Sandhill Crane

[Mikko Viljamaa]

I took this one earlier this summer. Additionally to your normal comments, I would still be curious to know if the bird looks too dark or too light on your screens.

MK3 + 500/4 + 1.4
AE 5.6
1/3000
Comp. +1
ISO 640


Cheers,

Mikko

[John Chardine]

Nicely done Mikko. On my calibrated Mac Cinema display the tonality of the bird looks good. It's bright where it needs to be (head, eye) and shows lots of detail underwing. Wing position and composition are good too.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Mikko - lots to like here - Bird looks good, colours and brightness look good.
Keep up the good work :)

[Richard Stern]

I agree with these comments, but wonder if the undersides of the bird could do with a little increase in exposure.

Richard

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Mikko,

Greetings. Color & composition look good to me (on a couple of monitors)... From the looks of the very beginnings of a halo on the bottom, I would suggest some sharpening of the interior only (avoiding the outside edges). I think the eye and neck particularly would benefit from some additional sharpening. In general though... good show!

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Mikko Viljamaa]

Thanks guys, I agree with all your comments. And I think my monitor settings are now closer to what others have. I know that my post processing flow is not right (or there really isn't any at the moment) so I'm trying now to find time to learn to use Photoshop. The halo must also come from this same fact as this is pretty much as it was taken.

My self criticism is that even though this is a OK shot, there is nothing unusuall or special in it. It's just another ordinary photo from a SC. :confused:


Cheers,

Mikko

[Julie Kenward]

Mikko, I think you're being too hard on the image. You managed to get a nicely exposed bird, good HA, wings in a good position and clearly "frozen" while in flight - that's no easy task! Granted, he's not circling the moon with a majestic mountain range and an air of secretive fog in the BG...but still a very nice BIF image.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Thanks guys, I agree with all your comments. And I think my monitor settings are now closer to what others have. I know that my post processing flow is not right (or there really isn't any at the moment) so I'm trying now to find time to learn to use Photoshop. The halo must also come from this same fact as this is pretty much as it was taken.

My self criticism is that even though this is a OK shot, there is nothing unusuall or special in it. It's just another ordinary photo from a SC. :confused:

Mikko, what I'm seeing as the beginnings of a halo is most likely due to the small jpeg (118K) or in-camera sharpening if you are shooting jpegs or the sharpening setting in the raw conversion if you are shooting raw. As you learn PS, you'll learn various techniques for selective sharpening (sharpening only part of an image) and other contrast techniques that will help improve your images.

But I agree with Jules... This is a fine image, I'd be happy if it were mine (I have yet to capture a sandhill...).

Cheers,

-Michael-