposed pixels .. many !!

[Alfred Forns]

One of my favorites form the Lake, a little different since the head angle is wrong and has plenty of over exposed pixels !!

Worked on this for sometime since there were not that many chances, ospreys would go out onto the lake and clean their talons ... always in the direction of the sun. For exposure it was mostly trial and error .. more error than trial. I needed the bird with enough light but the water would blow but also wanted some detail in the reflection. Fun going after something in particular, its educational. If you always do some old, will come up with same old always !!

These have a low keeper rate even for the owner:) but this experimenting will lead to further gains .. keeping this one !! ... btw this low density pixel images tend to look better seen at full resolution !!

Canon 7D
500 f4.0 IS
f 6.3 1/1600 sec
ISO 640
Manual exp

[Jamie Douglas]

I like this but I would like to see a few more ripples in the water and an inch off the left. Just my taste. Thanks for sharing Al and putting a new perspective on things.

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Hi Alfred, I'm 100% with you that we should push the envelope from time to time; otherwise we get stale. The history of modern art is replete with examples of OOTB thinking and challenging the received wisdom, so I commend you for posting this unusual image.

I'm intrigued that you placed the bird in the middle of the frame (I like that), totally disregarding the fact that this leaves way too much space behind, according to conventional rules. Knowing how careful you are, I'm certain this is no accident. I'm really interested in knowing what your thought process was in choosing this detail and other compositional elements. Thanks for challenging us!

[Lance Peters]

Looking forward to seeing the comments here AL- was thinking of posting something similar - IMHO sometimes for my own personal tastes a image can work on a different level without being technically correct in all aspects.
Experimentation is always good - have a few idea's of my own - waiting to try ;)

[Desmond Chan]

If this were mine, I would leave less room in the left (especially because of the trail in the right) and let the ripples be shown primarily in where the reflection/shadow of the osprey is :)

[David Stephens]

I think it works because of the great detail on the bird, especially the wing color and detail. The story also helps as does the focus on the trail in the water.

I think all the stuff about HA and blown pixels melt away when the image tells a story.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Desmond is on to something !! I think the trail is an integral part of the image and placed it accordingly.

Don't think the images is centered, it starts a the trail and can be even strengthen by having less room on the left ... was undecided at the time of cropping but not think its the way to go !!! .. just a little bit !!

.... btw the difficult part here was being able to have a decent exposure relating to the bird, need to overexpose since the bird is severely back lit !!1

[Kerry Perkins]

Al, you are on to something! Since you've gone "out of the box" ;), why not take it a little further with more processing, like added saturation to the osprey and maybe some detail effect. I could see this image with the frame shifted over by one third, if that makes any sense - with more room in front and less behind. That would give him a place to go instead of flying out of the frame. I think that would still leave enough trail to convey the message that he is dipping his talons in the water.

I like it! :)

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Kerry Going over in the processing would take it into the digital creation which would also be fun but I like making them in camera !!

The room I like behind since its about the wake and with little room up front the bird simply flies out of the frame Will try to find some examples of pictures with birds facing out etc Again most of these will not be to every ones liking One that I can think right now was posted by Sid in Gen photo topics and asked what everyone thought. It was from a gallery, a blur fox just about out of the frame with lots of room behind. If I can find a link will include here !! it was posted in January !!!

[Harold Davis]

i was thinking exactly that photo of the fox. great example.

i totally agree with desmond's crop suggestion. off the left for sure. nice job here, al. i tried the exact same thing on tuesday with a skimmer blast off. not sure it has the same impact. might post it later to see what everyone has to say.

[Dave Leroy]

I kind of like the pano effect. I think it adds to the movement of the bird. I also like moving the bird a bit to the left so perhaps have to add a bit of canvas and stretch the right side out a bit if necessary.

Good story Al and thanks for posting.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Dave One thing I wish I had was more room to the right... that is the end of the frame. Should have moved the focus point to the left or taken a chance on all points which rarely works against a strong light particularly looking at water !!!

[VinceRossi]

I hope you don't mind but I reworked your photo that came completely washed out on my screen. I am not very proficient in PhotoShop. I rewoked this in Camera Raw.

[VinceRossi]

I guess I should have read ALL the posts. I should have known better then to think that you didn't rework it in PhotoShop. Daaa !

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent Al, this image shows a particular beahivior of talon cleaning and therefore the usual rules can be broken, the trail of water behind the bird is half of the story here and should not be cropped out. I like the original repost looks way too processed and not what it was like in real world.